06. Mississippi State Bulldogs (14-2, 2-1)
Mississippi State continues to impress this season with its improved offense. The Bulldogs beat Vanderbilt on the road 76-64 and followed that up by scoring 90 points in a loss to Kentucky. Mississippi State is making 62.4 percent from the field in SEC play to lead the conference while scoring nearly 84 points per game. The Bulldogs are quickly becoming one of the more feared teams in the SEC now that it has a powerful offense to go with a strong defense. Maybe this is a slight overreaction, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Bulldogs at the top of the conference standings come March, though MSU will need to get past Auburn on the road first.
05. Tennessee Volunteers (15-1, 2-1)
Last week, Tennessee sat atop these rankings, but following a 30-point loss to Florida, where they only managed 43 points, the Volunteers had to drop. Tennessee bounced back and survived an upset scare at Texas to beat the Longhorns 74-70, though the offense didn’t look good in the process. The Volunteers averaged 58.5 points this week, which isn't great for the No. 1 team in the country. Tennessee is still one of the top teams, but since SEC play started, the Volunteers have been one of the worst offenses in the conference. The Vols are only making 35 percent from the floor through three SEC games. Only Arkansas has been worse. Tennessee needs to figure things out offensively otherwise things might go downhill quickly for the Volunteers.
04. Kentucky Wildcats (13-3, 2-1)
Kentucky struggled against Georgia following the huge win over Florida. The Wildcats only scored 69 points against the Bulldogs, but followed that up with another huge win at Mississippi State. Kentucky beat MSU at The Hump 95-90 while making 16 threes in the win. Jaxson Robinson made seven of those threes on his way to 27 points. When the Wildcats are hitting the three that well there isn’t a team that can beat them, but when the deep ball isn’t falling, Kentucky is beatable - ask Georgia. For as good as the offense has been, Kentucky’s defense has been just as bad. Over three SEC games, the Wildcats are giving up nearly 91 points per game, so Kentucky can’t afford bad shooting days.