SEC Basketball: Kentucky and LSU rise in latest power rankings.

November college basketball doesn’t always feature the best matchups, but it occasionally gives us some of the season's best games. So far this season, the SEC has played in some of the most exciting games we’ll see all year. This season, we've witnessed Auburn take down Houston, Kentucky beat Duke, and Alabama fall to Purdue. Through the first couple of weeks of the season, the SEC has been, arguably, the best conference in college basketball. Here are the latest power rankings for an incredibly deep Southeastern Conference.

16. South Carolina Gamecocks 

I still don’t know what to make of this South Carolina team. After the opening night loss to North Florida, the Gamecocks beat SC State by 22 points and followed that up with a 26-point win over Towson. The 16-point loss to Indiana isn’t a bad loss by any means, but South Carolina was never really in the game. The Gamecocks took an early 4-0 lead, but after that, USC never regained the lead.

With South Carolina being the first team to lose its second game this season, it’s only fitting that the Gamecocks land at the bottom of the power rankings. The opening-day loss to North Florida is a bad loss for the Gamecocks, but South Carolina will have a couple of chances in the coming weeks to make up for its two early-season losses. 

15. Missouri Tigers

After losing to Memphis to start the season, Missouri has won three straight games. The games against Howard and EWU were much closer than they should have been, with Missouri’s second-half offense being shaky in both wins. But the 72-point win over MVSU has been a bright spot for the Tigers this season. Mizzou finally put away an opponent early and held on to the lead throughout the second half, something this team has struggled with since last season.

I can’t rank Missouri much higher until it beats a quality opponent. The Tigers have a few more games coming up against bad mid-major teams before taking on a couple of power conference opponents. Missouri has looked much better on both ends of the court this season but will need to prove that it’s here to stay against good teams to climb out of the bottom portion of the rankings. 

14. Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma is 3-0 on the season, but the Sooners haven’t played anyone of note. Oklahoma has beaten every opponent by double digits this season, most recently taking down Stetson by 21 points. But its best win this season is against Northwestern State. The Demons are currently ranked No. 300 by KenPom.

I wasn’t high on what Oklahoma had done this offseason, but the Sooners have looked better offensively this season. Oklahoma is making 10 threes per game while averaging 83 points. Granted this is against bad competition, but luckily for Oklahoma four of its next six games are against high-major opponents. If the Sooners can pick up some wins then there won’t be any reason to hold Oklahoma back in these rankings. But much like Missouri, I need to see this team compete against quality opponents before moving them much higher in the power rankings. 

13. Vanderbilt Commodores

Vanderbilt has slowly worked its way out of the basement of the power rankings. The Commodores have started 4-0 for the first time since the 2018-19 season and is on pace to quickly exceed its win total from a year ago. Mark Byington has done a great job of getting a roster full of transfers to buy in this season. Vanderbilt already has a power conference win early this season. The Commodores beat California last week 85-69, it took until February last season for Vanderbilt to take down a P5 opponent.

Vanderbilt was at the bottom of the rankings to start the season, simply because of the program's recent track record and the uncertainty with the roster. Mark Byington and the Commodores have proved me wrong this season. If Vanderbilt continues to win games there will be no reason not to take this team seriously.