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

12. Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia is off to its best start since the 2020-21 season. The Bulldogs currently sit at 4-0 with the last two wins coming against a North Florida team that has knocked off a couple of high-major teams and Georgia Tech. While the defense hasn’t been the best so far this season, the offense has been more than good enough to make up for it. The Bulldogs (85.5 ppg) have one of the top offenses this year and have been led by star freshman Asa Newell (16.8 ppg).

Mike White has turned Georgia into a quality program in a short amount of time. And the Bulldogs will have a couple of opportunities next weekend to show what it can do against two of the best teams in the Big East. Upsets of either Marquette or St. Johns would be huge for this program moving forward. 

11. Ole Miss Rebels

After winning its first game of the season by 30 points, Ole Miss struggled to score the ball against Grambling and South Alabama. The offense bounded back against Colorado State. The Rebels put up 84 points in the win to improve to 4-0 on the season. Though the offense has struggled, the defense has been strong. Ole Miss is giving up only 61.8 points per game this season.

I thought that Chris Beard would have plenty of offensive firepower this season, but boy was I wrong. Even with the strong offensive performance against Colorado State, the struggles against mid-major teams have thrown up some red flags for me this season. There’s still time for Ole Miss to work its way back up the rankings, but at some point, Ole Miss will need to score the ball with some regularity. Until the Rebels prove they can do that, I’m hesitant to move Ole Miss back up the rankings.

10. Texas Longhorns

I had high hopes for the Longhorns entering the season, Texas was ranked No. 6 in my preseason power rankings. I liked all of the transfer pieces added this offseason, but so far this season Texas has struggled to get the offense going early in games. On the season the Longhorns are averaging 39 points in the first half and 50 in the second. 

Texas has won three in a row after falling to Ohio State to open the season, but these games have been against some of the worst teams in D1. The Longhorns should be winning these games by large margins, and have done so for the most part. An incredibly slow start against MVSU this weekend raised some red flags, but the Longhorn ended up pulling away in the second half. I still like this Texas roster, but will be more cautious moving forward as the quality of opponents increases.