As we enter the final stretch of the non-conference schedule, the SEC has yet to see any major drop off in its dominance this season. To date, the members of the SEC are sporting an incredible 164-21 record with eight teams ranked in the top 20 and five in the top 10. No other conference has more than five ranked teams. Also, three of the four remaining undefeated teams reside in the SEC. The schedule slows down towards the end of December so there wasn’t a ton of movement this week, but with one of the top teams dropping a game, there was a bit of a shakeup at the top of the rankings. Here are the latest SEC power rankings.
16. South Carolina Gamecocks (8-3)
It appears that South Carolina has finally found its footing. After dropping three games in the early part of the non-con slate, the Gamecocks have won five straight and finally picked up a signature win by beating Clemson in overtime. In defeating the Tigers, South Carolina closed the gap a little on the rest of the conference, but there is still a lot of work to be done if the Gamecocks have their eyes on a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Collin Murray-Boyles (16.3 ppg, 9.5 rpg) continues to be one of the top players in the conference.
15. LSU Tigers (9-2)
LSU took down Stetson this week by 46 points, its largest margin of victory this season. And the three P5 wins that once looked good on paper are starting to be less impressive as Kansas State and Florida State have dropped some games lately. The Tigers are only one of a few SEC teams without a ranked win in non-con play, but LSU should still be competitive once we reach conference play. The Tigers are still figuring out how to play without Jalen Reed, but have a couple of easy games to sort things out before SEC play.
14. Vanderbilt Commodores (11-1)
Vanderbilt has already won more games this season (11) than in all of last season (9). The Commodores are off to their best start since the 2010-11 season where Vanderbilt had an 11-2 record going into SEC play. Vanderbilt beat The Citadel and Austin Peay this past week, winning by an average of 42 points. Jason Edwards (18.9 ppg) is the second leading scorer in the conference behind Tre Johnson (19.9 ppg) from Texas. Although the non-con schedule has been somewhat weak, Mark Byington’s team has been fun to watch this season.
13. Georgia Bulldogs (10-1)
With only a game against Buffalo this past week, there weren’t many opportunities for Georgia to work its way up the SEC power rankings. The Bulldogs won by 51 points, beating a struggling Bulls team. Georgia has a good win over St. Johns, but most of its non-conference schedule has been pretty weak. The Bulldogs should still be a tough out in SEC play, especially if freshman star Asa Newell (16.0 ppg) continues to lead this high-scoring Georgia offense. The Bulldogs have two more tune-up games before starting SEC play at Ole Miss.