The SEC continues to be the most dominant conference in college basketball. The SEC still leads the country in overall win percentage (78.1%), and no team in the conference has a losing record. This past week, we saw some of the best games of the year, as well as teams get season-defining wins. Missouri upset Florida on the road.
Ole Miss shut down the country’s best offense in the win over Alabama. And Vanderbilt picked its first win over a ranked opponent in two years when the Commodores upset No. 6 Tennessee. At this point in the season, at least 10 teams are solidly in the NCAA Tournament with a couple more on the bubble. Following an incredible week of basketball, here are the latest SEC power rankings.
16. South Carolina Gamecocks (10-8, 0-5)
Things haven’t gone well for South Carolina this season. The Gamecocks struggled from day one but have looked much worse since the start of SEC play. Outside of the three-point losses to Auburn and Vanderbilt, South Carolina has lost the rest of its conference games by at least 20 points. At this point, there isn’t much hope that Lamont Paris can salvage this season. It might be time for Gamecock fans to start looking towards next season.
15. Arkansas Razorbacks (11-7, 0-5)
Arkansas has been incredibly disappointing in league play. This is the worst start to conference play for the Razorbacks since the 1985-86 season when the Hogs also started 0-5 in conference games. There’s still time to turn things around, but it seems unlikely if Hall of Fame head coach John Calipari hasn’t already figured things out. Luckily for Arkansas, Adou Thiero and Boogie Fland are on the roster otherwise, this offense could be way worse.
14. LSU Tigers (12-6, 1-4)
LSU has been trending in the wrong direction since the start of SEC play, but for the first time in a few weeks, the Tigers aren't in the bottom two of these rankings. LSU picked up the team's first conference win of the season beating Arkansas 78-74 earlier in the week. LSU still isn’t in a position to compete for a conference title, though the Tigers are no longer among the ranks of the winless SEC teams.
13. Oklahoma Sooners (14-4, 1-4)
Since the start of the SEC play, you’d never know that Oklahoma was one of the final three undefeated teams in the country. The Sooners started 0-4 in conference play before beating a struggling South Carolina team by 20 for Oklahoma’s first-ever SEC victory. A NCAA Tournament appearance still isn’t out of the question, but any hopes of winning the conference are pretty much a thing of the past at this point of the season.