It was a better week for the SEC. With many of the league's teams playing in MTEs or one-off games against ranked opponents, the conference picked up quite a few quality wins. Though not everyone fared well. The teams from the state of Mississippi combined for a 1-3 record. We’re starting to see some teams round into top shape, while cracks are starting to show for others. Following the first month of the season, here are the latest SEC basketball power rankings:
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-4)
Another week, another loss to a power conference team, SMU. Mississippi State has lost three of its last four games, and currently has one of the worst defenses in college basketball, giving up more than 81 points per game - 90.3 ppg in losses. Josh Hubbard (23.3 ppg) is doing his best to singlehandedly keep the team afloat, but with only Jayden Epps (15.0 ppg) joining him in double figures, there isn’t much offense to rely on. Things seem to be going south for the Bulldogs fast. I don’t have high hopes for this team moving forward.
15. South Carolina Gamecocks (5-2)
South Carolina is holding steady, which is something I worried about coming into the season. The Gamecocks endured their first losing streak of the season, but stopped the bleeding after only two games. A two-point loss to Northwestern was the second loss, but SC bounced back to take down Charleston Southern 74-62. The Gamecocks have been okay offensively, scoring more than 90 points once, but they’ve done enough to get the job done. South Carolina’s offense has been wildly inefficient, making better than 50 percent from the floor only one time. The Gamecocks have been good enough to take down mid-majors, which might be this team's ceiling.
14. Ole Miss Rebels (5-2)
The Rebels played away from their home court for the first time, and things didn’t go well. Ole Miss played in the Acrisure Classic and promptly dropped both games. The five-point loss to Iowa wasn’t terrible since the Hawkeyes have one of the top defenses in the country, but the one-point loss to Utah is concerning. The Rebels got their first taste of P5 competition and couldn’t score. Ole Miss hasn’t scored more than 74 points over its past three games. The defense has held up well (67.7 ppg), but if the offense isn’t going to show up, it might be a long season.
13. Texas A&M Aggies (6-2)
Texas A&M has slowly worked its way back up the rankings, winning four straight games, with the last three being by a combined 113, including a 36-point win over Florida State. The huge win over the Seminoles marked the first power conference win of the season for the Aggies. The win over FSU was very much needed. Until this week, it looked as if A&M wasn’t going to be competitive against quality competition. There’s still a lot of season to be played, but the way the Aggies are playing as of late provides hope for league play.
12. Oklahoma Sooners (5-2)
Oklahoma has won its last three games, though it appears its high-powered offense decided to take the week off. Before this week's games, the Sooners were putting up nearly 92 points per game. So beating Alcorn State 72-53 and Marquette 75-74 was a little underwhelming. Oklahoma’s offense is good enough to cause problems for the best teams. However, the defense, other than these two games, leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe OU will make waves before the start of conference play, but until I see a little more, I’m being cautious with the Sooners.
11. LSU Tigers (7-0)
I’m as surprised as anyone to see LSU as one of the last three undefeated SEC teams this season. I didn’t see how this team, full of mid-major transfers, would hold up. But a nine-point win over Drake and a 33-point win over DePaul have given me a little optimism when it comes to the Tigers. Michael Nwoko has scored in double figures in every game this season, and Dedan Thomas has hit double digits in six of seven games. LSU hasn’t played the toughest non-con schedule, but it looks like this could be the best team Baton Rouge has seen under Matt McMahon.
10. Texas Longhorns (6-2)
The loss to Arizona State to open the week in Maui wasn’t a great result for the Longhorns. Though they more than made up for it by easily beating Chaminade by 41 points before taking down a ranked NC State team to secure a fifth-place finish in the Maui Invitational. Texas has been excellent in the paint, making nearly 61 percent from two, and on the boards, 44 per game, this season. I wasn’t sure what to make of Texas this season, but so far the Longhorns have fared much better than many people expected.
09. Georgia Bulldogs (7-1)
Georgia’s offense has been virtually unstoppable this season. Other than the two games last week, the Bulldogs have scored at least 90 points every game. This week, Georgia fell for the first time this season, losing to Clemson 97-94 in overtime. To get back on track, the Bulldogs' offense went nuclear against Tennessee Tech, dropping a season high 123 points. Through the first month, Georgia leads the country in scoring with 99 points per game. Georgia's schedule has started to pick up slightly, and its offense has held steady - the Bulldogs might actually be good this season.
08. Missouri Tigers (8-0)
Missouri beat South Carolina State and Cleveland State this week by an average of 29.5 points. This has been the routine for the first month of play - beat up on bad teams - which has led Mizzou to be one of the most efficient teams in the country. The Tigers currently lead the country in field goal percentage, hitting 55.5 percent from the floor - though this number took a slight hit this week as Dennis Gates threw out a few different lineups in the blowout wins. The only thing holding Missouri back has been its easy schedule, but the Tigers have been solid this season.
07. Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2)
The preseason hype is starting to fade with Arkansas. The Razorbacks have been dominant most of the non-con schedule, except when it comes to ranked opponents. Arkansas dropped its second game of the season to Duke on Thursday, moving to 0-2 against ranked teams. The biggest concern is the offensive drop-off in these games. The Hogs are averaging 88.1 points on the season but only 68.5 points against top-25 teams. Arkansas has a couple more opportunities to knock off a ranked opponent, but time is running out for the Hogs to notch a signature win before SEC play.
06. Kentucky Wildcats (5-2)
It was an extremely easy week for the Wildcats. Instead of joining any of the MTEs, Kentucky beat Loyola MD 88-46 and Tennessee Tech 104-54. Kentucky has lost both ranked matchups this season, but the Wildcats are still trying to get healthy - Jaland Lowe hasn’t played since the Louisville loss, and defensive star Jayden Quaintance has yet to make his debut. I still think this Kentucky team has a ton of upside. We’ll just need to wait a little longer for the Wildcats to be at full strength before we see their full potential.
05. Vanderbilt Commodores (8-0)
Vanderbilt’s hot start continued this week, picking up three wins in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Commodores started with a couple of single-digit wins over Western Kentucky and VCU, but shocked most people by dropping 96 points on a great Saint Mary’s defense. Duke Miles (18.8 ppg) dropped 20 or more points in every game of the MTE. There aren’t many holes in the Commodores’ offense, which makes this team tough to beat. Vanderbilt is off to the program's best start since the 2007-08 season, when the Commodores started 16-0. Mark Byington has a special team this year.
04. Auburn Tigers (6-2)
Auburn picked up big wins over Oregon and St. John’s, but it's the 30-point loss to Michigan that looms large over the Tigers’ three games in the Players Era Festival. While the upset of St. John’s was a high point, it was the performance of Tahaad Pettiford that stole the show. He averaged 22.3 points per game this week, including a career high of 27 against the Red Storm. If Auburn hadn’t gotten embarrassed by Michigan, it might have reached the top three in these power rankings, but with games like that still possible, Auburn isn’t quite one of the elite teams in the conference.
03. Florida Gators (5-2)
Last season, Florida didn’t lose its second game of the season until mid-January; we haven’t made it to December, and the Gators have already lost twice. This most recent loss, to TCU, was completely unexpected. And even though Florida bounced back with a 12-point win over Providence, the Gators are still figuring things out offensively. Todd Golden’s squad notched its first game with more than 10 made threes against the Friars, but they are still only hitting from deep at a 27.7 percent clip. Thomas Hough and Alex Condon continue to shine; now it's up to the backcourt to take a step forward.
02. Tennessee Volunteers (7-1)
Tennessee picked up its first loss of the season this week to Kansas, 81-76, in its final game of the Players Era Festival. But it was wins over Rutgers (85-60) and No. 3 Houston (76-73) that highlighted Tennessee’s week. Not only was it a big week for the Vols, but also for Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who scored a career high of 32 points in the win over Rutgers. Even with the loss to the Jayhawks, Tennessee’s defense has been elite, allowing only two opponents to score more than 66 points. With how well the Vols are playing, they might have been a touch underrated coming into the season.
01. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-2)
Alabama participated in the Players Era Festival this past week, walking away with a 2-1 record. The Tide dropped the first game against Gonzaga 95-85, then took out any frustration on UNLV and Maryland, winning by 39 and 33 points, respectively. In its two wins, Alabama finally found its three-point shot, making better than 42 percent from deep - an efficient three-point shooting Alabama team is extremely dangerous. It looks like Nate Oats is starting to get his team into top form, which is scary considering the Tide already has two of the best wins on the season.