SEC Basketball: Tennessee rises while Arkansas slides in latest power rankings

14. LSU Tigers (7-1)

LSU has been much better this season than I thought it would be before the season began. The Tigers have good wins over Kansas State and Florida State but are still looking for a signature win in the early part of the season. Its only loss was to a Pitt team that rose to No. 18 in the latest AP Poll. The biggest surprise for LSU this season has been its defense. The Tigers are giving up 69.8 points on the season and have held all but three opponents to under 70 points, only Pitt, UCF, and FSU have topped that number. 

Much like Missouri, LSU’s non-conference schedule has been pretty easy, so the 7-1 start was expected. Matt McMahon has his team playing well, but it will be interesting to see how the Tigers play moving forward. LSU announced that starting big man Jalen Reed will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. While the injury to Reed wasn’t a factor in the rankings this week, it's hard to see that his absence doesn’t make the Tigers worse. LSU has a game against a top-50 KenPom team next week against SMU, so we should have a good idea of what to expect from the Tigers once SEC play begins. 

13. Vanderbilt Commodores (8-1)

Speaking of surprises this season. I wasn’t sure how good Vanderbilt would be this season with a new coach and a new roster, but Mark Byington has done an incredible job with the team this year. The Commodores have wins over two ACC programs, and the only loss on the season is by a good Drake team. Jason Edwards (18.0 ppg) is leading a high-powered Vanderbilt offense. The Commodores are averaging just under 84 points per game this season, a huge improvement from a year ago. 

If Vanderbilts non-conference schedule is any indication of what we can expect from the Commodores moving forward, then Vanderbilt might be a tough team to beat in conference play. The biggest win this season is Nevada, but the wins over Cal, VT, and Seton Hall aren’t looking as good as they once were. With most of the wins becoming less impressive as the season has continued, Vanderbilt has a limit to how high it can rise in the power rankings. This isn’t a knock against the Commodores. I like what Byington has done this season, but the SEC is the best conference in the country and is incredibly deep, so rising in the rankings will be difficult if teams continue to win.