12. Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia has been one of the better surprises this season. The Bulldogs have started the season 6-1 with the only loss being from an incredibly talented Marquette team on Saturday. The 80-69 loss to the Golden Eagles was the first time this season that Georgia scored fewer than 70 points in a game.
Before the matchup with Marquette, Georgia's toughest game was against Georgia Tech. A game that the Bulldogs won by 8. But over the next couple of weeks, Georgia will have a couple of tough games against St. Johns and Notre Dame. The win over Tech isn’t looking as good now that it has dropped its third game of the season, but Georgia has been impressive offensively throughout the season.
I like what Georgia has done so far this season, but the Bulldogs have been somewhat limited in the power rankings due to their non-con schedule. But if Georgia can knock off St. Johns, the Bulldogs would have its signature with of the season, and it would be hard to keep them this low.
11. Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt is 6-0 for the first time in nearly 20 years. Mark Byington has turned the program around overnight and is my early leader for SEC Coach of the Year. I might be getting a little ahead of myself with this team, but the Commodores are extremely fun to watch on the offensive end of the court. Something that hasn’t always been said about a Vanderbilt team.
The Commodores picked up its second win over a P5 opponent on Friday when Vanderbilt beat Seton Hall 76-60 and will have another chance on Sunday against Drake.
Mark Byington has turned Vanderbilt into one of the most efficient scoring teams in the SEC. The Commodores are making nearly 47 percent from the field and an incredible 62 percent from inside the three-point arc. Devin McGlockton currently leads the conference in field goal percentage, making 71.4 percent from the floor.
Vanderbilt has been a good basketball team this year, and under Byington, it looks like this might continue past the non-con slate.
10. Texas A&M Aggies
Texas A&M dropped the first game of the year to UCF but has won its last four games including a game over Ohio State. The Aggies trailed Southern by 14 points at the half last week to only outscore the Jaguars by 31 points in the second half to get the 17-point win. This has become a bad habit this season for Texas A&M and I’m just waiting for the time when this doesn’t work for Buzz Williams and the Aggies.
The only reason this has worked for Texas A&M this season is because the defense has been solid. This season the Aggies have only allowed one opponent to score more than 64 points, that was Lamar with 71 points.
Wade Taylor hasn’t been able to replicate his scoring from last season, but so far this season that hasn’t mattered all that much. Texas A&M’s defense and offensive rebounding will be good enough to keep the Aggies in most games, but I’m sure there will be a point, against tougher competition, that the offensive struggles will cost the team some wins.