12. Oklahoma Sooners (7-3)
Handing your in-state rival its first loss of the season is a great way to end the week. Oklahoma finished last week with a disappointing 16-point loss to Arizona State, so beating Oklahoma State 85-76 provided the Sooners with their best win of the non-con slate. Oklahoma’s inconsistency from game to game will be something to watch moving forward. Oklahoma might not be the best team in the conference, but if the Sooners can replicate what they did against Oklahoma State, they should pick up some big wins over the next few months.
11. Texas A&M Aggies (7-3)
Texas A&M’s five-game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Sunday when the Aggies fell to SMU 93-80 in overtime. A&M battled back from a double-digit halftime deficit but ultimately ran out of steam in OT. The Aggies have a high ceiling; their three-point shooting (36.5 percent) alone gives them a great shot at winning against power conference teams. However, unless the defense makes a drastic improvement over the next few games, A&M might not be able to hold up against SEC competition.
10. Missouri Tigers (9-2)
It’s been a week that Mizzou fans would like to quickly forget. The Tigers got trounced by Kansas 80-60 on Sunday and snuck past Alabama State on Thursday by eight. Missouri’s offense has done more than enough, in most games, to secure wins. The defense, however, has been a complete disappointment. Gates is still clinging to the same game plan on that end of the court, and it's costing the Tigers in a major way - only two teams this season have made fewer than nine threes in a game. My confidence in this team is fading fast.
09. LSU Tigers (9-1)
LSU could have easily spiraled following a 24-point loss to Texas Tech; instead, the Tigers got back to their winning ways, taking down SMU 89-77. Matt MacMahon was intentional about bringing in scoring this offseason, but few could have predicted how strong LSU would be on offense. The Tigers are scoring a little over half their points in the paint, which is impressive since they don’t have a ton of size on the roster. I’m excited to see how well LSU holds up against SEC competition, because so far this team has exceeded all expectations.