Through the first month and a half of the season, the quality of the 16 SEC programs has started to fall into place. We’ve seen teams such as Georgia and LSU completely outperform expectations, while teams such as Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Missouri have not lived up to them. For the first time since the Week One rankings, there is a new team atop the SEC. Vanderbilt has ridden an incredible offense to be the last undefeated team in the conference. Following a slow week, here are the latest SEC basketball power rankings:
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-5)
The Bulldogs got back to even on the season by splitting their two games this week. A three-point loss to San Francisco was shocking to say the least, though you can explain some of it away with Josh Hubbard playing only two minutes due to injury. The eight-point win over Utah got Mississippi State back in the win column and handed the team its first P5 victory of the season. The Bulldogs still have yet to win consecutive games this year, which perfectly aligns with how bad this season has gone.
15. Ole Miss Rebels (6-4)
Ole Miss successfully ended a four-game losing streak with a four-point win over Southern Miss on Saturday. While it wasn’t a convincing victory, it did stop the skid, which is the important thing. After scoring more than 80 points in their first four games of the season, the Rebels haven’t surpassed 74 points in their last six contests. It’s important to note that Chris Beard has this team playing at a glacial pace, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that Ole Miss is only making 44 percent from the floor. It might be a long season in Oxford.
14. South Carolina Gamecocks (7-3)
South Carolina hasn’t been a great shooting team this season, but its struggles from the floor made the game against The Citadel much closer than it should have been. In the end, the Gamecocks beat the Citadel by 16 points. The offense still runs, exclusively, through Meechie Johnson, which is fine against lower-level competition. However, South Carolina is one of two SEC teams without a power conference win, so what’s working now might not hold up in SEC play. SC is winning the games it should; now it just needs to take down a quality opponent.
13. Texas Longhorns (7-4)
Texas had no problem taking down Southern to start the week, beating the Jaguars by 26. However, an eight-point loss to UConn, while shooting 38 percent from the field, should have the Longhorns kicking themselves. Texas hung with a top-five team on the road, and if it weren’t for some bad free-throw shooting, 19-28, it could have potentially picked up a great non-conference win. The game was close, but it did little to assuage concerns about the Longhorns’ guard play. Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope each finished with 15 points, so that’s a step in the right direction.
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.
08. Kentucky Wildcats (7-4)
Kentucky beat North Carolina Central by 36 points on Tuesday, but its performance against Indiana on Saturday was far more impressive. The Wildcats held a tough Hoosier offense (85.6 ppg) to only 60 points, including 21 second-half points, in the 12-point win. Mark Pope’s team hasn’t been great offensively in games that truly matter, so it was refreshing to see the defense step up and propel Kentucky to the win. The Wildcats are slowly getting healthy, but until the offense regains its consistency, I’m not sold on this Kentucky team.
07. Georgia Bulldogs (9-1)
Another game, another double-digit victory for the Bulldogs. Georgia might not have hit triple digits, but it still knocked off Cincinnati by 19 points on Saturday. The Bulldogs were tied with the Bearcats at the half, but they turned up the pressure over the final 20 minutes to walk away with the convincing win. Anyone who watched the Bulldogs last season wouldn’t believe that this team would be leading the country in points and be in the top two in shots taken per game. This version of Georgia basketball has been a ton of fun to watch.
06. Tennessee Volunteers (7-3)
It’s been a quiet week in Knoxville as the Vols didn’t play a game this week, so Tennessee is still on a three-game losing streak going into the early week game against Louisville. Luckily for the Vols, they haven't lost more than three games in a row since 2015, Rick Barnes' first season as head coach. Tennessee might be on one of the toughest five-game stretches in the country, but I’m still certain that it’s a really good basketball team. The defense alone is reason enough to believe in the Vols.
05. Auburn Tigers (8-3)
It’s been nearly a month since Auburn held an opposing team to under 70 points in a game, so the defensive performance against Chattanooga wasn’t all that surprising. The Tigers won the game, 92-78, but in reality, it should have been much worse for the Mocs. The offensive tandem of Keyshawn Hall and Tahaad Pettiford, combining for 37 ppg this season, makes the Tigers one of the better scoring teams in the country, even though they are both wildly inefficient. A slight defensive improvement could go a long way for Auburn in SEC play.
04. Florida Gators (6-4)
Florida couldn’t finish its comeback against UConn earlier this week, dropping its matchup with the Huskies 77-73. The Gators ended their two-game skid on Saturday, beating George Washington by 10. The win over the Revolutionaries marked the first time that Florida made at least 50 percent from the floor in any game this season. Florida’s offense still relies heavily on three-point shooting, but the Gators are one of the worst teams from deep in the country, making only 26.8 percent. I don’t know how far this Florida team can go with how inefficient it is on offense.
03. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-3)
A 22-point win over UTSA to open the week wasn’t enough to keep Alabama atop these rankings after a brutal 96-75 defeat at the hands of Arizona. The Tide took on, quite arguably, the best team in the country and got tossed aside. It’s not often that Alabama gets beat at its own game, but the Wildcats went shot-for-shot from deep and dominated the glass. Alabama is by no means in trouble, but its struggle with size this season might cause a little stress for the Tide moving forward.
02. Arkansas Razorbacks (8-2)
Arkansas has won its last three games, including two ranked wins in the past 10 days, the latest coming against Texas Tech. The 93-86 win over the Red Raiders was just the latest impressive offensive performance for the Razorbacks, who have scored at least 80 points in all but three games. The defense still has a ways to go, though, with how well the offense is performing, maybe the Hogs will hold steady once we get to conference play. Year two for Calipari at Arkansas is off to a great start.
01. Vanderbilt Commodores (10-0)
It was only a matter of time, but Vanderbilt has risen to the top of these rankings. The Commodores are the last undefeated team in the SEC and one of only seven in the country. Win number ten game against Central Arkansas, a game that the Commodores won 83-72, their ninth double-digit win of the season. Mark Byington has his team firing on all cylinders and is on the verge of taking the country by storm. I know it’s still early in the season, but with what we’ve seen from Vanderbilt so far, this might be the team to beat in the SEC.