SEC Power Rankings after Week 4 of the college basketball season
We are officially one month through the college basketball season. With the football regular season behind us, things are starting to heat up on the hardwood.
This week was filled with anarchy across the college basketball landscape, and the SEC was affected greatly. Top-ranked Alabama, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State all dropped at least one game, with solid programs in Auburn and Tennessee struggling as well.
The coaches poll wasn’t the only ranking shaken up by the chaos, as our SEC Power Rankings have changed drastically heading into December.
Vanderbilt
Last Week: 1-1
Regular Season: 4-4
Vanderbilt continues to sit in the basement of the SEC in most major sports.
The Commodores are the only team in the conference without more wins than losses after another .500 week, although they did end a 3-game losing skid with a win over Alabama A&M on Saturday.
The backcourt of Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence continue to do the heavy lifting in Nashville, as the duo has averaged a combined 32 points per game this season.
While the chicken may be hot down in Nashville, this team is far from it.
LSU
Last Week: 1-1
Season Record: 5-3
The LSU Tigers look worse every week the season goes on.
Forward Will Baker is quickly becoming a favorite to finish as an All-SEC player, but the team is sub-par beyond their leader.
The Tigers were embarrassed by a decent, albeit historically below average, Syracuse team in the ACC/SEC Challenge before barely beating a bad SE Louisiana team at home in their most recent win.
Georgia
Last Week: 2-0
Regular Season: 5-3
The Georgia Bulldogs aren’t a horrible basketball team. In fact, I’d argue they may be able to finish near the middle of the conference once the dust settles.
UGA had its first undefeated week of the season last week after defeating Florida State in the ACC/SEC Challenge then taking care of Mercer at home.
The Bulldogs may not be a tournament team, but Jabri Abdur-Rahim and company should be good enough to be competitive.
Florida
Last Week: 0-1
Season Record: 4-3
I have been high on Florida to start the season, but the last few weeks have been very disappointing in the swamp.
After a solid showing in the “NIT Tipoff Tournament”, the Gators lost by 11 points against a middle-of-the-pack Wake Forest team.
Wake Forest already has losses against Georgia and LSU, making the loss even worse for the NCAA Tournament hopeful Gators.
This team should still be fine, but it has to get back on track as we approach SEC play.
Mississippi State
Last Week: 0-2
Season Record: 6-2
Well, it was a fun story while it lasted.
Mississippi State started the season 6-0 and found its way to the top 25 of the coaches poll before a disastrous week to close out November.
After seemingly fixing their offensive woes from a season ago, the Bulldogs reverted back into a horrific scoring team, totaling just 118 points in two games against Georgia Tech and Southern.
Georgia Tech did go on to beat Duke in the Yellow Jackets most recent game, so that loss isn’t awful, but losing to a 2-6 Southern team at home is unacceptable.
Auburn
Last Week: 1-1
Season Record: 5-2
Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers had been playing some of the best basketball in the conference heading into a road matchup with Appalachian State last Sunday.
They laid an egg in North Carolina, getting outplayed by their opponent wire-to-wire.
Freshman Aden Holloway is in a major shooting slump, and he’ll need to figure it out if the Tigers hope to challenge for an SEC title.
Missouri
Last Week: 2-0
Season Record: 7-2
It may be time to really start paying attention to the trio of Sean East II, Nick Honor, and Noah Carter.
The three seniors lead a Missouri attack that consistency scores over 75 points a game. As long as they stay healthy, the offense should be good enough to keep the Tigers in games.
We’ll get a true gauge for how good this team is over the next three games, as “Mizzou” takes on top-ranked Kansas, Big East program Seton Hall, and Illinois before SEC play.
Alabama
Last Week: 1-1
Season Record: 6-2
Alabama’s loss to the Clemson Tigers in the ACC/SEC Challenge proved the Crimson Tide are not the elite program I believed they were, at least not right now.
This team has issues on the defensive end that become major problems when the Tide can’t score.
We could easily see Nate Oat’s team go winless over its next three, as Alabama hosts Purdue, travels to Creighton, then hosts Arizona.
South Carolina
Last Week: 2-0
Season Record: 7-0
Listen, South Carolina should be celebrated for starting the season undefeated.
Unfortunately the Gamecocks haven’t played anybody, and they are bound to drop a game when they travel to Clemson next.
The laughably soft out of conference schedule is going to hurt South Carolina once SEC play starts up. I don’t expect to hear much from them after that.
Ohio State transfer guard Meechie Johnson is the real deal though.
Texas A&M
Last Week: 0-1
Regular Season: 6-2
Texas A&M failed their first major test of the season.
The Aggies traveled to Virginia to take on the UVA Cavaliers in the ACC/SEC Challenge, and proceeded to score only 49 points in a low-scoring battle.
Virginia’s defense deserves a ton of credit, but the sub-50 point performance shows you the floor of this Aggies team on the offensive side of the ball.
A&M needs to find scoring outside of Wade Taylor IV and Henry Coleman III
Ole Miss
Last Week: 2-0
Season Record: 7-0
The Ole Miss Rebels finally have found their way towards the top of the rankings.
Chris Beard’s team is for real. The Rebels picked up their best two wins of the year last week, blowing out NC State before beating likely Tournament team Memphis in a thriller.
The backcourt of Matthew Murrell and Jaylen Murray is becoming on of the premier ones in the SEC, while Auburn transfer Allen Flanigan is averaging 19 points and 7 rebounds this season.
It’s time to wake up and relaize the Rebels are a good basketball team.
Tennessee
Last Week: 0-1
Season Record: 4-3
The Tennessee Volunteers ended their gauntlet of games against top-ranked teams 0-3.
Tennessee was the underdog in all three, as all three games were either on a neutral site court or on the road.
It’s disappointing to see the Vols not capture the opportunity at all, but it’s also far from worrisome that Rick Barnes’ team has dropped three in a row.
The Vols did get some good news over the losing streak, as guard Dalton Knecht looks like one of, if not the, best scorer in the conference.
Kentucky
Last Week: 1-1
Season Record: 6-2
After an emotional victory over Miami in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Kentucky was upset by UNC Wilmington in Rupp Arena to end their week.
The two results are a microcosm of this young, Wildcats team.
Rob Dillingham, Antonio Reeves, and talented Wildcats are good enough to beat anybody when they play well, but the inexperience can lead to bad losses at any time during the season.
Arkansas
Last Week: 2-0
Season Record: 6-3
Arkansas is officially back as an elite college basketball program.
The Razorbacks had a fantastic week headlined by a home win over top-program Duke.
Eric Musselman’s squad capped off the week by taking down solid mid-major Furman, improving to 6-3 on the young season.
The backcourt of Khalif Battle and Tramon Mark is a problem for opponents and may be the best backcourt in the nation.
