All for Tennessee Official Men's Basketball SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 30: Vols Shoot Up
Jan 24, 2017; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Grant Williams (2) and guard Jordan Bone (0) celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 82-80 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports
See how far the Tennessee Volunteers moved up in the All for Tennessee official Men’s Basketball SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 30, 2017.
On Rocky Top, the story of SEC basketball is how the Tennessee Vols have immediately jumped onto the relevant stage. And it’s reflected in their standing in this week’s SEC Power Rankings.
But that’s not the only story of the Southeastern Conference of this past week.
The top team in the conference looks especially vulnerable now, and the conference as a whole looks a lot better than people initially thought it would.
That is evidenced by the fact that they went .500 in the SEC/Big 12 challenge this past week. That’s a major level of overachievement, and it has changed everything in the conference in terms of the NCAA Tournament outlook.
Currently, three SEC teams are in the Top 25 of the RPI, five are in the Top 50 overall, and 11 are in the Top 80. All 11 of those teams are vying for an NCAA Tournament bid right now.
However, a few of them took significant drops in the rankings after the way they played this past week, and we had to drop them in our SEC Power Rankings as well.
But while the bottom two remain consistently the worst teams in the conference, and while the Vols earned the right to shoot up, where does everybody else stand?
Did the upsets reorder the Top Three in the conference? Did the other teams outside of Tennessee have any significant changes?
And is the No. 1 team still the same? Let’s find all that out here.
These are the official All for Tennessee Men’s Basketball SEC Power Rankings for the week beginning on Monday, Jan. 30, 2017.
Missouri Tigers
5-15 (0-8)
Last week: Lost to Mississippi State Bulldogs and South Carolina GamecocksLast rank: 14th
No surprise here. The Missouri Tigers continued their tradition of losing, and they have earned their spot at the bottom of these SEC Power Rankings.
They are now riding a 12-game losing streak and still haven’t won a conference game. Even worse, this losing streak dates back to some pretty pathetic non-conference losses.
The Tigers fell to Eastern Illinois and Lipscomb before SEC play began, and they also have bad losses to Davidson and North Carolina Central.
So no way around it, this is a bad team in every sense of the word.
At 5-15 and 0-8, they are No. 267 in the RPI and have the No. 96 ranked strength of schedule.
Why the Tigers don’t just go ahead and fire Kim Anderson right now is a major mystery to everybody close to the program. After all, this situation’s not going to get any better.
The Tigers have to travel to Gainesville to face the Florida Gators on the road next, and then they have to face the Arkansas Razorbacks and Texas A&M Aggies.
So there’s no hope of things getting better in Columbia unless a miracle happens. And they have already lost arguably their only winnable SEC game, a home loss to the second-worst team in these SEC Power Rankings.
Jan 25, 2017; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) shoots a jump shot against LSU Tigers forward Brian Bridgewater (20) during the first half of the game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Florida Gators won 106-71. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
LSU Tigers
9-11 (1-7)
Last week: Lost to Florida Gators and Texas Tech Red RaidersLast rank: 13th
Johnny Jones is not far behind Kim Anderson as far as SEC Coaches with the warmest hot seat. In fact, given the fact that he massively underachieved last year with Ben Simmons on the roster, he could even be in worse shape.
It’s looking like that this year as the LSU Tigers are 9-11, 1-7 in the SEC, and on a seven-game losing streak.
This all comes after a decent start and solid non-conference play. After all, they entered the SEC season with an 8-3 record and then started 1-1.
Heck, they even had some decent non-conference wins against Top 100 RPI teams, including the Houston Cougars and Charleston Cougars.
But against Top 100 teams from power conferences, they have been a complete joke.
Their one SEC win came against the Missouri Tigers, far and away the worst team in the conference, and then they have fallen apart since then.
So they clearly belong here as one of the bottom-two teams in our SEC Power Rankings, and nothing has changed for either of these teams in the past month.
For LSU, though, things get even more brutal. They are hanging on by a thread right now, but over the next three games they face the South Carolina Gamecocks, the red-hot Texas A&M Aggies, the Kentucky Wildcats, and then the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Don’t be surprised to see this team fall to 9-15 and have Jones fired on the spot.
Mississippi State Bulldogs
13-7 (4-4)
Last week: Defeated Missouri Tigers; Lost to Alabama Crimson TideLast rank: 11th
Beating the Missouri Tigers does not do anything to move you up our SEC Power Rankings. Losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide can do such a thing depending on the rest of your resume.
And since the Missouri win is sandwiched between that loss and a blowout loss to the Tennessee Vols, the Mississippi State Bulldogs have fallen.
A team that started off 3-1 in conference play has woken up to reality.
The Bulldogs may be 4-4 overall in the SEC and tied with three other teams for sixth in the conference standings, but the way they are playing justifies knocking them down to No. 12.
Not only have they lost three of four, but they also have the No. 135 strength of schedule with their 13-7 record. That’s enough to keep Ben Howland’s team out of the Top 100 of the RPI for now, and we are going to give the Bulldogs the same respect the RPI gives them.
They simply haven’t done anything impressive, especially with two of their wins coming against Missouri and also the LSU Tigers. Only a road win over the Arkansas Razorbacks is an over-achieving win to talk about.
However, the next three weeks, they have a schedule that will firmly determine if they get to be on or off the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. It includes the Vols again at home, the Auburn Tigers on the road, the South Carolina Gamecocks at home, the Georgia Bulldogs on the road, and the South Carolina Gamecocks at home.
And sandwiching those five games is a home and home on either side against their arch-rival, the next team up in our power rankings.
Ole Miss Rebels
12-9 (3-5)
Last week: Lost to Texas A&M Aggies and Baylor BearsLast rank: 9th
Last week, the Ole Miss Rebels looked like they were moving up the ladder in our SEC Power Rankings. After all, they had blown out the Tennessee Vols at home despite losing one of their starters due to a seizure, and then they beat Missouri.
But that win over the Tigers should have signaled something, as it was only a four-point win.
And now, this past week, Andy Kennedy’s inconsistent team fell apart. Then they came back together at the end.
But it wasn’t enough for us to hold off from knocking them down in our SEC Power Rankings.
The Rebels suffered an unacceptable loss at home to the Texas A&M Aggies. Then, on Saturday, they lost to the Baylor Bears.
Now they turned things around by only losing to Baylor by three.
But we put as much stock into that as we do their margin of victory over Missouri the week before. Either way, they did enough to fall.
The Rebels fell out of the Top 50 of the RPI as well, to No. 69. But the good news is their No. 25 strength of schedule still keeps them in contention for the NCAA Tournament.
This week, they have to beef up their resume with two opponents on the same level as them. They first have the Mississippi State Bulldogs at home, and then they play the Vanderbilt Commodores on the road. Vanderbilt is next up in our SEC Power Rankings.
Vanderbilt Commodores
10-11 (3-5)
Last week: Lost to Arkansas Razorbacks; Defeated Iowa State CyclonesLast rank: 8th
So it looks like Vanderbilt is just one of those teams that plays inconsistent under a first-year head coach. Bryce Drew’s unit came away with an upset victory over the Florida Gators two Saturdays ago, and then they managed to lose to the Arkansas Razorbacks at home.
Defeating the Iowa State Cyclones after that, though, should show that they are still a decent team.
However, they did not do anything impressive enough to move up in our SEC Power Rankings. Meanwhile, other teams did, and that’s why they fell to No. 10.
Still, the Commodores are playing very good basketball overall, and they are a point away from being up to maybe No. 7 in our power rankings.
This 10-11 record comes with the No. 2 ranked strength of schedule and the No. 59 ranked overall RPI spot.
That schedule ranking means they likely don’t have to win more than 18 games to get to the Big Dance, and they have plenty of chances to do that.
They’ll get some chances with their next two games. Like the Rebels they play the team below them and above them.
Obviously, Ole Miss is the team below them in our SEC Power Rankings. The team right above them, though, is their next game. We go to those guys next.
Texas A&M Aggies
11-9 (3-5)
Last week: Defeated Ole Miss Rebels; Lost to West Virginia MountaineersLast rank: 12th
Billy Kennedy’s Texas A&M Aggies finally woke up and played to the level we thought they could play at.
After a terrible start in SEC play, the Aggies went to Oxford and took out the Ole Miss Rebels. That following Saturday, they did everything right against the West Virginia Mountaineers except win the game.
In the process, they were able to move up three spots in our SEC Power Rankings.
That may seem like a lot, but when you compare the difficulty of their schedule with the way they played, it is clearly well-deserved.
Texas A&M is No. 81 in the RPI with its 11-9 record, but its No. 29 strength of schedule will likely improve as time goes on.
And that should help them improve in these ratings to get onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. First, however, they have to continue playing like they’ve been playing.
On Tuesday, they have a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores for each team to separate themselves in these SEC standings. Then they get a breather against the Missouri Tigers and LSU Tigers.
If they can take care of business against Vanderbilt, they should easily improve to 14-9 before a huge showdown against the Florida Gators next Saturday.
Jan 21, 2017; College Station, TX, USA; Georgia Bulldogs players walk off the court after losing 63-62 against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Georgia Bulldogs
13-8 (4-4)
Last week: Lost to Alabama Crimson Tide; Defeated Texas LonghornsLast rank: 7th
The Texas A&M Aggies did not do enough to move past the Georgia Bulldogs this past week, even if the Dawgs got blown out by the Alabama Crimson Tide and barely beat the Texas Longhorns.
Mark Fox’s group had enough of a resume to stay in the middle of the pack of the SEC Power Rankings, but the play of other teams that allowed them to rise is why they fell to No. 8 in the pecking order.
Sure, they are tied with No. 6 in the SEC given their record.
But losing by 20 at home to Alabama is unacceptable, and there was no reason to struggle with Texas at home.
The Dawgs now stand below a couple of other teams in the SEC in the NCAA Tournament pecking order, but like Texas A&M and so many others, their No. 30 ranked schedule strength in the RPI helps them.
Still, they need to get a few more wins and improve their resume to actually be in the tournament.
It’s about to get brutal if they want to do that. The Dawgs’ next three games are against the Kentucky Wildcats, South Carolina Gamecocks, and Florida Gators. If they just win one of those games, their schedule strength will shoot up, and they’ll have a quality win.
Then they need to take care of business the rest of the way, and they might have a shot at the tournament. But it’ll be tough.
Auburn Tigers
14-7 (3-5)
Last week: Lost to South Carolina Gamecocks; Defeated TCU Horned FrogsLast rank: 5th
Bruce Pearl’s team looked like they were back in the mix for things after getting everybody healthy two weeks ago.
And quite honestly, splitting last week against the South Carolina Gamecocks and the TCU Horned Frogs is nothing to be ashamed of.
But struggling to put away TCU while getting blown out by South Carolina is why we have to knock them down two spots in our SEC Power Rankings. They didn’t even put up a fight against the Gamecocks.
Meanwhile, other teams in the SEC were impressive enough to move ahead of them, which we are still in the process of getting to.
Pearl at least took a major step in his third year as head coach, but the Tigers still have a ton of work to do to get themselves onto the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
Currently, they are No. 61 in the RPI due to their 14-7 record, but they have the No. 67 ranked strength of schedule.
So they aren’t there yet.
But with their 3-5 SEC record, they have a chance to move into the conversation with some huge games this week. They host the red-hot Tennessee Vols, Pearl’s former team, on Tuesday, and then they face Alabama on the road again Saturday.
Auburn’s play will give us a good idea of where they stand in the tournament picture after this week ends.
Arkansas Razorbacks
16-5 (5-3)
Last week: Defeated Vanderbilt Commodores; Lost to Oklahoma State CowboysLast rank: 4th
Just like lots of other teams in the SEC this past week, the Arkansas Razorbacks did not do anything bad enough to fall too hard. But they did not do anything impressive enough to move up the SEC Power Rankings.
And since some other teams did, they have fallen.
The Razorbacks squeaked by the Vanderbilt Commodores on the road last week, and then on Saturday, they got blown out by the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Now, since it was a blowout, they actually were bad enough to fall a bit in our SEC Power Rankings.
And despite their 16-5 record, 5-3 conference record, and fifth place spot in the conference standings, they are playing worse than what their record indicates at this moment.
Lucky for Mike Anderson, his team is still firmly in the NCAA Tournament right now with their No. 28 RPI ranking. Even with the No. 51 ranked strength of schedule, a 16-5 record is more than enough to overcome that.
However, they have to step their game up to stay on the bubble. Missouri, Vanderbilt, and LSU are three of the next four games. But before that, they have Alabama. And they have got to win that one.
Then they could be 20-5 getting ready for their stretch run.
Alabama Crimson Tide
13-7 (6-2)
Last week: Defeated Georgia Bulldogs and Mississippi State BulldogsLast rank: 6th
Avery Johnson’s team is slowly taking steps to get better and more consistent, and they took huge steps in that regard this week.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are now tied for fourth in the SEC standings, and they have moved up to No. 5 in our SEC Power Rankings.
Last week, the Tide looked awesome in dominating the Georgia Bulldogs on the road before taking care of business against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Both are quality wins, and they have clearly overcome that 20-point loss to Auburn two Saturdays ago.
However, that 20-point loss combined with the fact that the wins are just quality wins, not great wins, are why we have them below their actual standing in the SEC Power Rankings right now.
Alabama barely has a Top 60 strength of schedule, so they have a ton of work to do if they are going to be able to move up into the NCAA Tournament bubble.
A road trip against the Arkansas Razorbacks and a home date against the Auburn Tigers this week would be a good start. We have controversially moved the Tide ahead of both teams. It’s up to them to prove us right.
And they have to do that because afterward, things get brutal with the South Carolina Gamecocks and Kentucky Wildcats in back-to-back games.
Jan 28, 2017; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Robert Hubbs III (3) grabs a rebound during the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee won 70 to 58. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Tennessee Volunteers
12-9 (4-4)
Last week: Defeated Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas State WildcatsLast rank: 10th
The Tennessee Vols are tied for sixth place currently in the SEC standings. They have a record barely above .500 overall, and they are right at .500 with their SEC record.
Yet they jumped six places from No. 10 to No. 4 in our SEC Power Rankings this week. And it was all well-deserved.
Rick Barnes’s team became the first team to give the Wildcats an SEC loss, and four days later, they dominated the Kansas State Wildcats, a solid Big 12 team, at home.
Sure, they are only 12-9, but they have the No. 3 ranked strength of schedule in the country. And their RPI standing has them fifth in the SEC.
We moved them up to fourth because the other team is the Arkansas Razorbacks, and while the Razorbacks have beaten the Vols and have a better record, Tennessee is clearly playing better right here in this moment.
So we clearly had to move them up.
Their six-spot jump in the SEC Power Rankings and 21-spot jump in the RPI signals how hot they are. The big step they took last week was learning to deal with success.
But that has to continue now.
The Vols have a tough road game against Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers this week, and then they face the Mississippi State Bulldogs on the road.
That follows with home games against the Georgia Bulldogs and Ole Miss Rebels. These are all winnable games, but Tennessee needs to take at least three of four if they are serious about NCAA Tournament contention.
Florida Gators
16-5 (6-2)
Last week: Defeated LSU Tigers and Oklahoma SoonersLast rank: 3rd
After a crazy week, the Florida Gators got back on track this past week. Fortunately for them, they got a break in playing two ridiculously easy teams: the LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners.
But Mike White’s team took full advantage of that weak schedule and beat both the Tigers and the Sooners by more than 30 points. They didn’t drop below third in our SEC Power Rankings last week despite those two crazy losses, and we are keeping them at third this week.
Two 30-point wins is enough to at least stay where you are.
However, they can’t move up yet since they have two conference losses and still didn’t beat anybody impressive.
Currently, though, despite their easy schedule this past week, they have the No. 6 ranked strength of schedule overall and still have a great chance at a Top Two seed in the NCAA Tournament.
To get there, though, they need to stay consistent. They get one more breather game to start this week against the Missouri Tigers at home.
Then they face the Kentucky Wildcats again. This time it’s at home.
After three straight easy games and the Wildcats struggling to get back on track, can the Gators change the balance of power in the SEC? They have a chance to get back on the map doing just that this week.
South Carolina Gamecocks
17-4 (7-1)
Last week: Defeated Auburn Tigers and Missouri TigersLast rank: 2nd
No surprise here, the South Carolina Gamecocks earned the right to stay No. 2 in the SEC Power Rankings.
Like the Florida Gators, they scored an impressive blowout win last week. Unlike the Florida Gators, it came against a very solid team in the Auburn Tigers.
Frank Martin’s group destroyed Bruce Pearl’s team by 29 points. They then took care of business in an ugly win against the Missouri Tigers.
So we won’t dock them at all right now. South Carolina is still 7-1 in the conference and second place overall. As a result, they deserve still to be No. 2 in our SEC Power Rankings.
With a Top 40 strength of schedule, they have more of an uphill battle for a Top Two seed than the Florida Gators because it’s not Top 10, hence why they are only No. 19 in the RPI.
And despite their chance to get more breathing room this week, that resume won’t improve. After all, they face the LSU Tigers and host the Georgia Bulldogs this week.
Georgia will at least be a decent opponent, and its one they need to beat.
Because beginning with Georgia, South Carolina has a five-game stretch against middle of the pack SEC opponents, including the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, and Vanderbilt Commodores.
Kentucky Wildcats
17-4 (7-1)
Last week: Lost to Tennessee Volunteers and Kansas JayhawksLast rank: 1st
To many people following the conference, this may be controversial. How can the Kentucky Wildcats lose two straight, including to one middle of the pack SEC team, and still stay No. 1 in the SEC Power Rankings?
The answer is simple.
They lost on the road after a short rest to a Tennessee Vols team capable of beating anybody at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Then they lost to the Kansas Jayhawks, the toughest team in the SEC/Big 12 challenge.
John Calipari’s team still is first place in the SEC and did nothing to show that it’s still not the best team in the SEC. The Wildcats are 17-4 with a Top 5 strength of schedule.
All last week did was show that they aren’t invincible.
So for right now, a Top Four seed is still in play, and nothing really changed for the team after two ridiculously tough games.
But they have to get back on track.
Luckily, they get a breather first this week with the LSU Tigers at home. But the Alabama Crimson Tide on the road are no easy opponent, and that’s who comes next.
Then they have to face Tennessee again before traveling to face Georgia on the road. So after Alabama, Kentucky has a three-game stretch against solid SEC teams, all of whom could beat them if they are caught napping.
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