SEC teams are on the move in Jeff Borzello’s latest Top 16 college basketball power rankings from ESPN. The conference had two teams rise in the rankings, one team fall down in the rankings, and one team fall out of the power rankings entirely. The SEC also has a team on the rise despite not being in the rankings at all.
Let’s break it down.
Tennessee, the highest-ranked team from the conference in the AP Poll, slid up and into the Top 5 of Borzello’s rankings after beating Arkansas by 29 points and Vanderbilt by 35 points this week. The Vols were previously hanging out at the eighth spot in Borzello’s rankings last week.
The Vols took care of business on the road in Fayetteville, which was especially important to see after the Vols’ loss at Texas A&M the previous weekend. Tennessee then demolished Vanderbilt at home from start to finish to sweep the Commodores in the regular season.
“Games against Arkansas and Vanderbilt, the two worst offensive teams in the SEC, came at the perfect time for Tennessee to get its defense back on track,” Borzello wrote for ESPN. “The Volunteers were still among the best in the country at that end of the floor, but they had allowed 1.23 points per possession in two of their previous three games. The Razorbacks and Commodores, however, combined to score 0.81 points per possession. Rick Barnes’ team is now just one game back of Alabama in the SEC race.”
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Downward movement from Marquette, North Carolina, and Kansas allowed Tennessee to rise up to the fifth spot.
Speaking of Alabama, the Crimson Tide were the other team that moved up in Borzello’s rankings, jumping from No. 12 to No. 10 in the country.
Auburn fell two spots from No. 11 to No. 13 in the rankings after a wild week. Bruce Pearl’s unit dominated South Carolina in the midweek game but ended up falling to Kentucky over the weekend.
After an impressive run through the middle of SEC play, South Carolina is now searching for answers after getting blown out by Auburn before losing to LSU at home over the weekend. The Gamecocks dropped out of the power rankings from the 10th spot.
And, lastly, Kentucky is the first team “in the waiting room” after their aforementioned win over Auburn on the road on Saturday. South Carolina is the third and final team in that same category.
To get a full look at Jeff Borzello’s power rankings, click here.
