Our SEC Basketball Power Poll. Final results at Garnet and Black Attack.
1. Kentucky: Still the class of the league but road games have been a high wire act. Losses at South Carolina and Tennessee, close wins at Auburn (5 points), Mississippi State (6 points, OT) and Vanderbilt (2 points).
2. Tennessee: All Bruce Pearl does is win big regular season games. Is this the year he takes UT beyond the Sweet Sixteen?
3. Vanderbilt: The only thing stopping the Commodores is their defense. They are 7th overall (69.4ppg), but 11th in SEC play (75.1ppg).
4. Mississippi State: They answered the (cow)bell and have won five of their last six including a road win at South Carolina. Winning the SEC West and one or two SEC Tournament games gives them a good case for the SEC's fourth tourney bid.
5. Florida: Nice to see the Gators still have not learned from the last two failures of a season. Losing at Georgia after destroying Tennessee is embarrassing. Chandler Parsons (18ppg, 8rpg in last seven games) is not embarrassing.
6. Mississippi: Still have an outside shot at the SEC West, but have to win out and need Miss State to drop two. Winning out will make them at least 2nd in the West and a tourney first round bye.
7. Georgia: Of Georgia's nine SEC losses, seven were by single digits. They are better than you think. Trey Thompkins will cause problems for Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins Wednesday in Athens.
8. Arkansas: Courtney Fortson continues to score but the Hogs have run out of gas. Finishing at Tennessee and vs. Ole Miss will hurt them more.
9. Auburn: Like Georgia, the Tigers are a young team with a terrible road record, 2-8. I never understood why more rebuilding teams don't go on the road for OOC play. They pay off in experience and better RPI rankings.
10. South Carolina: Devan Downey keeps scoring, but the Gamecocks have lost five in a row and 9 of 12 games. Ouch.
11. Alabama: They play very hard and great defense, but shoot so bad they can't hit Mobile Bay from Jubilee Parkway.
12. LSU: Tasmin Mitchell did not deserve to be on an 0-fer team. Very happy LSU finally won in the league.