College Basketball: Week 7 SEC Power Rankings
College Basketball: Week 7 SEC Power Rankings
It’s week seven of the 2013-14 college basketball season. This means most teams have played around a fourth of their season so far, and it’s easier to gauge the contenders from the pretenders. However, in the SEC there are nine teams with at least six wins and less than three losses.
The remaining teams are the Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee Volunteers, Kentucky Wildcats, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Kentucky Wildcats, Missouri Tigers, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels and Florida Gators. All of these teams could sneak into the 2014 NCAA Tournament, but some of them lost crucial games in the last week or so.
Kentucky lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels, Tennessee continued their up and down season with a poor shooting performance in a loss to the Wichita State Shockers, and Ole Miss lost in overtime to the Oregon Ducks. All three of these teams were seen as potential 2014 NCAA Tournament squads at the beginning of the season, but they have to get it together soon or risk leaving their fate up to the selection committee.
The SEC is going to be one of the most competitive conferences in the entire country. The top six or seven teams are good enough go to the 2014 NCAA Tournament and will have an opportunity to sneak in, but if SEC teams continue to lose big games there may only be one or two teams that actually make it.
Here are the SEC power rankings for Week 7.
Taylor Sturm is an SEC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS or add him to your network on Google.
5. LSU Tigers
LSU only lost to the No. 22 UMass Minutemen and the No. 15 Memphis Tigers so far this season, and even those were close games. The Tigers will only continue to get better as the season goes along.
4. Ole Miss Rebels
Ole Miss suffered two back-to-back losses to Kansas State and the undefeated Oregon Ducks that they had opportunities to win. The Rebels may be far better than anyone anticipated.
3. Kentucky Wildcats
I almost left Kentucky out of the top 5, but when you look at how they lost games it’s hard to say they are a disappointment. Kentucky wins against Baylor, Michigan State and North Carolina if they don’t turn the ball over and miss free throws.
2. Florida Gators
The Gators' victory over Kansas could be the moment that we look back on if Florida wins the National Championship. It was a well-deserved victory for a great college basketball team; now they just have to beat a good team on the road.
1. Missouri Tigers
The Missouri Tigers remain undefeated, and because of their win over UCLA they sneak into the top 25. However, SEC play will be a lot more difficult than non-conference play for the Tigers.
