George Bagwell gives his SEC basketball power rankings heading into week 5 of the 2023 season.
Matchup of the week: Tennessee vs. Illinois
Sneaky good matchup of the week: South Carolina at Clemson
Readers, I have no clue who the best team in the conference is. I have no clue what’s going to happen on any given night in SEC basketball. How does a team beat Miami by 20+ and lose to a CAA opponent (albeit a good one) at home in their next game? How does a team go into the week undefeated and then lose to an ACC foe that lost to Cincinnati by 35 in their previous outing and a SWAC opponent that lost to Valpo by a dozen? Is Ole Miss actually not bad? And could Alabama’s defense hold a high-school junior varsity team to 70 points? Questions need to be asked and they need to be answered. Does any team even want the #1 spot? It may be cursed.
There are two SEC teams with zero losses, and every other team has at least two. That feels odd to type out considering we entered the week with three undefeated teams, and even odder once we realize that the two-loss team is Mississippi State rather than Ole Miss. It seems like chaos in the SEC isn’t just reserved for football these days.
All games listed are EST.
1) South Carolina Gamecocks
Last week’s ranking: 5 (+4)
Record: 7-0
Last week: W vs. Notre Dame (65-53), W vs. George Washington (89-67)
Next week: at Clemson (Dec. 6 – 8 p.m.), at East Carolina (Dec. 9 – Noon)
Quality wins: Virginia Tech, Grand Canyon
Bad losses: N/A
I feel as if this will be somewhat controversial to 95% of the readers. But only two SEC basketball teams have taken care of business in every game so far, and the ‘Cocks are over 30 spots higher than Mississippi in the KenPom ratings. Oh, and they just made 18 threes in one game. Gamecock Twitter is currently on the highest of highs and scouring the internet for quarter-zips, while the SEC Power Rankings have anointed South Carolina as the #1 this week.
South Carolina handled business against Notre Dame in the ACC-SEC challenge, winning by a dozen in Columbia, then poured in the aforementioned school-record 18 threes against George Washington. They’re 1 of just 14 remaining unbeatens, they’re shooting over 40% from deep, and their starting five has a combined 18 years of college basketball experience entering this year. Name a school in the SEC that’s hooping at a more consistent rate than the ‘Cocks. I’ll wait.
If South Carolina can get past Clemson, (quite a big if, especially on the road) there’s a very good chance this team will go into 2024 without a loss on their resumé. The Tigers are the last Power 6 opponent on the calendar for the Gamecocks until January 6, when Mississippi State storms into the state capital. Clemson has looked really good, picking up true road wins over Alabama and Pitt in their last two games. Then again, South Carolina has looked fantastic as well. After the Clemson game, South Carolina stays on the road to take on East Carolina, a team they lost to last year, but the Gamecocks should be considerable favorites this week.
I’m dedicating this week’s number one spot to all the fellow media members who picked this team 14th in the conference. Of course, considering Tennessee and Mississippi State have not won since they were put in this spot, this very well may backfire on me. Until then, the ‘Cocks rise, and they’re guaranteed to be in the #1 spot for seven days, minimum.
2) Ole Miss Rebels
Last week’s ranking: 12 (+10)
Record: 7-0
Last week: W vs. NC State (72-52), W vs. Memphis (80-77)
Next week: vs. Mt. Saint Mary’s (Dec. 5 – 8 p.m.), at UCF (Dec. 10 – 4 p.m.)
Quality wins: Memphis, NC State
Bad losses: N/A
I would like to formally apologize to the Ole Miss basketball team. The players, the assistant coaches, the fanbase, everyone but Chris Beard actually, because we at SEC Basketball Power Rankings have standards. I said in this space last week that Ole Miss likely would be 5-2 by the end of the week. Guess what they did? Win both games, of course. Ole Miss beat NC State, handily, then somehow pulled out a Memphis win out of the bag of tricks that I thought was already empty.
The computers are still not entirely high on Ole Miss, ranking them 12th of 14 SEC teams in the latest KenPom rankings at 93rd nationally. Maybe that has something to do with an adjusted defensive efficiency rated worse than teams like Texas State, Notre Dame, and, gasp, Alabama, but in the SEC Basketball Power Rankings world, being 1 of 2 undefeated teams in a conference with 86% of teams having 2+ losses means a top 2 ranking, guaranteed. That’s rule #6 of SEC Basketball Power Rankings. Jaylen Murray continues to play like a portal gem for the Rebels, and they’re 7-0 because of him and Allen Flanigan.
The Rebels take on Mt. Saint Mary’s at home this week before making the trip down to UCF to compete against the Knights and Johnny Dawkins. Knock on wood if you’re a fan of Ole Miss, but the first matchup against the Mountaineers shouldn’t be a difficult night for Rebels. Emphasis on shouldn’t. We saw how the games against Sam Houston State, Detroit Mercy, and Temple went. UCF, on the other hand, is a Big 12 opponent, even if they haven’t looked imposing this year. (They have a transitive loss to Chicago State in early December.) All the past few weeks, I’ve suggested Ole Miss was due to lose for the first time during that week. What happens if I suggest they win? Because that’s what I’m about to do. Believe it or not, I think the Rebels go 2-0 this week.
3) Texas A&M Aggies
Last week’s ranking: 2 (-1)
Record: 6-2
Last week: L at Virginia (59-47)
Next week: vs. DePaul (Dec. 6 – 9 p.m.), vs. Memphis (Dec. 10 – 4 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Ohio State, Iowa State, at SMU
Bad losses: N/A
What was that, Aggies? I get that Boots Radford was out, but just 47 points? I also get that it was a road game against a Tony Bennett defense, but again, just 47 points? This is the same offense that scored 89 points in back-to-back games, so chances are this was just a bad shooting night against a defense that’s typically hard to prepare for. But what if it’s a sign of things to come? What if the Aggies didn’t do enough in the offseason to address their perimeter issues, and are working with a lower ceiling than last year? A bit alarmist? A bit.
I think there’s some truth to the team’s 27.3 3P% so far, and that they’re not going to ever be a consistent team from deep. That being said, their modus operandi of getting buckets isn’t typically affected by lapses in the perimeter. They crash the glass, get to the line, and score inside the arc. The panic meter shouldn’t be higher than a 4 on a 1-10 scale, and they did this same rigamarole last year before a 15-3 conference mark, anyway.
Thankfully for the Aggies, very few SEC schools felt like competing this week, so they dropped just one spot in the SEC Power Rankings. They’ve got two chances to make up for the Virginia loss with two home games against DePaul and Memphis this week. Wade Taylor IV, Henry Coleman III, and Tyrece Radford are all averaging 13.0+ PPG, but there’s certainly room for improvement as a team. That starts this week.
4) Kentucky Wildcats
Last week’s ranking: 4 (-)
Record: 6-2
Last week: W vs. #8 Miami (95-73), L vs. UNC Wilmington (80-73)
Next week: at Penn (Dec. 9 – Noon)
Quality wins: Miami (Fla)
Bad losses: UNC Wilmington
I said last week that Kentucky can’t afford to overlook UNCW. Y’all, you will never believe what happened. Kentucky overlooked UNCW. It was a few days after looking elite in a runaway win over Miami, and it was a reminder that college basketball is and will forever be unpredictable. The ‘Cats were on top of the world until they weren’t. The Coach Cal statue was already being built until it wasn’t. In terms of value, the two games really sort of cancel each other out. The 22-point win over a top-10 opponent at home cancels out the loss at home to a sub-100 KenPom opponent. UNCW is a tournament team, and I don’t think this loss is nearly as bad as it looks right now. Still, a win was expected in a game like this with a program like Kentucky’s.
This week, the Cats travel to Penn, a feisty Ivy League opponent that has already beaten Villanova. With respect to the Quakers, the loss to UNCW pretty much ensures that the Wildcats are going to be playing at a high motor, attempting to avenge their loss and make up for how they looked on Saturday. I’m not saying Kentucky would completely fall out of the Top 10 in the SEC Power Rankings with a loss, but I will say it would serve them well to not take another loss this week against a mid-major opponent.
5) Tennessee Volunteers
Last week’s ranking: 3 (-2)
Record: 4-3
Last week: L at #17 North Carolina (100-92)
Next week: vs. George Mason (Dec. 5 – 6:30 p.m.), vs. #24 Illinois (Dec. 9 – Noon)
Quality wins: at Wisconsin, Syracuse
Bad losses: N/A
Don’t look now, but this team has actual issues that need to be addressed. Not by me, though. I just point them out and hope someone else addresses them. The team gave up 100 points to UNC on the road in a game that at one point was a 24-point margin. Credit the Vols for not giving up, but Dalton Knecht picked up a worrisome ankle injury late in the game. That’s a real problem for Tennessee because he’s currently averaging 20.3 PPG, over 25% of the team’s 76.3 PPG mark.
The Vols have an eFG% of less than 50.0%, which only four other programs in the conference can say. Zakai Zeigler doesn’t look nearly like himself, and one got the feeling that Tennessee actually could have won if Zeigler was 100%. But he wasn’t and isn’t completely healed, and his stats show that. Santiago Vescovi continues to disappear at times offensively, and the Vols are averaging 19.9 fouls per game. That’s not good, but similar to Kentucky, the lack of other success around the SEC means the Vols stay just inside the Top 5 in the SEC Basketball Power Rankings this week.
This week, Tennessee plays a George Mason team at home that’s ranked higher in the KenPom ratings than LSU and Oklahoma State, then stays at home to welcome Illinois in a matchup of orange teams. Going 2-0 this week is incredibly important, as the Vols haven’t won since November 20 and haven’t won (or played) at home since November 14. Picking up 2 wins would start to get this team on track, but more so just avoid a 5-4 start, which would be quite demoralizing for a squad that was picked so highly to begin the season.
6) Arkansas Razorbacks
Last week’s ranking: 10 (+4)
Record: 5-3
Last week: W vs. #7 Duke (80-75)
Next week: vs. Furman (Dec. 4 – 8 p.m.), vs. #24 Oklahoma (Dec. 9 – 4 p.m.)
Quality wins: Duke
Bad losses: N/A
All aboard the Muss Bus. Every time the Arkansas momentum stalls or people start doubting the Hogs, Eric Musselman decides to strike. And strike he did when Duke came to town. The Razorback fanbase brought a raucous crowd, (one that hadn’t seen good football in months) and the on-court product didn’t disappoint. Even without Tramon Mark, who should be back soon, Arkansas dominated the Blue Devils in the second half after losing to Chapel Hill in their last game.
Khalif Battle was again one of the offense’s x-factors, scoring 21 points, while Trevon Brazile posted a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double. The Razorbacks completely changed the momentum of their season in just 40 minutes while recording 10 blocks and drawing 24 fouls. Duke did lose to Georgia Tech in their very next game, so this win might not be worth what it looks like now by March, but a top-10 win is a top-10 win no matter what.
This week, though, Arkansas can’t afford to get complacent. They’ve scheduled a very good mid-major with Furman out of the SoCon, who, for those who remember, stunned Virginia in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year. Then, the Razorbacks have to play undefeated (at the time of print) Oklahoma, who’s already beaten Southern Cal and Iowa this year. A 2-0 week would be great for the Hogs, who are looking to build on their momentum, but the chances of that happening are around 60-65%. They play two really good teams this week, and they should be glad these games are being played at home. (A trip up to Greenville very well could have ended up as Eric Musselman’s very own Bruce Pearl experience.) More on that Auburn debacle later, however. The Hogs have good vibes flowing.
7) Georgia Bulldogs
Last week’s ranking: 9 (+2)
Record: 5-3
Last week: W at Florida State (68-66), W vs. Mercer (80-69)
Next week: vs. Georgia Tech (Dec. 5 – 7:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Florida State, Wake Forest
Bad losses: N/A
Georgia was about six and a half minutes away from finding itself in the bottom three this week. Then, down 17, they started believing, or rather simply never stopped believing, per the Journey power ballad. A 20-2 run on the road in Tallahassee against the Seminoles (who had already beaten Colorado) put the Bulldogs ahead, while Justin Hill’s shot with 1.5 seconds on the clock iced the game in Mike White’s favor. Mike Ice does it again. (I don’t think I’m going to start calling him Mike Ice, but I need to come up with a name at some point.) Georgia simply wanted to win the game, which sounds obvious but was really a great sign of the current standing of a program that was 6-25 a few short years ago. Silas Demary Jr. led the team with 15 points, while RJ Melendez posted a double-double off the bench.
After the Florida State game, the Bulldogs beat Mercer at home by a margin that was acceptable but not necessarily the best. But a win’s a win, and Georgia now has three of those in a row. They haven’t lost since November 19, and they find themselves in the top half of the SEC Basketball Power Rankings.
This week, they face the same Georgia Tech squad that just beat Mississippi State and Duke but lost to Cincinnati and UMass-Lowell, so I don’t quite know what to expect. Maybe Georgia Tech found a way to turn it around, or Mississippi State and Duke are wildly overrated. It actually could just be both. But either way, the Dawgs can’t sleep on their rival. The good news is that Georgia is battle-tested, and they should have momentum heading into this one. While the game is ultimately decided on the court, I would be surprised if Georgia doesn’t have a 4-game winning streak when I start writing next week’s version of the SEC Power Rankings.
8) Auburn Tigers
Last week’s ranking: 7 (-1)
Record: 5-2
Last week: W vs. Virginia Tech (74-57), L at Appalachian State (69-64)
Next week: vs. Indiana (Dec. 9 – 2 p.m)
Quality wins: Virginia Tech, St. Bonaventure
Bad losses: N/A
I love the Appalachian mountains. They’re the best mountain chain. Moonshine, black bears, and mystery. What more could one ask for? If you’re Auburn basketball, a win. A win would’ve been nice. Credit to Bruce Pearl for scheduling the game in Boone, but I don’t think he’s planning on going back anytime soon. The Tigers did the thing again, shooting 3-of-27 from deep. I knew that statline looked familiar. It takes a certain amount of futility from behind the arc to not only post multiple games of sub-15 3P% but also have the same statline in both losses. (3-of-27 for an 11.1 3P%.) Look on the bright side, though. At least they didn’t go 4-of-31.
Credit to the Mountaineers, who entered the game with a high KenPom rating already and finished the day with a ranking right below Missouri and Georgia at 83rd. South Carolina native Myles Tate scored 18 points off the bench, and the team shot 47.1% from deep. Big day on the mountain for the ‘Neers, who should contend with James Madison for the Sun Belt title. Auburn, though, needs a reset.
Tigers not named Tre Donaldson combined to shoot 1-for-22 from deep and 9-for-19 from the line, which really stings considering the game was close throughout. In a week in which Auburn could’ve benefitted by just taking care of business, (I had planned on putting them #2 in these rankings, and while I wasn’t wrong in that aspect, it’s a disappointment) they fell to the bottom half of the rankings. They’ll play a Power 6 opponent at home this week, though Indiana isn’t even the best team with Indiana in their name this year. That title falls to Indiana State. Auburn should go 1-0 this week, with questions arising (or more so continuing to arise) if they don’t.
9) Alabama Crimson Tide
Last week’s ranking: 8 (-1)
Record: 5-2
Last week: L vs. Clemson (85-77)
Next week: vs. Arkansas St. (Dec. 4 – 8 p.m.), vs. #1 Purdue (Dec. 9 – 1:30 p.m.)
Quality wins: Oregon
Bad losses: N/A
So far, like it or not, Alabama’s resume has been a neutral-site win over Oregon, a home win against Indiana State, nothing else of substance, and two losses as favorites. The Indiana State win is actually nice by the way, as the Sycamores are possibly the best of the bunch in a very talented MVC this year. On a real note though, this defense might actually give up at least a few points to a roll of damp paper towels if they took the court.
In the past three games against Power 6 opponents, Alabama is giving up 89.3 PPG. Forget a championship-level defense, this isn’t even an NCAA tournament-level defense. It’s barely an NIT-level defense, and I’m being optimistic when I say that. Scoring does not matter if a team gives up 80+ points to an average offense. They allowed Clemson (a good team, but still) to shoot 53.3% from the field and 52.4% from deep in Tuscaloosa. In their last three games, the Tide are allowing their opponents to shoot 47.5% from beyond the arc, which, if extrapolated across the entire season, would rank exactly 362nd out of 362 DI schools. Rough.
Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada are phenomenal and deserve SEC Player of the Year consideration. This is the best backcourt duo in the conference as of right now. This special shoutout deserves its own paragraph and not to be lumped in with defensive critiques.
This week, the Tide will look to stop hemorrhaging defensively against Arkansas State (seemingly easy) and Purdue (exceedingly difficult). This will be Grant Nelson’s first true test to see if he can match up with the SEC big men. If he can slow down Zach Edey, then he seemingly can slow down any SEC post player. If he can’t, well, we can’t really blame him if he can’t. It’s really more of an added bonus if he can.
10) Missouri Tigers
Last week’s ranking: 13 (+3)
Record: 7-2
Last week: W at Pitt (71-64), W vs. Wichita State (82-72)
Next week: at #2 Kansas (Dec. 9 – 5:15 p.m.)
Quality wins: at Pitt
Bad losses: Jackson State
I doubted Dennis Gates. I told myself I would never do so again, and now all I feel is dull, consistent pain. Missouri looks revitalized. They look refreshed. They look like a battle-tested, high-quality product. Missouri basketball is a thing of beauty. Dennis Gates, please accept my apology. The Tigers are a tournament team with the way they’ve played over the last 80 minutes. If it weren’t for the loss to Jackson State and SEC Power Ranking bylaws, this Tiger team would be 5th in these rankings. They’re #1 in my heart, which should suffice. I promise this isn’t an overreaction to a road win over Pitt and a home win against Wichita State. The Tigers have turned a corner, which is scary. Ever turned a corner and there’s just a tiger right there? Yeah, that’s scary. I thought so.
Sean East II stat update time. He’s shooting 61.9% from deep. That’s elite. Freshman Anthony Robinson II is only averaging 15.7 MPG but he’s still leading the team with 1.9 SPG. That’s elite. All eight of the Tigers’ eight leading scorers are shooting 77%+ from the charity stripe. Talk about being elite? That’s elite.
The only issue is that the Tigers play Kansas in Lawrence this week. The Jayhawks? Elite. There is certainly a chance Missouri pulls off the upset, but it would take career games from Noah Carter and Sean East II and a step-back, buzzer-beating three from Nick Honor while the Tigers are down just one. (He’s done that multiple times, by the way.) A loss wouldn’t be all that disappointing, and it speaks to Kansas’s talent when I say that Missouri could actually keep building momentum even with a loss.
11) Florida Gators
Last week’s ranking: 6 (-5)
Record: 4-3
Last week: L at Wake Forest (82-71)
Next week: vs. Merrimack (Dec. 5 – 7 p.m.), vs. Richmond (Dec. 9 – TBD)
Quality wins: Florida State, Pitt
Bad losses: N/A
Florida isn’t the typical 11th-ranked team in these rankings. They played Baylor close and beat Pitt at a neutral site. Unfortunately, the team right above them beat Pitt in a true road matchup while Florida was getting beat on the road by a Wake Forest team that had already lost to the team two spots below the Gators on a neutral site and the team 4 spots above the Gators in a true road matchup. Got all that? SEC out-of-conference scheduling makes my head spin. Toss me the acetaminophen bottle and a glass of water, half-full.
The good news (for the Gators, at least) is that Mississippi State had a really tough week, which was enough to keep Florida out of the bottom three. If you’ve been a reader for a while, you know it’s tough to drop to the bottom three and still have an above-average season. Florida has four 13.0+ PPG scorers, but they weren’t all the ones we projected to start the year. Yes, three are Kugel, Clayton Jr., and Pullin, but the 4th is Tyrese Samuel, who deserves recognition for his hot start to the season. He has 14.1 PPG and 8.3 RPG while leading the team in rebounds and blocks.
Florida has a good chance to reset the defense this week and build some momentum, playing both Merrimack and Richmond at home. Concerning the Warriors and Spiders, Florida, with the talent they have, should win both games by 10+ points as long as they’re playing in Gainesville (they are). Two wins this week would bring the Gators up to 6-3, which sounds a lot better than
12) Mississippi State Bulldogs
Last week’s ranking: 1 (-11)
Record: 6-2
Last week: L at Georgia Tech (67-59), L vs. Southern (60-59)
Next week: vs. Tulane (Dec. 9 – 11:30 a.m.)
Quality wins: Northwestern, Arizona State, Washington State
Bad losses: Southern, Georgia Tech
Like mentioned above, the #1 spot in the rankings simply must be cursed. There’s no other way to rationalize this. By this, I mean the actual worst week of basketball from an SEC team so far this year. First a loss at Georgia Tech in which the offense failed to score 60 points. Then, you guessed it, a loss at home to Southern in which the offense failed to score 60 points.
This team came into the week #1 in these rankings and undefeated. This is the biggest drop in SEC Basketball Power Ranking history, and it’s completely justified on my end. Even if it wasn’t, the Bulldogs aren’t in any situation to complain about placement. That’s what happens when a team loses as -8.5 favorites and -25.5 favorites in the same week. For some reason, freshman Josh Hubbard still isn’t starting, which is insane considering he’s been one of the few consistent offensive forces on the team, averaging just over 16 PPG off the bench. It’s been time to get him on the court to start the game, as the offense besides him has been quite inconsistent over the past few games.
Mississippi State takes on Tulane this week, but that shouldn’t be considered a reprieve from this recent Bulldog nightmare. The Green Wave are talented and have beaten Cal and Fordham so far this season. It’s in Starkville, but that didn’t help the Bulldogs against Southern, and it may not help against Tulane. If this two-game slide is indicative of further offensive issues, we could be looking at another December similar to last year for the Bulldogs, where they started 11-0 (great!) and then slipped to 12-8 (not so good!). For Mississippi State right now, the goal is simple: don’t implode before Tolu Smith gets back. Somehow, even after a great start, that doesn’t seem like a sure thing right now.
13) LSU Tigers
Last week’s ranking: 11 (-2)
Record: 5-3
Last week: L at Syracuse (80-57), W vs. Southeastern Louisiana (73-66)
Next week: vs. Kansas State (Dec. 9 – 1:30 p.m)
Quality wins: Wake Forest, North Texas
Bad losses: Nicholls State
There’s a big gap between LSU and the last team in the SEC Basketball Power Rankings, which is great news for LSU. However, that gap is similar to the gap between them and the team above them, Florida, so the Tigers seemed entrenched in the 13 spot here. That’s certainly not an enviable position, but it’s also not the worst spot at least. It’s like going through the White Castle drive-thru. You don’t know how you ended up where you are, but at least you’re not at Sbarro.
LSU lost (badly) to a Syracuse team that got smoked by Virginia just a few days later. For some reason, the Tigers couldn’t or simply didn’t want to guard Judah Mintz, who scored 33 points on the LSU defense. On the offensive end, the Tigers fell victim to the same shooting woes that plagued the team last season. LSU went 2-for-22 from deep. That’s not a typo, they shot 9.1% from three. That’s not a mark that’s going to be helpful once they start playing in a conference that’s built entirely of teams better than Syracuse and Vanderbilt. The Tigers did bounce back with a win against Southeastern Louisiana, but they were played close by the Lions, and similar to Vanderbilt, it’s not a win that’s going to move the needle much.
This week, LSU plays another underachieving Power 6 squad in Kansas State. Kansas State is dealing with the suspensions of Will McNair and Nae’Qwan Tomlin who just narrowly escaped North Alabama. Especially with the game in Baton Rouge, it’s not entirely out of the question that the Tigers could go 1-0 next week. A loss wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would certainly be nice to add a win to the win column and begin to focus on moving up in the rankings again.
14) Vanderbilt Commodores
Last week’s ranking: 14 (-)
Record: 4-4
Last week: L vs. Boston College (80-62), W vs. Alabama A&M (78-59)
Next week: vs. San Francisco (Dec. 6 – 8 p.m.)
Quality wins: UNC Greensboro
Bad losses: Presbyterian
Vandy has a 3-degree transitive victory over Duke. Start up the championship parade route. For real, their UNCG win is aging like a fine Spanish red. The Spartans have beaten Arkansas, who just beat Duke. And it’s only December. Imagine what transitive properties the ‘Dores’ wins over powerhouses Central Arkansas and USC-Upstate could bring in the near future.
Vanderbilt split last week’s two games, but that wasn’t a confidence-building type of 1-1. It was a “blown-out in Nashville by a mid-tier ACC team followed by a sub-340 KenPom victory at home” type of 1-1. The Eagles couldn’t miss against Vanderbilt, shooting 50.0% from deep and 51.8% overall from the field. That’s not a great look for Vandy, and they’ve already been short on great looks this year. The typically-reliable Ezra Manjon had 5 turnovers, and Tyrin Lawrence took just 4 shots and scored 6 points.
In a year of poor performances from the ‘Dores, this one ranks close to the loss against Presbyterian. Against Alabama A&M, Vanderbilt looked much-improved, but the quality of the opponent dampens the shine of victory. Tyrin Lawrence did bounce back with 19 points, and Ven-Allen Lubin recorded a double-double, but it would’ve taken a margin of around 143-15 for the ‘Dores to make any type of vertical leap in the rankings.
This week, Vanderbilt has a tough matchup against a strong WCC opponent in San Francisco. While it’s at home, that factor didn’t seem to help Vandy last week. Has Vanderbilt spent its last day of the season above .500? If they lose this week, it’s highly possible.