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All for Tennessee Women’s Basketball SEC Power Rankings for Feb. 8: Huge Drop for Lady Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

Dec 4, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick speaks with her team during the second half against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Baylor won 88 to 66. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 4, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Lady Volunteers head coach Holly Warlick speaks with her team during the second half against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Baylor won 88 to 66. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 11, 2016; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley directs her team during a timeout against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the second half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 11, 2016; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley directs her team during a timeout against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the second half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports /

It was obvious the South Carolina Gamecocks would be either No. 1 or No. 2 in our SEC Power Rankings this week, and the question would be if they rose back up to No. 1 after the Tennessee Lady Vols lost.

And the answer is no.

Dawn Staley’s team is still elite and should still be thinking about a national championship. Their 20-2 record and 10-1 conference record with the No. 6 strength of schedule and No. 3 overall RPI ranking is nothing to scoff at.

And a win at the Kentucky Wildcats is pretty impressive, particularly since they won by 12.

But they moved up to No. 2 in these rankings only because Tennessee lost.  So they have more work to do if they want to get back up to that No. 1 spot.

And that work comes this week.

The Gamecocks first have to get past the Auburn Tigers, but then they have the game of the year on the road against the UCONN Huskies. Can they be the team to end Geno Auriemma’s ridiculous winning streak?

Obviously, that’ll tell us if they move back to No. 1 in these rankings.

The good news for them is they control their destiny to win the SEC regular season championship outright because they have the head to head advantage over the No. 1 team. But we’ll explain why that team remains No. 1 in our SEC Power Rankings.