Men’s basketball SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 8: Vols in top half

Do fans love Mark Fox again? They should because he’s got the Georgia Bulldogs rolling right now, and that earns them a pretty decent spot in our SEC Power Rankings. This team’s only conference loss so far is a 66-61 road loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. That’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

Meanwhile, the Dawgs handled the Ole Miss Rebels last week. Then they flat out dominated the Alabama Crimson Tide in a blowout. As a result, we have no choice but to put them this high right now. I don’t even think it’s controversial.

Georgia is 11-3 overall, but that’s not as much of a story since they have the No. 94 ranked strength of schedule. It’s why they are only No. 38 in the RPI. They have a lot more work to do if they want to firmly be off the NCAA Tournament bubble and actually in the Big Dance.

The other issue is this team needs to be more versatile. Right now, senior Yante Maten is carrying these guys by himself. He can’t do that all season long, and he needs more than just Williams Jackson II helping him along.

This Georgia team is similar to Tennessee basketball teams Ron Slay used to carry in that regard. Eventually, he’s going to get beat up down the stretch of SEC play. And that’s especially the case this year with the brutality of the conference.

Still, they’re about to see their schedule strength shoot up. So if they can get a few wins, they’re in great shape. This Saturday, they host the South Carolina Gamecocks. But before that, they have a major potential resume-building game on the road against the next team in our SEC Power Rankings.