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

We continue to use head to head to keep moving teams up our SEC Power Rankings who have a 1-2 conference record. The South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Vanderbilt Commodores but lost to the Ole Miss Rebels and Missouri Tigers. So they’ve done only enough to be at No. 10.

This is clearly not the Final Four team that Frank Martin coached a year ago. The losses of Sindarius Thornwell, Duane Notice and P.J. Dozier is hurting. Despite playing a very mediocre strength of schedule, the Gamecocks are only 10-5 and 1-2 in the conference.

Nonetheless, they are a Top 70 RPI team. The schedule strength will go up with more SEC games on the slate. And Martin remains a very good coach who can take his teams to heights beyond what they should be capable of reaching.

All of those things give them a great chance to make the NCAA Tournament again, they just have to start winning more. Chris Silva, the biggest key contributor back from last year’s Final Four team, has shouldered a heavy load this year, and he really broke out by dominating Vanderbilt.

On top of that, the Gamecocks continue to use the depth advantage. Nobody on their roster is seeing 30 minutes of action, which is a huge deal and can help down the stretch of the season.

For now, though, they need to get on a run. They have two tough road games this week against the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs. But both are winnable, so this week will really be a test for them if they want to move up these SEC Power Rankings.