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Women’s SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 9: Are Lady Vols No. 1?

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Tennessee Volunteers fans get ready before a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images /

Holly Warlick’s Tennessee Lady Vols have intrigued fans everywhere this year. After a series of underwhelming seasons and then the loss of Diamond DeShields before the year began, she has blended her No. 1 recruiting class in with veterans Mercedes Russell and Jaime Nared flawlessly.

The result is a 15-0 record and fans on Rocky Top cautiously optimistic that this program is back. However, there are legitimate questions about Tennessee’s record. In fact, these questions are so legitimate that Tennessee, despite being undefeated, is the one team that could’ve been below the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Heck, these guys could have been below the Texas A&M Aggies. After all, their three wins are against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Auburn Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats. And they didn’t put away Vanderbilt or Auburn until the fourth quarter.

Still, we have this team at No. 2 right now in our SEC Power Rankings because of the value of being undefeated and the fact that they have three solid wins against the Marquette Golden Eagles, Stanford Cardinal and Oklahoma State Cowboys while scoring a huge win against the Texas Longhorns.

That non-conference play validates them to some degree. Still, their undefeated record is only good for No. 12 in the RPI due to their No. 62 ranked strength of schedule overall.

Starting now, that immediately changes. Tennessee faces the Texas A&M Aggies, South Carolina Gamecocks and Notre Dame Fighting Irish, all on the road, for their next three games. This is where we find out if the team is truly back. When they finally do return home, it’s for a pleasant match-up against the next team on this list.