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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 Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images /

In his first year as head coach of the Florida Gators, Cameron Newbauer has his team playing a very easy schedule. And they’re struggling to stay afloat with that schedule in the process.

As a result, we could have just as easily put this team in last place in our SEC Power Rankings with its 8-9 record, which is hardly better than Vanderbilt’s 4-13 record when you consider the two schedules. Both are 0-3 in the SEC.

However, we moved Florida into No. 13 just because we put a little more emphasis on the extra wins, for now, and they have been a bit more competitive in some of their conference losses. It’s not much, but it’s enough to keep them out of last place.

This is actually a pretty decent scoring team, but the defense can’t get any breaks. Meanwhile, the offense has become wildly inconsistent in conference play. So there are still a lot of growing pains with this team.

Still, this is an inconsistent team that can steal wins as it learns a new system. Just ask the Oklahoma State Cowboys. As a result, if they develop enough, the Florida Gators could shock people.

Their next four games are against teams outside of the Top 25 of the RPI. Three of them are at home, and two of them are against teams outside of the Top 100. This is a chance to build some confidence before the brutal stretch of their season begins. We’ll see if they can handle it.