Men’s basketball SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 15: Vols move up

Last week: Lost to the Tennessee Volunteers and Kentucky Wildcats

Last rank: 11th

The Vanderbilt Commodores are falling back into their place in our SEC Power Rankings after two more losses this week. At 6-11, they belong in last place. However, that one conference win over the Alabama Crimson Tide is still helping them just enough.

Meanwhile, it’s worth pointing out that Vanderbilt has the No. 11 ranked strength of schedule in the country. And their last three losses were to the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road and then to the Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Vols. Their first conference loss was to the Florida Gators on the road.

Simply put, this team has faced a brutal SEC slate to this point. And that helps explain why they have struggled so much.

And to be fair, they gave Kentucky and Tennessee a fight this past week at Memorial Gym. So these guys can still be dangerous despite their 6-11 record.

However, amidst all of that, Bryce Drew can’t be happy with this losing record. He probably had bigger expectations for his team this year. Remember, though, this team has lost seven games by single-digits.

On top of that, three of those losses are by five points or less. So at some point, you have to expect that things will come together and they’ll steal a few close games. Later this week, they have a winnable match-up against the LSU Tigers. But before that, they have a chance at a winnable road upset against the next team in our SEC Power Rankings. We go there next.