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

Last week: Lost to the LSU Tigers; Defeated the Missouri Tigers

Last rank: 9th

Mike Anderson’s Arkansas Razorbacks are hard to figure out. Their two conference wins are two of the best in the league, at home against the Missouri Tigers and Tennessee Vols. However, they also have an inexplicable 21-point home loss to the LSU Tigers.

Simply put, we have no idea how to read this team. But although the Mizzou win was a good win, we still had to drop these guys in our SEC Power Rankings this week. You just can’t ignore such a bad loss at home.

Now, despite being No. 10 in these rankings, the Hogs are still in great position to make the NCAA Tournament. Thanks to their No. 5 ranked strength of schedule, those two quality wins, and a huge non-conference quality win against the Oklahoma Sooners, this team is No. 21 in the RPI. So at this point, they have to play their way out of the big dance.

But we base our power rankings largely within the confines of conference play and how you’re playing at a specific moment. This team’s wild inconsistency is hard to read, so we just have to go by their losing record and their bad losses.

They have a big two weeks coming up, though. There are two winnable home games the next two Saturdays against the Ole Miss Rebels and Oklahoma State Cowboys. But they have two midweek road games against the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs.

An even split is a must. But getting three wins would be huge for these guys. This is their make or break stretch.