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Women’s SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 16: Did loss drop Lady Vols?

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers students celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers students celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images
Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images /

Last week: Lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks and Arkansas Razorbacks

Last rank: 9th

The Auburn Tigers were on a forgivable three-game losing streak in the conference when they fell to the Tennessee Vols, Texas A&M Aggies and South Carolina Gamecocks. However, a home loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks was a blown golden opportunity.

That loss and the terrible loss at the beginning of the year to the Northwestern Wildcats are the biggest reasons they are not in any sort of NCAA Tournament conversation right now. This team should be on the bubble otherwise.

We almost had the Tigers below the Vanderbilt Commodores in our SEC Power Rankings, and given the recent history of the two teams, that wouldn’t have been terrible. After all, Auburn’s No. 79 ranked strength of schedule has them out of the Top 100 of the RPI just like Vandy.

However, 10-7 is so significantly better than 5-14 that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to make the flip. But that doesn’t give Auburn any sort of pass.

Terri Williams-Flourney looked like she was about to take another step with this team after two straight NCAA Tournament appearances when it was 10-3, and now it looks like they’re falling back to reality.

And things aren’t about to get any easier. Auburn is on the road this week against the LSU Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs. Those will be very hard games to win. The Alabama Crimson Tide at home next week and Kentucky Wildcats on the road, however, will be winnable games. They need to get out of there with a 2-2 split at the very least. Otherwise, it’s a failure.