Men’s basketball SEC Power Rankings for Jan. 22: Vols lose ground

Last week: Lost to Alabama Crimson Tide; Defeated Georgia Bulldogs

Last rank: 1st

Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers finally got a loss last week. Don’t worry, they’re still on a roll and one of the best teams in the country. He’s got the program in great shape, and fans everywhere should be happy about what’s going on.

However, we had to drop Auburn in our SEC Power Rankings because of that loss. They are still a clear-cut top three team in the conference. But that loss forced us to move them to the No. 3 team until they do enough impressive things to move back up.

No matter what happens, Auburn fans have to be thrilled about the way the team has finally reached its potential under Pearl. And the excitement has to be rising.

After all, while the Alabama Crimson Tide is not the team these guys want to lose to, their resume is getting much better. At 17-2 and 5-1 in the SEC these guys are shooting up in the RPI, now at No. 8. That’s because the strength of schedule is rising significantly, now up to No. 40.

It’ll rise this week again with a road trip to the Missouri Tigers. But they finally get a break after that with three games against the LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels and Vanderbilt Commodores. That should get them to 20 wins before the final brutal stretch run of their season begins.

But let’s talk about the team that beat Auburn. They are next and have just shot up our SEC Power Rankings recently.