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

Last week: Lost to Texas A&M Aggies and Arkansas Razorbacks

Last rank: 5th

A clone of the LSU Tigers, it’s impossible to get a read on the Ole Miss Rebels. Last week, they were looking pretty good by scoring a huge home win over the Florida Gators. This week, however, they had two opportunities to get a decent road win. And they blew both of them.

Now there’s no real shame in losing at the now full-strength Texas A&M Aggies or the Arkansas Razorbacks. But overall, they’ve lost three out of four games. Meanwhile, they are 10-9 overall with a No. 100 ranked RPI.

As a result, the Rebels aren’t looking great right now and have to be this low in our SEC Power Rankings. It really speaks to just how deep the conference is right now. Two bad losses to Virginia Tech and Illinois State in non-conference play is really what’s hurting this team.

However, there is good news for Andy Kennedy’s team going forward. They have the No. 32 ranked strength of schedule and could definitely play themselves onto the NCAA Tournament bubble with a run, just like LSU.

The next five games include road trips to the Tennessee Vols and Texas Longhorns and home games against the Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide and Missouri Tigers. Going 3-2 has to be the baseline there. But scoring four wins needs to be the goal. If they do that, then they could all of a sudden be much closer to the bubble.