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Women’s basketball Jan. 23 SEC Power Rankings: Lady Vols take significant dive

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 21: Tennessee Volunteers fans hold up a cardboard photo of women's basketball coach Pat Summitt during the game against the Connecticut Huskies at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 21, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Connecticut 60-57. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images
Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images /

Last week: Defeated Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats

Last rank: 6th

The South Carolina Gamecocks didn’t do anything impressive this past week. Beating the Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats on their face shouldn’t be enough for them to leapfrog two teams in our SEC Power Rankings.

However, we had to take into account what they were going through when they lost last week to the Tennessee Lady Vols. Considering Tennessee’s pathetic showing last week and the way they dominated Vanderbilt and Kentucky on the road, it was enough for us to say this team earned the right to make that jump.

Remember, Dawn Staley’s team did not have A’ja Wilson against Tennessee. Her not being 100 percent is the only reason this team is 16-3 and 5-2 in the SEC and not 18-1 and 7-0. So we could actually move these guys up to No. 2 in our SEC Power Rankings.

Right now, though, the RPI doesn’t love them as much. Despite numerous quality wins, they are only No. 21 due to their No. 50 ranked strength of schedule. Playing Vanderbilt and Kentucky in the same week can hurt.

The Arkansas Razorbacks at home won’t help that too much coming up. But after that, they have a chance to get back on track with three games against Top 11 RPI teams. Two are against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and UConn Huskies. But it starts with a chance for revenge against the first conference team to beat them. They are next in our SEC Power Rankings.