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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 Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images /

Last week: Defeated Arkansas Razorbacks and Ole Miss Rebels

Last rank: 14th

What the heck happened to the Florida Gators? They were down and out, the only winless team in the conference and firmly in last place in our SEC Power Rankings. That 8-10 record came with a very easy schedule as well.

Simply put, this was clearly the worst team in the conference. But in one week, they managed to turn things around. Was it a fluke, or are the on a roll?

You could see them winning a close game against the Ole Miss Rebels at home. The shocker was dominating the Arkansas Razorbacks on the road. Doing those two things together was more than enough for us to significantly spike this team in our SEC Power Rankings.

Now, their schedule was so bad that it’s still ranked No. 133 in the nation seven games into conference play. But Cameron Newbauer’s team is clearly rebuilding with its massive inconsistent play in his first year there.

After all, despite that terrible schedule and a .500 record to have them at a dismal No. 191 ranking in the RPI, they still have two Top 100 wins. There’s one against Arkansas. Then there’s an inexplicably dominant 80-61 victory against the Oklahoma Sooners on the road. And that is a Top 40 RPI team.

This just makes no sense. But don’t get too excited about this team. Their next six games are all against Top 25 RPI teams, including the Mississippi State Bulldogs twice, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Missouri Tigers, the Texas A&M Aggies and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Their schedule strength is about to spike with that stretch, but so are the losses.