Men’s basketball SEC Power Rankings Feb. 5: Vols remain among elites

Last week: Defeated Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcats

Last rank: 10th

Last week, the Missouri Tigers seemed like they were getting hit with a does of reality. Cuonzo Martin’s team was on a three-game losing streak and had dropped to No. 10 in our SEC Power Rankings, hanging onto their NCAA Tournament hopes by a thread.

Now, this week, they got to shoot up our SEC Power Rankings. Again, this shows how much parity is in the conference.

Mizzou is in one of the top tiers without an outright winning record in the league. However, they have a two-game winning streak and enjoyed the second most impressive week of anybody in the conference last week.

It started with a win over the Alabama Crimson Tide. Beating the Tide is a solid win no matter what. But the real success was beating them on the road in pretty convincing fashion. Then the Tigers returned home to face the Kentucky Wildcats, and they won that game in solid fashion as well.

Missouri won both games by the same score, 69-60. And all of a sudden, they are back to a team that’s in the NCAA Tournament with the No. 33 ranked RPI and a 15-8 overall record to complement their 5-5 conference record and No. 12 ranked strength of schedule.

This week, they will be looking to keep that streak going. A road game against the Ole Miss Rebels is going to be tough. But should they win that, they have a home date with the other resurgent team in the conference. And that’s the next team in our SEC Power Rankings.