WBN SEC Basketball Power Rankings: 02-24-2013 Edition
By Wayne
Feb 7, 2013; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A
8. Texas A&M Aggies (16-11, 6-8) Last Week: W 65-56 at Auburn, L 93-85 vs. Tennessee: Fortunately for the Aggies, Elston Turner finally got off the schnide, dropping 38 against TN but but basketball is a team sport and they lost. I’m not faulting him but the problem is when he does that, the rest of his team just watches. That’s on the Head Coach. That said, A&M had chances against TN and could have won both last week so they’re not terrible.This Week: February 27 at Ole Miss, March 2 vs. South Carolina
9. Georgia Bulldogs (13-14, 7-7) Last Week: L 62-60 at Arkansas, W 62-54 vs. South Carolina: I can’t call this team either way other than to say they play to the level of their competition but they don’t have the players or scheme to win the “easy” ones. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has to love being their only offensive threat but that’s too much to put on the young man’s shoulders. He is both their leading scorer and rebounder. He’s a guard. That says it all for Georgia. Whenever the title of the recap for a game against South Carolina reads “Georgia Edges South Carolina, 62-54, in OT Thriller”, and Michael Jackson isn’t present, that’s a problem. This Week: February 27 at Vandy, March 2 vs. Tennessee
10. LSU Tigers (16-9, 7-7) Last Week: L 82-72 at Tennessee, W 97-94 vs. Alabama: Johnny O’Bryant doesn’t like resting in the shadows of the other great Forwards in the SEC so he’s finally deciding to do something about that. He was a man in the OT win against Alabama, notching another double-double and was clutch in crunch time. They are respectable in the SEC and in another year or so, Johnny Jones will have the Tigers rolling.This Week: February 27 vs. Arkansas, March 2 at Mizzou
11. Vanderbilt (11-15, 5-9) Last Week: L 74-70 at Kentucky, W 72-31 at Mississippi State: Effectively Vandy only played one team last week (Kentucky) and they lost that. Blasting Mississippi State does nothing for them. They only reason they’re ranked this high is because a few others sucked worse. Kevin Bright and Rod Odom led them in scoring against MSU and Odom showed great toughness against the Cats. He’s decent. Now if only their coach were. This Week: February 27 vs. Georgia, March 2 at Auburn
12. South Carolina Gamecocks (13-14, 3-11) Last Week: W 63-62 vs. Ole Miss, L 62-54 at Georgia: I bet that Frank Martin has been asking himself two questions this season: 1.) Why did I leave Kansas State for South Carolina? And 2.) Can I have a different football player on my team? Their ranking nationally in PPG and OPPG are virtually identical (66.7 and 67.8 respectively) and it matches spot on with their record. Look, Frank Martin is not a “vanilla” guy and his teams shouldn’t be either. His team needs his personality or they won’t have him around long. This Week: February 28 vs. Mizzou, March 2 at Texas A&M
13. Auburn Tigers (9-18, 3-11) Last Week: L 65-56 vs. Texas A&M, L 88-55 at Ole Miss: Is it too late to invite Jeff Lebo back? This Week: February 26 at Alabama, March 2 vs. Vandy
14. Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-19, 2-12) Last Week: L 64-56 at Alabama, L 72-31 vs. Vandy: MSU scored 31 points on 17.5% shooting. Yeah…they lost. This Week: February 27 at Kentucky, March 2 vs. Ole Miss