Every SEC basketball team began its conference season on Saturday. Like Alabama Basketball, seven of Saturday's eight winners were home teams. The SEC road is going to be brutal this season as Arkansas, South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas suffered 15-35 point losses. The single road game winner was the Vanderbilt Commodores who left Baton Rouge as an 80-72 winner over LSU.
There are two good reasons to not immediately Power Rank the SEC's 16 teams. One game is not enough data and for Alabama basketball fans, any Power Ranking would have to list Auburn as No. 1 and Tennessee as No. 2.
Alabama Basketball National Rankings
After running Oklahoma out of Coleman Coliseum, the Alabama Crimson Tide moved up to No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rankings. Ken Pomeroy also ranks Alabama at No. 9. Joe Lunardi has the Crimson Tide projected as a 2-seed. ESPN's bracketologist projects 12 SEC teams to make the NCAA Tournament field. If Lunardi is correct, it would be a new Big Dance record for one conference.
Other SEC teams listed by their highest ranking (NCAA NET and KenPom)
- Auburn Tigers (13-1, 1-0 in SEC) - No. 1 (NET and KenPom) - Auburn beat Missouri on Saturday 84-68
- Tennessee Vols (14-0, 1-0) - No. 2 (NET and KenPom)- Tennessee beat Arkansas 76-52
- Florida Gators (13-1, 0-1) - No. 4 (KenPom) - The Gators played Kentucky tough in Rupp Arena, losing 106-100
- Alabama Crimson Tide (12-2, 1-0) - No. 9 (NET and KenPom)- Thanks to a stifling first-half defense, the Crimson Tide won big over Oklahoma, 107-79, despite poor three-point shooting.
- Kentucky Wildcats (12-2, 1-0) - No. 11 in the NET and No. 18 by KPom
- Texas A&M Aggies (12-2, 1-0) - No. 11 (KenPom) and No. 15 (NET) - The Aggies cruised to an 80-60 win over Texas
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (13-1, 1-0) - No. 13 (NET) and No. 15 (KenPom) - The Bulldogs blew out South Carolina, winning 85-50 in Starkville
- Vanderbilt Commodores (13-1, 1-0) - No. 28 (NET) - The Dores beat LSU 80-72
- Ole Miss Rebels (12-2, 1-0) - No. 31 (NET) - Ole Miss beat Georgia 63-51
- Arkansas Razorbacks (11-3, 0-1) - No. 39 (KenPom) and No. 41 (NET) - Tennessee beat the Razorbacks 76-52
- Texas Longhorns (11-3, 0-1) - No. 40 (KenPom) and No. 43 (NET) - The Longhorns lost to Texas A&M 80-60
- Oklahoma Sooners (13-1, 0-1) - No. 45 (NET) after losing to Alabama by 28 points
- Missouri Tigers (11-3, 0-1) - No. 47 (NET) after 84-68 loss to Auburn
- LSU Bengal Tigers (11-3, 0-1) - No. 60 (NET) after losing at home to Vanderbilt
- South Carolina Gamecocks (10-4, 0-1) - No. 92 (NET) after being embarrassed by Mississippi State 85-50
Complete NCCA NET and KenPom rankings.