Faculty basketball rankings: Alabama and Tennessee separating themselves from remainder of SEC pack

Alabama beat Mississippi State 66-63 on Wednesday whereas Tennessee blasted Georgia 70-41. Meaning the Crimson Tide and Volunteers stay alone in first and second, respectively, within the SEC standings and appear to be separating from the remainder of the league — at the least because it pertains to nationwide relevance and NCAA Match seeding.

Each Alabama and Tennessee are projected top-two seeds for the NCAA Match, in response to CBS Sports activities Bracketology knowledgeable Jerry Palm. I’d agree with that sentiment — proof being that I’ve Alabama No. 2 and Tennessee No. 8 in Thursday morning’s up to date CBS Sports activities Prime 25 And 1 day by day faculty basketball rankings. No different SEC college is in my high 20, nonetheless, nor higher than a 6-seed in Palm’s newest projected bracket, all of which suggests there is a sizable hole between Alabama/Tennessee and all people else within the convention.

Does that imply the SEC is a two-team race? Not essentially.

Texas A&M gained at Auburn 79-63 late Wednesday — which dropped the Tigers to twenty second within the Prime 25 And 1 — to enhance to 6-1 within the league and stay tied within the loss column with Tennessee (7-1) and only one sport again within the loss column of Alabama (8-0). So the Aggies might be an element — particularly in the event that they proceed taking part in the best way they have been taking part in throughout this nine-game stretch wherein they’re 8-1 and performing like a top-10 crew, in response to BartTorvik.com. That acknowledged, KenPom.com nonetheless tasks Alabama and Tennessee to finally end at the least three video games forward of all people else within the SEC.

As for extra motion in Thursday’s Prime 25 And 1, Xavier superior three spots to No. 11 following Wednesday’s 82-79 win at UConn, which prompted Virginia, TCU and Baylor to drop one spot every, no fault of their very own. UConn is right down to No. 26 after dropping for the sixth time in eight outings. That is clearly not good — however the Huskies are nonetheless 7-5 within the first two quadrants with 4 Q1 wins and just one loss outdoors of Q1. In different phrases, UConn’s physique of labor stays higher than, or at the least similar to, every other crew I might put at No. 26 — amongst them candidates like Rutgers, New Mexico and Nevada.

Prime 25 And 1 rankings