SEC in the Rankings

by BrianSWard on Feb 19, 2010 11:36 AM EST

Another week has passed, with another series of Southeastern Conference games. One trend that seems apparent is that the SEC as a whole, particularly the "middle six", are steadily losing traction in the rankings. Unfortunately, with the exception of Florida, this is notable in the RPI rankings -- which are used directly by the NCAA Tournament committee. There are three clear NCAA Tournament teams right now - Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee - but, it's not clear who's going to make a statement and join them.

Moreover, the biggest game of the conference season takes place this week, as Kentucky visits Vanderbilt. Kentucky can all but lock up the SEC Championship and a #1 seed with a road win in Nashville. A Vanderbilt win means that the Conference race will come down to the wire, and Vanderbilt will have a legitimate shot at a top 3 seed in the dance. (I'm pretty sure that my dream last night, in which I attended the opening round NCAA tournament game between 1 seed Kentucky and 4 seed Vanderbilt, was not prescient.)

Numbers for your consideration ...

CBS Sportsline* RPI	Rank	SOS	1wk-trend	5wk-trend
Kentucky	4	49	+2	+7
Vanderbilt	11	21	0	+10
Tennessee	17	19	+5	+8
Ole Miss	54	57	-15	-9
Florida	58	62	-2	+25
Mississippi State	63	99	+9	-13
South Carolina	77	31	-13	-8
Alabama	91	37	+7	-11
Georgia	95	9	+7	+5
Arkansas	113	45	+1	?
Auburn	152	63	-9	?
LSU	216	83	+4	?
* CBS Sportsline used because it is a consistently good approximation of the actual NCAA published weekly RPI.

More rankings after the jump ...

Pomeroy	Rank	SOS	1wk-trend	5wk-trend
Kentucky	8	77	-1	+3
Vanderbilt	26	22	-6	-2
Tennessee	29	47	-1	-17
Mississippi State	40	98	-1	-3
Ole Miss	43	58	-3	-26
Florida	54	91	-6	-7
Alabama	72	62	-2	+6
South Carolina	79	36	-1	-10
Georgia	89	11	-1	-1
Arkansas	90	106	+3	?
Auburn	106	78	+2	?
LSU	200	63	+8	?

Sagarin	Rank	SOS	Predictor	1wk-trend	5wk-trend
Kentucky	4	80	8	+2	+1
Vanderbilt	14	35	24	+1	+7
Tennessee	20	51	23	-4	-7
Ole Miss	43	68	39	-7	-21
Florida	45	59	51	-2	+8
Mississippi State	51	99	41	+5	-25
South Carolina	74	22	76	-5	-1
Alabama	80	64	70	+2	-8
Georgia	93	4	93	+2	+10
Arkansas	104	95	97	+2	?
Auburn	126	72	107	-3	?
LSU	198	71	186	-1	?

Basketball State	Rank	1wk-trend	2wk-trend
Kentucky	4	+2	+3
Vanderbilt	11	+1	-1
Tennessee	19	-1	-2
Mississippi State	51	+4	-3
Ole Miss	59	-10	-9
Florida	71	-6	+3
South Carolina	84	-5	-6
Alabama	97	+8	-7
Georgia	102	-4	+3
Arkansas	113	+10	?
Auburn	149	+8	?
LSU	218	+2	?

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