I keep forgetting to post and link this. I am a bad boy. Sorry.
As the old saying goes, better late than never. This week's power poll results may be found at Garnet and Black Attack, as usual. My ballot and comments follow the jump.
Here is my ballot:
| ASOB | Conf | Overall | Rankings | |||||
| Rank | School | W | L | W | L | Pomeroy | RPI | Remarks |
| 1 | Kentucky Wildcats | 9 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 0.96 | 0.66 | Kentucky continues to win games, tough or otherwise. |
| 2 | Vanderbilt Commodores | 8 | 2 | 19 | 5 | 0.91 | 0.63 | Vandy won the battle of Tennessee, but the way to the SEC regular-season title goes through Lexington. |
| 3 | Tennessee Volunteers | 6 | 4 | 18 | 6 | 0.91 | 0.62 | The banged-up Vols tried a tricky 3-2 on the 'Cats, but in the end, they didn't have enough to win in Lexington. |
| 4 | Mississippi Rebels | 5 | 5 | 17 | 7 | 0.89 | 0.59 | Second in the league in offense, but 10th in defense. That way leads to inconsistency. |
| 5 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | 6 | 4 | 18 | 7 | 0.9 | 0.58 | This team puts no pressure on opposing ballhandlers, and as a result, gets few easy baskets. |
| 6 | Florida Gators | 6 | 4 | 17 | 8 | 0.87 | 0.58 | Next to last in 3-point FG%. If Florida doesn't tighten that up soon, they'll be NIT bound again. |
| 7 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 4 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 0.82 | 0.54 | Gutted out a tough win against the Hawgs, but this team just doesn't take care of their defensive boards. |
| 8 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 5 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 0.8 | 0.57 | Allows opponents to get 38% OR, and can't get to the line. They can beat anybody on a given night, but those nights aren't coming often enough. |
| 9 | Georgia Bulldogs | 3 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 0.76 | 0.55 | If Georgia had some decent guard play, they would be a tournament team. Alas, they don't. |
| 10 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 6 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 0.74 | 0.53 | Courtney Fortson has the suddenly resurgent Hawgs surprisingly at the top of the West. Can they continue and shock the world with an NCAA bid? |
| 11 | Auburn Tigers | 3 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 0.69 | 0.51 | This team is going nowhere, slowly. |
| 12 | LSU Tigers | 0 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 0.42 | 0.47 | LSU is winless, hapless, hopeless. Maybe next year. |
Observations:
- Note that this ballot was cast on Monday, so nothing that has happened since then was figured in.
- I did a lot of second-guessing about putting the Mississippi Rebels ahead of the Mississippi St. Bulldogs. I was persuaded by Ole Miss' higher RPI, but I would not disagree whatsoever if someone complained those two should be swapped. It's a close call.
- Arkansas probably deserves a better ranking than Georgia right now, but their earlier schedule is still weighing them down. I guarantee you after beating South Carolina this week, the Hawgs will not be this low next week. In fact, if I was a Gator, I'd duck.
- South Carolina really needed that Arkansas game. They are looking more and more like a team in a death spiral.
- I sure am glad we played Arkansas before they got it going. They look like a different team right now, and I don't believe an at-large NCAA tournament berth is out of their reach. Getting to nine wins should be easy for them, but that tenth, eleventh, or twelfth looks really tough.
If they get 12, I say they are in, but fewer than that and they'll need a deep SEC tournament run.
Discuss.