SEC Men's Basketball Power Rankings: Auburn takes top spot, but Florida is lurking

Last year, the SEC sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament. The conference was deep enough to send plenty of teams to the field, but when only two teams made the Sweet 16, Alabama and Tennessee, the tourney felt like a bit of a letdown for the conference.

This year, that first number will rise — the conference could realistically get ten teams into the tournament — and that second number should rise, too, as plenty of SEC teams have the firepower to make real runs in March. A few games into conference play, how does the conference stack up against itself?

SEC Power Rankings after one week of conference play

1. Auburn Tigers (14-1, 2-0)

The presumed No. 1 team in the country is also the No. 1 team in SEC Power Rankings. A few days ago, this spot might have gone to Tennessee... but we'll get to that in a second.

Auburn has plenty of weapons, and the best weapon is the best college player in the country, Jonhi Broome. The senior is averaging 18.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game. He's dominant in pretty much every facet of the game.

If a team can somehow shut Broome down, the Tigers aren't short on options, including freshman Tahaad Pettiford, a bench star who's shown an ability to get hot quickly.

2. Florida Gators (14-1, 1-1)

A 30-point stomping of the No. 1 team in the country is also defined as a statemen game. That's what we saw from Florida on Tuesday, when Todd Golden's team dispatched Tennessee with apparent ease. That wasn't just a huge win for rankings' sake, but also one for confidence's sake; Florida had just fallen to Kentucky in a thriller to open SEC play.

This team will get buckets (8th in NCAA in points per game) and dismantle their opponents on the glass, posting the best rebound differential in college basketball. Being able to make shots and get the ball back when you miss is a key to being a great (and annoying) team.

3. Alabama Crimson Tide (12-2, 2-0)

The Tide continues to roll. Losses to an upstart Oregon team and Purdue won't detail Bama, which started off SEC play with a monster offensive performance in a 107-79 win over Oklahoma.

Star guard Mark Sears looks more like himself after a sluggish start and Labaron Philon has brought a consistent scoring presence alongside the preseason All-American. Can anyone slow down the Alabama offense? It doesn't look very fun to try.

4. Tennessee Volunteers (14-1, 1-1)

The Vols looked about as bad as possible against Florida on Tuesday... but losing by 1 or 100 still counts as one game. This team has one of the best defenses in the country — but can go cold on offense. When that happens, and the defense has a rare off night too, games like Tuesday are possible.

But don't expect that to happen very often; Tennessee puts teams in the torture chamber, as opponents are shooting just 35% against the Vols this season. Tuesday wasn't a "fluke" in the typical sense because Florida is really good, but don't judge UT on that one game alone. This team is still dangerous, and it starts on the defensive end.

5. Kentucky Wildcats (12-3, 1-1)

The vibes of a Mark Pope team are polar opposite vibes from a John Calipari team. I will not elaborate.

Depending on how good you think Georgia really is, Kentucky arguably deserves to be higher on this list. But the last thing we saw from this team was a disappointing loss to UGA, so they come in at No. 5 for now.

UK has some of the strongest wins in the conference; Duke, Gonzaga and Florida are already crossed off as W's. Mark Pope could be building something new (and fun) in Lexington.

6. Mississippi State Bulldogs (14-1, 2-0)

Mississippi State was never thought to be a real competitor for the SEC, but has vaulted itself into the mix for conference — and national — rankings early in this season, quickly becoming a team that no one really wants to play. One weird loss to Butler remains the only "L" on the schedule so far, and comfortable wins against two of the SEC's lesser teams show that the Bulldogs really are in the upper tier of this conference.

7. Georgia Bulldogs (13-2, 1-1)

Don't look now... or do look, because the Bulldogs are legit. A pretty convincing win over Kentucky on Tuesday will likely launch UGA into the AP Top 25 next week, and deservedly so. Mike White has done an admirable job turning this program around, and freshman Asa Newell has lived up to the hype in his first season in Athens.

8. Ole Miss Rebels (12-2, 1-0)

The Rebels could be a beast in waiting. Their only losses this season are to Purdue and Memphis, and they beat Georgia to start their conference slate. That was a pretty impressive win from Ole Miss, but staying consistent through a schedule with very few easy wins will be key. This team hangs its hat on locking up opponents (33rd in the country in points allowed) and doesn't have one standout scorer, instead getting contributions from numerous sources.

9. Texas A&M Aggies (12-2, 1-0)

Crashing the boards fixes everything. TAMU doesn't do anyhting stunningly well except for get rebounds, where they have the fifth-best differential versus their opponents in the country. That prevents second-chance shots, making an already-good defense even harder to score on.

Kenpom has them ranked No. 14, and the Aggies have Oklahoma, Alabama and Kentucky up next. This rating is bound to fluctuate one way or the other.

10. Oklahoma Sooners (13-1, 0-1)

This might be a tad bit harsh for the Sooners, who are 13-1, with that one loss coming to a scary Alabama team. But the loss was a decimation, as the Tide dropped 107 points on OU last weekend. It was Oklahoma's first loss of the year, and wins against Michigan and Louisville in non-coference play suggest this is still a very good team... the SEC is just brutal this year. A showdown with Texas A&M on Wednesday should tell us more.

11. Missouri
12. Arkansas
13. Vanderbilt
14. Texas
15. South Carolina
16. LSU