Ranking each SEC basketball team entering conference play

16. South Carolina Gamecocks

South Carolina has won seven games in a row and picked up a nice victory over ranked Clemson within that stretch. Two of the Gamecocks’ three defeats came to ranked teams at the time, Indiana and Xavier, but a season-opening loss to North Florida showed their floor. Collin Murray-Boyles is one of the best players in the SEC and will keep South Carolina in games, but Lamont Paris’ group isn’t quite at the level of some of the top teams in the conference yet.

15. LSU Tigers

LSU has been a pleasant surprise thus far after winning just 31 games combined in the last two seasons. Matt McMahon’s team has started well in the non-conference season and then faltered in SEC play before though, so the jury remains out on the Tigers, particularly with few notable wins outside of beating UCF in three overtimes. Still, LSU has a skilled backcourt headlined by Cam Carter and Jordan Sears, and the Tigers’ scoring ability should help keep them competitive in SEC play.

14. Vanderbilt Commodores

Vanderbilt is off to an impressive 12-1 start, losing only to another one-loss team, Drake, in the Charleston Classic championship. The Commodores have beaten multiple high-major opponents through the first two months but lack a true resume-changing victory. Still, Mark Byington has put together a deep team with offensive firepower in his first year in Nashville as the Commodores average 86.5 points per game behind leading scorer Jason Edwards.