There’s still plenty of time for more official polls to release their 2020-2021 college basketball rankings, but there are already enough personal polls and early rankings released to get a sense of where expectations lie for each SEC basketball team.
I plan to track these polls and other more prominent and important polls like KenPom, the AP Poll, and the NET ratings throughout the year. But for now, each of these polls gives a good idea of where various “experts” think that SEC basketball teams stand going into the 2020-2021 college basketball season.
Similar to my consensus NBA Draft projections post, I will link each of the rankings/polls that I use at the bottom of this post.
Alabama
Of the eight different polls and rankings that have been released and I have started tracking, Alabama finds themselves ranked in four of them, including the Bart Torvik rankings which rank every college basketball team.
Alabama is as high as 18th overall in Jeff Goodman’s preseason top-50 for Stadium and is also included in Andy Katz’s “Power 36” and 247 Sports’ early rankings.
The Crimson Tide have an average ranking of 28 with a high of 18 and a low of 39.
Arkansas
Arkansas finds themselves ranked in four of the eight polls that have been released so far including 51st in the Torvik rankings which rank every college basketball team.
The Razorbacks are as high as 20 in 247 Sports rankings (although these do not appear to take into account Isaiah Joe re-declaring for the NBA Draft), and as low as 51 in the Torvik rankings. Their average ranking between the four is 37th.
Auburn
Auburn is only ranked in the Torvik rankings, which rank all college basketball teams, and Jeff Goodman’s top-50 rankings for Stadium.
The Tigers are 39th in Goodman’s rankings and as low as 109th in the Torvik rankings before the season starts.
Florida
The Florida Gators are ranked in four different preseason polls/rankings so far with their highest ranking being 6th in the Torvik rankings. Their lowest ranking is just 28th in Jon Rothstein’s top-45 and they have an average ranking of 20th between the four polls that they are already included in.
Georgia
Georgia only finds themselves ranked in the Torvik rankings so far, unsurprisingly, and they are down at 107th to start the year.
Kentucky
Kentucky is one of just two SEC teams to be ranked in every poll/rankings that have been released and are being considered throughout this year.
The Wildcats have an average ranking of 17th with their highest ranking being 9th in Andy Katz’s “Power 36” and their lowest ranking being 25th in the Torvik rankings.
LSU
The Tigers are ranked in seven out of the eight rankings so far with just 247 Sports leaving LSU out of their top-25 for now.
LSU is ranked as high as 17th by Jon Rothstein and as low as 61st in the Torvik rankings with an average placement of 32nd going into the season.
Mississippi State
Mississippi State is only included in the Torvik rankings for now and they are slotted at 100th to begin the season.
Missouri
Missouri is also only ranked in the Torvik rankings so far, but the Tigers are all the way at 56th overall before the season even starts.
Ole Miss
The Rebels find themselves in both Jeff Goodman’s top-50 as well as the Torvik rankings and they land at 42nd overall in both.
South Carolina
South Carolina is ranked in three different preseason polls so far including Jon Rothstein’s top-45, Jeff Goodman’s top-50, and the Tovick rankings.
The Gamecocks have an average ranking of 54 between the three polls with a high of 36th by Jon Rothstein and a low of 76th in the Torvik rankings.
Tennessee
Along with Kentucky, Tennessee is the only other team to be ranked in all of the preseason polls being considered so far. The Volunteers are also the highest ranked SEC team overall with an average ranking of 13th between the eight polls.
Tennessee’s lowest ranking is just 20th in Jeff Goodman’s top-50 rankings for Stadium and their highest ranking is 8th overall by Yahoo/NBC Sports.
Texas A&M
The Aggies are just included in Toviks rankings where they come in at 78th overall to start Buzz Williams’s second season in College Station.
Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt is also only in Tovik’s rankings and the Commodores are the lowest-ranked SEC team at 139th overall. They can only go up from here, and I wouldn’t expect them to be cracking many preseason polls or polls in general for a while.
It’s a little too early to be getting a general consensus of where SEC basketball teams will stand going into the 2020-2021 college basketball season, but the experts that were eager to get their “way too early” polls out way ahead of the season at least give us a good starting point of where expectations lie, currently.
Again, I plan to track these polls and other more important polls and rankings like the AP Poll, the NET ratings, and KenPom, Sagarin, and other advanced metrics throughout the year. I hope to have a pretty inclusive aggregate of rankings throughout the season to have a good idea of where SEC basketball teams stand overall.
For now, here is where each SEC basketball team stands, and each of the polls is linked below the table.
Polls/Rankings:
Yahoo Sports/NBC Preseason Top 25
Jon Rothstein Preseason Top 45
Outside of the major polls/rankings waiting to be released, feel free to let me know if there are other rankings that you’d like me to include in future posts like this.