NET rankings update for the SEC: Jan. 3

Men’s hoops have reached conference play across the country including our beloved Southeastern Conference where basketball sometimes plays third fiddle to football and baseball, especially at Ole Miss.

However, there’s a lot of season left to be played, and despite the Rebels 8-5 start, there is a ton of opportunities in conference this season to vault back into postseason play.

A lot of the decision making from the NCAA Selection Committee banks on the NET rankings of each team, which replaced the outdated Ratings Percentage Index. If the tournament was to start today, it is very likely there would be seven SEC teams in given the NET rankings with all those squads in the top 41 teams in the nation.

For a quick refresher, there’s automatic bids given to conference tournament champions toward the 68 team total for March Madness then the best teams are selected from there. Generally, if a team is in the top 50, there is a decent chance it can be chosen.

Here’s where every team in the SEC stands as of Jan. 3:

• Tennessee - 3
• Alabama - 8
• Arkansas - 12
• Missouri - 31
• Auburn - 36
• Mississippi State - 38
• Kentucky - 41
• Florida - 63
• LSU - 75
• Ole Miss - 89
• Texas A&M - 97
• Vanderbilt - 116
• Georgia - 128
• South Carolina - 261

So, yeah, a lot of work left for Ole Miss, but shockingly, its worse lose to North Alabama (NET: 250) hasn’t completely cratered the season just yet. A close loss to Tennessee to open SEC play propelled the team about 10 or so spots in the NET, so a road visit to Alabama on Tuesday could generate a little more momentum as long as the game is close (less than ten points).

We’ll continue to track where the Rebels are ranked until it gets ridiculous or baseball season gets here. Ole Miss is just a couple upsets away from getting back into the March Madness discussion, so one good week could completely change the conversation for Kermit Davis’ squad.