The regular season is winding down across college basketball. By this time next week, many schools will be wrapping up their regular-season schedules (barring any makeup dates over the weekend).

Many SEC schools have games to make up, but time is running out. We’ll soon learn which games get played for seeding purposes and which fall by the wayside.

For now, though, there’s plenty to discuss after a busy week of hoops. Even with the awful weather that hit much of the Southeast, there were some games played midweek, and even more games played over the weekend.

As we draw ever closer to March, here’s a look at this week’s SEC men’s basketball power rankings:

14. Texas A&M (8-7 overall, 2-6 in SEC, Last week: 14)

Another week has gone by without the Aggies playing a game. And Tuesday’s trip to Kentucky has already been postponed due to COVID-19 issues in the A&M program. This squad hasn’t played a game since Jan. 30, and at this point, it might be worth wondering if the season is over in Aggieland.

13. South Carolina (5-11, 3-9, LW: 13)

Since a major upset over Florida on Feb. 3, the Gamecocks have lost 5 in a row. This past week, they gave up 93 points to Tennessee and 93 points to Mizzou. AJ Lawson continues to play well, as he’s scored 20+ points in 4 straight games, but the rest of the Gamecocks have been struggling. Games at Mississippi State (Wednesday) and at Georgia (Saturday) provide a pair of decent opportunities to snap the losing streak, but the Gamecocks need to get complete team efforts in those matchups.

12. Vanderbilt (6-12, 2-10, LW: 12)

Vanderbilt lost to Kentucky and Alabama last week by identical 82-78 scores, but I maintain that this team is really exciting to watch. Dylan Disu, Max Evans and Scotty Pippen Jr. continue to form a strong trio. However, the talent just isn’t translating into wins yet.

The Commodores made Alabama sweat — something few SEC teams have done this season. Dylan Disu had another double-double, scoring 17 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and throwing down this impressive alley-oop:

He, Pippen and Evans are the real deal, and this team isn’t going to be fun to play come SEC Tournament time. We’ll see if the Commodores can build some momentum this week as they host struggling Tennessee on Wednesday and Ole Miss on Saturday.

11. Auburn (11-12, 5-9, LW: 10)

Auburn is limping to the finish line. On Saturday, the Tigers were routed 104-80 by LSU, playing awful defense in the process. The bigger problem was Sharife Cooper’s lack of assists, though. He scored 26 points, yes, but he had only 2 assists. The way he has shown he’s capable of passing the ball, recording only 2 assists is surprising.

The road doesn’t get easier for Auburn. Since the Tigers won’t be playing in the SEC Tournament due to a self-imposed postseason ban, it’ll be interesting to see how they close out the season at home against Florida (Tuesday), Tennessee (Saturday) and at Alabama (next Tuesday).

10. Mississippi State (12-11, 6-8, LW: 11)

The Bulldogs get the satisfaction of knowing they may have delivered the death blow to Ole Miss’s slim NCAA Tournament hopes on Saturday, beating their rivals 66-56 in Oxford. As usual, Iverson Molinar, DJ Stewart Jr. and Tolu Smith carried the load, combining for 45 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals.

Mississippi State did a good job of using its defense, which held Ole Miss to 38.2% shooting, to create offense, as seen here:

We’ll see if the Bulldogs can pick up a win over struggling South Carolina on Wednesday night with a home game against Alabama looming large on Saturday.

9. Georgia (13-9, 6-9, LW: 8)

Georgia caught Mizzou at the right time last week, handing the Tigers their 3rd straight loss with a major second-half comeback. But, on Saturday, the Bulldogs went cold offensively, losing 70-63 to rival Florida. The interesting thing was that the Dawgs were getting good shots. They just weren’t making them.

In fact, according to ShotQuality, the Dawgs would win the game 65% of the time based on the shots they took:

The problem? Well, Justin Kier went 1-for-10 from the floor for 2 points. And PJ Horne went 0-for-5 for 1 point. They were a combined 0-for-6 from 3-point range. Georgia isn’t going to win too many games with those guys combining for 3 points.

Now, we’ll see if they can regroup against a hot LSU team on Tuesday night and South Carolina on Saturday. Both of those games will be in Athens.

8. Kentucky (8-13, 7-7, LW: 9)

Don’t look now, but Kentucky is at .500 in SEC play after a big 70-55 win at Tennessee on Saturday. After an awful start to the season, the young Wildcats are looking more like a team these days. They’ve learned each other’s tendencies and coach John Calipari is actually coaching to their strengths.

For example, when teams run a zone against the Wildcats (not a bad idea, considering their season-long struggles from beyond the arc), Davion Mintz now has the green light to shoot. He scored 15 points on Saturday — on 5 made 3-pointers. This shot is exactly what you have to be able to make against a zone:

Freshman big man Isaiah Jackson is also playing well lately. He led the Wildcats with 16 points on Saturday and scored in a variety of ways. There’s this unstoppable mid-range jumper:

And this insanely athletic jam where he used the rim to shield the ball from the defender:

Keion Brooks Jr. also deserves some praise for his 10-point, 14-rebound double-double. The Wildcats are firing on all cylinders right now, and it’ll be interesting to see if they can keep the good times going this week against Florida on Saturday.

7. Ole Miss (12-9, 7-7, LW: 6)

The Rebels saw their 4-game winning streak come to an end Saturday against their bitter rivals, as Mississippi State handed them a 66-56 loss in Oxford. How did the Bulldogs stop the Rebels’ momentum?

Well, the biggest thing is they made life miserable for Devontae Shuler. Shuler had one of his worst games as a Rebel, going 1-for-15 from the floor and 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He finished with 4 total points in 38 minutes.

I can safely predict that Ole Miss won’t win many games when Shuler has a performance like that. The loss might have spelled disaster for the Rebels’ NCAA Tournament hopes, too, but we’ll see if they can regroup at Mizzou on Tuesday and at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

6. Tennessee (15-6, 8-6, LW: 4)

The Vols’ offense has been inconsistent all year, and it has cost them dearly. Sometimes, Tennessee looks like a team that can make a Final Four run. Other times, it looks like a team that doesn’t even belong in the field of 68 teams.

John Fulkerson continues to be an enigma. In a 70-55 loss against Kentucky on Saturday, he only managed 4 points. After averaging 13.7 points last season, he’s down to 9.9 this year.

Meanwhile, when Jaden Springer and Santiago Vescovi only combine for 6 points on 3-for-16 shooting (and 0-for-7 from 3-point range), the Vols are going to struggle. As of right now, this team is too inconsistent to expect deep runs in either the SEC or NCAA Tournaments.

Road trips to Vanderbilt (Wednesday) and Auburn (Saturday) provide opportunities to get the offense going heading into the SEC Tournament, as the Commodores and Tigers are 2 of the worst defensive teams in the league.

5. Florida (11-6, 7-5, LW: 7)

The Gators were a bit sluggish in a loss to Arkansas on Tuesday night after a long COVID-related layoff. However, they bounced back with a 70-63 win over Georgia on Saturday. It was far from their best effort, but it got them back in the win column, and that’s what matters.

Colin Castleton continues to play well, leading the Gators with 14 points and 7 rebounds in the win over the Bulldogs. He also had 1 assist, and what an assist it was:

The Gators are firmly in the NCAA Tournament picture as of now, but things can change in a hurry. They’ll have to take care of business at Auburn on Tuesday night and at Kentucky on Saturday.

4. Mizzou (14-6, 7-6, LW: 5)

What a difference Jeremiah Tilmon makes. After missing 2 games due to a death in the family, Tilmon was back on Saturday at South Carolina. He didn’t start and only played 21 minutes, but his shooting was perfect. He went 5-for-5 from the floor and made all 7 of his free throws to finish with 17 points.

Tilmon is all over this highlight reel, but so are guys like Kobe Brown and Parker Braun, both of whom gained confidence with increased playing time during Tilmon’s absence:

The Tigers are No. 24 in the AP Poll this week. To stay there, they’ll need to take care of business against Ole Miss on Tuesday and against Texas A&M on Saturday. Those are both winnable games for Cuonzo Martin’s squad and the Tigers can’t afford any more setbacks.

3. LSU (14-6, 9-4, LW: 3)

The Tigers continue to be unstoppable when Darius Days scores 10 or more points. They’re now 14-1 when he scores in double figures after Saturday’s 104-80 rout of Auburn. Days had 17 points and was red-hot at the end of the first half and start of the second half:

He’s a knockdown shooter from the corner, but he gets plenty of open looks because of the other guys teams have to try to stop on LSU’s offense. Freshman Cam Thomas led all scorers with 27 points. Even good defense from Auburn couldn’t stop him from finding the bottom of the net:

https://twitter.com/brhoops/status/1363268143985143811

Trendon Watford added an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double, Josh LeBlanc Sr. had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and Javonte Smart added 16 points and 6 assists. This team seems to be peaking at the right time, and that’s bad news for Georgia and Arkansas this week.

2. Arkansas (17-5, 9-4, LW: 2)

Arkansas had its Saturday trip to Texas A&M postponed, but the Hogs are still riding a 7-game SEC winning streak. Devo Davis continues to make strides as a freshman, though Moses Moody is getting the headlines with his outstanding season.

But, now the road gets much tougher for the Hogs. They host No. 6 Alabama on Wednesday night and red-hot LSU on Saturday. Those are 2 very difficult games, but if the Hogs can go 2-0 or 1-1, they’ll establish themselves as a legitimate threat to win the SEC Tournament.

1. Alabama (18-5, 13-1, LW: 1)

Saturday’s 82-78 win over Vanderbilt wasn’t pretty, as the Tide shot only 10-for-39 from 3-point range. But they won, and that’s what counts. Jaden Shackelford led the way with 27 points despite going 1-for-9 from long range.

But he is perhaps Alabama’s best finisher in traffic. Look at the degree of difficulty of some of these drives:

John Petty Jr. and Herb Jones only combined for 14 points on Saturday, which is concerning, but the Tide got big man Jordan Bruner back in the mix, and that’s going to help down the stretch.

We’ll see what happens in a huge matchup against Arkansas in Fayetteville on Wednesday.