The final week of the SEC season is here, and there’s still plenty of drama. Three teams (Mizzou, Vanderbilt and Auburn) have 9-7 records in league play. South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU are battling to avoid the No. 14 seed in the SEC Tournament.

Auburn and Alabama square off in a major rivalry game midweek. Alabama heads to Texas A&M for a game that could decide the No. 1 seed in Nashville on Saturday.

There’s plenty of intrigue on the schedule over this final week, and a lot to play for for nearly every team in the conference.

Let’s take a look at where each team stands in our updated power rankings heading into the final week of SEC regular-season play:

14. South Carolina (10-19 overall, 3-13 in SEC, Last week: 12)

South Carolina has now lost 6 games this year by 20 or more points. The Gamecocks have lost 3 of those games by 40 or more points. That’s flat-out embarrassing. They also have this dubious distinction:

The Gamecocks gave Alabama a scare on Wednesday night, but until this team stops losing in blowout fashion so often, it’s back in the basement of these power rankings.

13. LSU (13-16, 2-14, LW: 14)

LSU scored a nice win over a red-hot Vanderbilt team last week before getting back to its losing ways on Saturday with a blowout loss at Ole Miss. If the Tigers are going to avoid the No. 14 seed in the SEC tournament, they’re going to have to beat either Mizzou (on Wednesday in Baton Rouge) or Florida (on Saturday in Gainesville) and get some help with Ole Miss and South Carolina losing.

12. Ole Miss (11-18, 3-13, LW: 13)

Ole Miss showed a little bit of fight after coach Kermit Davis was let go. Yes, it was only against a bad LSU team, but the Rebels can’t be picky when it comes to picking up wins this season. Now we’ll see if they can play spoiler this week ahead of the SEC basketball tournament. On Tuesday, Texas A&M visits Oxford. On Saturday, the Rebels head to Missouri to end the regular season against the Tigers.

11. Florida (14-15, 7-9, LW: 11)

The Gators are lost without Colin Castleton. That’s not a surprise, as he’s one of the best big men in the country. Florida has a couple of rivalry games (at Georgia on Tuesday and vs. LSU on Saturday) to close out the regular season, so you can bet the Gators will at least play with a lot of effort this coming week. We’ll see if they can make a push to finish with a .500 record in SEC play.

10. Georgia (16-13, 6-10, LW: 10)

Georgia had a good first half against Mizzou on Saturday. Georgia did not have a good second half against Mizzou on Saturday. The Bulldogs were outscored 45-22 after the intermission, losing the game 85-63. They’ve now lost 3 in a row by 49, 32 and 22 points. It’ll be important for the Bulldogs to stop that trend moving into this last week against Florida and at South Carolina to end the regular season (the first under Mike White) on a positive note.

9. Vanderbilt (16-13, 9-7, LW: 7)

Losing to LSU midweek was a major setback for the Commodores. But they bounced back with a nice win over Florida on Saturday. Liam Robbins had another strong performance, posting 18 points and 9 boards. He hit shots from outside:

And in the paint:

It won’t be easy for the Commodores to pick up another win in SEC play, but it is certainly possible with how tough this team has been lately. Vanderbilt plays at Kentucky on Wednesday and hosts Mississippi State on Saturday.

8. Auburn (19-10, 9-7, LW: 9)

Auburn has to be very careful this week. Coming off an awful 86-54 drubbing at the hands of Kentucky on Saturday, the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers. Bruce Pearl’s squad heads to Tuscaloosa to face rival Alabama on Wednesday, then hosts No. 12 Tennessee to close the regular season on Saturday. Those are the 2 highest-ranked teams in the SEC right now, so the Tigers will need to be better on both ends of the court than they were at Kentucky over the weekend.

7. Mississippi State (19-10, 7-9, LW: 6)

This is going to be an intriguing week for Chris Jans and the Bulldogs. Getting to .500 in SEC play would look really good on the Mississippi State NCAA Tournament résumé, as would getting to the 20-win mark. The Bulldogs host South Carolina in a very winnable game on Tuesday night and travel to Vanderbilt for a tougher matchup on Saturday. Going 9-9 in SEC action would be huge.

6. Arkansas (19-10, 8-8, LW: 8)

Time for some Nick Smith Jr. highlights! He’s all the way back, and it couldn’t be at a better time for the Razorbacks. He had 24 points in the Hogs’ narrow loss to Alabama on Saturday:

Arkansas has perhaps the second-toughest last week of the regular season (behind Auburn), though. The Hogs head to No. 12 Tennessee on Tuesday and face No. 23 Kentucky on Saturday. We’ll see if they can boost their NCAA Tournament résumé and finish at .500 or better in SEC play.

5. Mizzou (21-8, 9-7, LW: 5)

The Tigers had a good week when they needed it most, coming off of losses the previous week against Auburn and Texas A&M. Mizzou showed grit in an overtime win over Mississippi State, avenging a loss earlier this year. Then the Tigers shook off a rough first half to beat Georgia by 22 points on Saturday. Mizzou has a golden opportunity to potentially earn a top-4 seed in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers face LSU on Wednesday and Ole Miss on Saturday. Win both of those games and things could get interesting.

4. Tennessee (21-8, 10-6, LW: 4)

The Vols bounced back from a 2-game losing streak to Kentucky and Texas A&M to absolutely demolish South Carolina by 40 points on Saturday. Both the offense and defense were clicking at the same time, which hasn’t happened much outside of the 2 games against the Gamecocks lately. But it was still a good sign, and getting Josiah-Jordan James back (and watching him score 18 points in the process) is great for the Vols moving into the final week of the regular season.

3. Texas A&M (21-8, 13-3, LW: 2)

Starkville is a tough place to go into and win. The Aggies found that out the hard way on Saturday, falling 69-62 to Mississippi State. Texas A&M will still likely be the No. 2 seed in the SEC tournament, which is a great testament to the work Buzz Williams has done with this team in conference play. I have him as the frontrunner for the SEC Coach of the Year award heading into the final week.

2. Kentucky (20-9, 11-5, LW: 3)

You want to play your best basketball in March. Well, it’s Feb. 28 and the Wildcats are playing their best basketball of the season. Oscar Tshiebwe is looking like the National Player of the Year he was last year. Cason Wallace is getting better with each game. Antonio Reeves and Jacob Toppin are playing solid basketball. The Wildcats have a great shot at snagging a double-bye in the SEC tournament bracket. All they need to do is beat either Vanderbilt on Wednesday or Arkansas on Saturday to lock up a top-4 seed.

1. Alabama (25-4, 15-1, LW: 1)

Watching Brandon Miller and Nick Smith Jr. go head-to-head in the Tide’s 86-83 win over Arkansas on Saturday was a lot of fun. Both players put up 24 points and 6 rebounds. They’re both likely going to be early lottery picks in the 2023 NBA Draft. We’ll see them square off again in the pro ranks soon. As for Alabama, the last week of the regular season won’t be easy. First up is a Wednesday night rivalry game against Auburn. Then the Tide head to College Station to play Texas A&M in a game that could very well decide the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.