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Men's basketball Power Rankings: Alabama rises as Tennessee falls
Duke and Alabama rise in the latest edition as SEC teams shift up and down the board.
There are a pair of massive top-10 showdowns this weekend in college basketball, two games that will have a sizable impact on next week's Power Rankings.
The first is Tennessee's trip to Auburn on Saturday. Tennessee has been up and down since winning its first 14 games, while Auburn is without Johni Broome and has looked vulnerable for the first time in a month in two of its past three games.
Iowa State's loss last weekend to West Virginia means any slipup from Auburn and Duke moves up to No. 1 -- although the Blue Devils have a difficult trip to Wake Forest (with its 10-0 home record) this weekend.
Next up is Kansas hosting Houston. We've had this game circled on our calendars for weeks, particularly for Houston. The Cougars have otherworldly metrics. The numbers show that Kelvin Sampson's team should be considered alongside Auburn and Duke as national title favorites, but they haven't exactly beaten anyone of note, with their best win coming at home against West Virginia. A victory in Allen Fieldhouse would certainly count.
Meanwhile, it's a chance for Kansas to change the narrative about itself moving forward; the Jayhawks have beaten Duke and Michigan State, but the preseason No. 1 team has not quite lived up to expectations.
Every weekend during conference play offers a slew of intriguing matchups, but the top of the rankings could look dramatically different at this time next week because of these two games.
4.
Previous ranking: 8
Alabama hit the 100-point mark for the second consecutive game and the sixth time this season, which is the most of any team in the country -- but it wasn't Mark Sears or Grant Nelson leading the way against Vanderbilt. Aden Holloway and Mouhamed Dioubate came off the bench to score 22 points apiece, with Holloway making four 3-pointers and Dioubate grabbing 10 rebounds. Dioubate is particularly interesting, given that his role has fluctuated all season, but the absence of Derrion Reid for the past three games has allowed the active 6-foot-7 forward to thrive.
Next seven days: vs. LSU (Jan. 25), at Mississippi State (Jan. 29)
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