Tennessee Cracks Top 10; Auburn And Kentucky In Top 5 As SEC Tournament Looms

Published|Updated

The Southeastern Conference has moved to the head of the class as tournament time is dawning across the nation.

Tennessee (23-7, 14-4) jumped from No. 13 into the top 10 on Monday in the Associated Press men's college basketball poll in a tie at No. 9 with Purdue (25-6, 14-6 Big Ten). The Volunteers defeated No. 14 Arkansas on Saturday to finish the regular season in a tie with Kentucky for second in the SEC.

Tennessee received the No. 2 seed for the SEC Tournament that begins Wednesday in Tampa, Florida. Arkansas (24-7, 13-5) dropped to No. 15.

Auburn (27-4, 15-3), which won the regular season title, jumped up a spot in the A.P. poll to No. 4. Kentucky (25-6, 14-4) moved up two spots to No. 5.

Gonzaga (24-3) remained No. 1 in the poll, followed by No. 2 Arizona (28-3), No. 3 Baylor (26-5), No. 6 Kansas (25-6), No. 7 Duke (26-5), which dropped three spots after a home loss to North Carolina in coach Mike Krzyzewski's last home game as Duke's coach, and No. 8 Villanova (23-7).

Providence is No. 11, followed by No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 13 UCLA, No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 15 Arkansas, No. 16 Illinois, No. 17 Saint Mary's, No. 18 Houston, No. 19 Murray State, No. 20 Connecticut, No. 21 USC, No. 22 Texas, No. 23 Colorado State, No. 24 Iowa and No. 25 North Carolina.

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.