College basketball rankings: Tennessee, Arkansas win in Jimmy V Classic as SEC continues to dominate

Tennessee’s first game after moving to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2019 went smoothly.

Final score: UT 75, Miami 62.

The Vols cruised to another double-digit win in the early game of Tuesday’s 30th annual Jimmy V Classic inside New York’s Madison Square Garden. So Rick Barnes’ program is now 9-0 with all nine victories coming by at least 13 points. Four of those wins are over teams that rank in the top 95 at BartTorvik.com — specifically Baylor, Louisville, Virginia and Miami. As a result, Tennessee remains No. 1 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the seventh consecutive day.

Auburn is No. 2. Kentucky is No. 5. Alabama is No. 7.

In total, there are now four SEC schools in the top seven of the Top 25 And 1, seven in the top 17 and nine in the top 25. Undeniably, it’s the best men’s basketball conference in the country this season — both the deepest and the one with the most legitimate national title contenders. There are lots of ways to illustrate that second point, one of which is by linking Kyle Boone’s piece from Tuesday that reminded us how, since 2004, every eventual national champion has been ranked inside of the top 12 of the Week 6 AP poll.

This is Week 6.

For what it’s worth, five of the top 12 teams — more specifically, five of the top nine teams — in this week’s AP poll come from the SEC. My pal Soren Petro, who does radio on 810 WHB in Kansas City, asked me Tuesday if I would take the SEC or the field to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Great question!

I believe, what the smart folks would tell us, is that “the field” is still the right answer. But, man, it’s probably closer than any of us anticipated it would be heading into this season.

Top 25 And 1 rankings

 In: Georgia, Arizona State

Out: Michigan, Wisconsin