SEC basketball ratings for Feb. 18

1. LSU TIGERS

If the Tigers are a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament — and their weak strength of schedule certainly limits their ceiling — I can guarantee you none of the No. 1 seeds want to see those guys in the second round. LSU has a true star (Marcus Thornton), a solid post presence (Tasmin Mitchell), a point guard with Final Four experience (Garrett Temple) and one of the best coaches in the game, Trent Johnson.

2. TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Speaking of No. 8 seeds, Jerry Palm of collegerpi.com currently slots Tennessee as an 8 against Virginia Tech in the first round. The winner gets Connecticut in the second round in Philadelphia, according to Palm. But no team in the SEC can improve its seed more than Tennessee in the closing month. The Vols still play road games at Kentucky, Florida and South Carolina. Win two of those, and a selection committee already paying close attention to the final 12 games will take notice.

3. SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

We love to break down teams and point to reasons why they improve, but with the Gamecocks our answer is simple: They’re making last-second shots this year. Last season, they didn’t. Zam Fredrick beat Florida with a wild last-second layup after catching a full-court pass, Devan Downey drilled a late shot at Kentucky and Mike Holmes beat Alabama last Saturday with a controversial tip-in at the buzzer. The Gamecocks lost seven games last year by three points or less.

4. KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Why does ESPN continue sending sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards to Kentucky games? She was there again for Tuesday night’s game at Vanderbilt. Coach Billy Gillispie treated Edwards pretty poorly during their last two halftime interviews, using responses such as “That’s a bad question” (to a totally fair question about Jodie Meeks) and “You know more about it than I do, obviously. Some of these things I haven’t heard of” when asked about Nick Calathes’ vision.

5. FLORIDA GATORS

Here’s why you can’t always get too excited about recruiting: Florida’s Billy Donovan signed Jai Lucas and thought he had Patrick Patterson, two of the best unsigned seniors in May 2007. Lucas transferred to Texas after one season and Patterson picked Kentucky over Florida. “In recruiting you’re always going to have more people tell you no than are going to tell you yes,” Donovan said. “Patterson has had a great career up to this point in time.”

6. OLE MISS REBELS

Here’s another interesting recruiting story: Ole Miss wanted Bo Spencer, who signed with LSU. “We wanted him, and we wanted him badly,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “I was watching Bo play, and there was this kid on the other team nobody could stop.” That was Chris Warren, a lightly recruited guard who averaged 20 points per game for the Rebels this year before suffering a season-ending injury.

7. MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

R.I.P., MSU’s NCAA tournament chances. The loss to Auburn was crippling for a team desperate to win 11-12 SEC games after a dismal nonconference schedule. Even the opponents MSU thought would be difficult, such as Washington State and Texas Tech, are enduring mediocre seasons. “The ones that we thought would be a boon to our RPI or be helpful have not had the kind of years that they like,” said associate athletic director Scott Stricklin, who helps coordinate the schedule.

8. VANDERBILT COMMODORES

Coach Kevin Stallings didn’t mince words when discussing Tuesday night’s challenge against Kentucky star Jodie Meeks. “He’s playing as well as anybody in the country,” he said. “You hear a lot about Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry and some players like that, but I can’t imagine anybody having a better season than Jodie Meeks is having. He’s been absolutely phenomenal in every way.”

9. AUBURN TIGERS

You can’t fire coach Jeff Lebo now. The Tigers will try to win their fourth straight game tonight at Georgia and they rank No. 92 in the RPI, which would be their highest season-ending ranking since 2004. “We’ve scored the ball pretty well, and we’ve been an improved defensive team,” Lebo said. “We’ve got a little bit of depth now. We’re still battling some injuries, but our depth is better.”

10. ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Coach John Pelphrey said he didn’t suspend Courtney Fortson for questioning an official’s call after fouling out at Auburn, resulting in a technical foul. That wouldn’t seem fair: Pelphrey has 10 technicals in his two years at Arkansas, including four this season. Pelphrey has now suspended 11 players for exhibition and regular-season games. “My players make mistakes, and from time to time they need to be reminded of what’s important,” he said.

11. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

There were some pretty good lines for interim coach Philip Pearson, who replaced the ousted Mark Gottfried, at last week’s Birmingham Tip-Off Club. “Philip, Pat Summitt has 1,000 wins,” Jim Conrad said from the dais. “You only have 999 to go.” Interestingly, Pearson said he increased the rotation to 10 players “so it would better keep our team interested, if that’s the right word.”

12. GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Georgia interim coach Pete Herrmann said Monday that guard Terrance Woodbury has been battling chronic ankle problems for “at least two years and maybe even longer” and is repeatedly seeing the trainer. “He’s had some problems with bone spurs,” Herrmann said. “He tries to get them treated as much as he can. He goes as hard as he can when he can practice.”