SEC Basketball Power Poll Week 1 - RTT Ballot

With conference play beginning this weekend, the SEC Basketball Power Poll kicks off this week, and we're joining the fun this year here at RTT.  Hooper does a fantastic job for us with the football polls; with the basketball polls, you're stuck with me, which means fewer numbers and more rambling.  And away we go:

Week 1

1. Kentucky (15-0)

2. Ole Miss (12-2)

3. Tennessee (11-2)

4. Vanderbilt (11-3)

5. Mississippi State (12-3)

6. Florida (11-3)

7. Alabama (10-4)

8. LSU (9-5)

9. Georgia (8-5)

10. South Carolina (9-5)

11. Auburn (9-6)

12. Arkansas (7-8)

Some thoughts after the jump...

• Nobody here wants to put Kentucky at number one, and I was all prepared to make my "they've finished behind Bruce Pearl every year so far, I'll believe it when I see it" argument six weeks ago...but even I'm not that crazy.
• The Vols looked strong against Charlotte, but I think there's still too much uncertainty to call them the definitive silver medalist right now.  Ole Miss is second best by default, with none of the bad losses that belong to the Vols, Vandy, Miss. State or Florida.  The Rebels' only defeats are to Villanova and West Virginia.
• Alabama intrigues me.  Mikhail Torrance and JaMychal Green both have difficult to spell first names and 16 points per game.  I liked the Anthony Grant hire, and all their losses are respectable - they played Purdue almost as well as we did.  Stay tuned.
• The bottom group is tough to sort.  Arkansas has played the most difficult schedule, and paid for it.  LSU isn't far behind, and though they have more wins, they've also been drilled by UConn (36), Arizona State (19), and Xavier (24).  Auburn scares no one, and Georgia was in the same category until they beat Georgia Tech.  And I feel bad for Darin Horn and South Carolina, having lost Dominique Archie and Mike Holmes, but as we know around these parts, you have to play the hand you're dealt.

Thoughts?