Kim Mulkey: The SEC deserves more teams in top 25 polls

It won't take a long glance down to read off all of the Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the polls this week. In fact, it's been short perusals for a few weeks ago.

But heading into the final week of the regular season, just South Carolina and LSU women's basketball remain the only two SEC squads ranked in either the Associated Press or USA Today Coaches' Poll.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, left, greets Mississippi head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin before an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, left, greets Mississippi head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin before an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

The Gamecocks (26-0, 14-0), the only unbeaten team in the country, and the Tigers (25-1, 13-1), who were the second-to-last undefeated team before losing at South Carolina last Sunday, come in at No. 1 and No. 4 in the Coaches Poll, respectively. LSU is ranked No. 5 in the AP poll.

Other Power Five conferences like the Big Ten, ACC and PAC-12, each have at least four teams sprinkled inside the top 25 in both lists. Is that an indication that the SEC is not as deep as those leagues? That there are only two quality teams in the SEC while others such as Tennessee, Ole Miss or Alabama — all with 20 wins — aren't among the upper echelon?

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To Kim Mulkey, there's no doubt that the SEC is underrepresented in the polls with the postseason around the corner.

"I think there should be more SEC teams in the top 25. And I think you know who those teams are," Mulkey said Tuesday during a press conference. "It's just you have to be careful in your scheduling because if you overschedule, they'll think you don't belong on the top 25. But yet, the selection committee thinks you should get a top-16 seed. You have to do what you got to do as a coach to get your kids recognition.

"As far as what I have observed in this league, we've got a couple more people that deserve to be in the top 25."

Last week, Ole Miss (20-7, 9-5) played both No. 4 LSU and No. 1 South Carolina tough and it took the top-ranked team overtime to survive in Oxford against the Rebels.

Tennessee (20-9, 12-2), which arguably played the toughest nonconference schedule of any team in the nation, has only lost at LSU and at Mississippi State, in double overtime, on the road since making it through a nonconference slate that included matchups with No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Stanford, No. 5 UConn, No. 9 Virginia Tech, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 16 UCLA and No. 22 Colorado. The Lady Vols went 1-6 in those games.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey: Southeastern Conference deserves more ranked teams