LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB): Sunday wasn’t a great day at Southeastern Conference headquarters.

Expect callers to flock to The Paul Finebaum Show for months, strongly condemning the decision to exclude Alabama from the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Cheer up, people.

I expect five, maybe six SEC teams will be in the top 10 when the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll is released Monday afternoon. These SEC squads are solid not leaving all decisions to a committee.

1. Tennessee (8-0): Texas pushed Rick Barnes out of the SEC — and now the Longhorns look up to him like the rest of the league.
2. Auburn (8-1): Sure, the Tigers lost at Duke. It can happen. Bruce Pearl has a real national title contender.
3. Iowa State (7-1): Impressive home win over Marquette last week.
4. Kentucky (8-1): All the points I subtracted for the loss at Clemson I added back for the win at Gonzaga
5. Duke (7-2): Believe the hype. The Blue Devils have plenty of toys.
6. Alabama (7-2): The Crimson Tide doesn’t need ESPN tears come playoff time.
7. Florida (9-0): An undefeated team that doesn’t get much recognition despite the off-court drama.
8. Kansas (7-2): Which loss was worse – Creighton or Missouri? The Jayhawks are on a two-game losing streak.
9. Gonzaga (7-2): The Zags couldn’t win in the Bahamas, got a big lead against Kentucky and now take on UConn.
10. Marquette (9-1): The Golden Eagles are 3-0 in the Big Ten, beating Maryland, Purdue and Wisconsin. Give them part of the trophy.
11. Oklahoma (9-0): Another undefeated player who doesn’t get much attention.
12. Houston (5-3): Two of the Cougars’ three losses came in overtime.
13. UConn (7-3): Rebounded from the Maui debacle with wins over Baylor and Texas.
14. Cincinnati (7-1): I didn’t expect the Bearcats to suffer their first loss to Villanova.
15. Michigan (8-1): This Dusty May guy won his first two Big Ten games.
16. Oregon (9-1): The day after the Ducks won the Big Ten football title, they lost their first basketball game on a deflected shot by UCLA.
17. Purdue (8-2): Former Silver Creek star Trey Kaufman-Renn is No. 1 in Ken Pomeroy’s ranking of the Big Ten’s best players.
18. Clemson (9-1): Brad Brownell’s team ranks fifth nationally in defensive efficiency.
19. UCLA (8-1): Did you know that Skyy Clark has yet to record a double-digit game for the Bruins?
20. St. John’s (7-2): I picked Rick Pitino’s team better than any other voter last week. I just did it again.
21. Texas A&M (8-2): The Aggies have three top-50 wins.
22. Ole Miss (8-1): I was impressed with how passionate Chris Beard’s team played on defense.
23. Wisconsin (8-2): It wasn’t a pleasant week for the Badgers, losing to Michigan and Marquette.
24. Penn State (8-1): Don’t sleep on the Nittany Lions. Mike Rhodes is an excellent coach.
25. Arizona State (8-1): The Sun Devils have four top-100 wins and an eight-point loss to Gonzaga.

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