I realize that college basketball has been going on for almost two months now, but I never can seem to get all that interested until January, when conference play starts. Well, that time has come, and not only am I interested, but I dare say I'm enthused about another exciting season. Does anyone else find it ironic that, even though a round ball's bounce is more predictable than that of the oblong football, basketball is actually the more unpredictable sport? Just me? Oh, well.

A reader suggested last week that I kick things off by breaking down each team in the SEC. That seemed like a pretty good idea to me, so good that I'm temporarily abandoning the "Five Things" format in favor of a pre-conference ranking of each SEC division (this is being written before the games of Wednesday night, so it's an honest pre-conference look). For purposes of full disclosure, allow me to explain that my ranking system is based on three things: what a team has actually accomplished thus far in the season, how well they've been playing lately, and my gut feeling. Other factors, such as coaching, talent, match-ups, style of play, preseason polls, jersey color, RPI, or anything to do with tealeaves are not included in the Mobley SEC Index (MSECI). Now that that's out of the way, we'll start with the East:

1. Kentucky. The Wildcats appear to be the class of the division thus far, highlighted by victories over Indiana at home and Louisville on the road. The only blemish on their record is a loss in the Dean Dome, and there's no real shame in that, at least not in December.

2. Vanderbilt. The Commodores are a bit of an enigma so far. They don't have any really good wins, but they also haven't lost at home yet. For this reason, they edge out the Gamecocks for the second spot.

3. South Carolina. It's tough to judge a team based on its tight losses to two top-10 teams, but that's almost what you have to do with the Gamecocks. Beating Temple was nice. The loss to Clemson may not have been as bad as it seemed at the time, but it should never have happened in Columbia. The fact that the team struggled mightily against South Florida and S.C. State at home is also a disturbing sign, but the recent shellacking of Wofford helps.

4. Florida. After appearing to right the ship following losses to Miami and Louisville at home, the Gators squandered some momentum by dropping a game in Tallahassee against Florida State. They don't have any quality victories to speak of at this point, and they haven't played quite the schedule that Carolina has.

5. Tennessee. The Vols started off strong by beating Stanford, and losing to UNC and Texas isn't that bad unless you combine it with losing to Chattanooga and Nebraska at home, which they did. Tennessee is trending the wrong way.

6. Georgia. This is another team trending the wrong way, losing to Stetson at home on New Year's Eve. The Bulldawg program could take awhile to recover from the Jim Harrick era.

1. Mississippi State. This set of Bulldogs looks pretty solid, although MSU's best victories are over merely decent Xavier and Virginia Tech. They've lost to Syracuse and Arizona on the road, which at least shows they'll go and play some quality opponents.

2. Alabama. The Tide's only losses are to Washington at home and Wisconsin on the road, two teams that don't immediately inspire feelings of awe among followers of college basketball, but who are nevertheless very solid this year.

3. Arkansas. Tying for the second spot in the West are the Razorbacks. They haven't beaten anyone of note, but they're 13-1 with a hard-fought road loss to a good Illinois team.

4. Ole Miss. The Rebs started out by losing to Illinois State, Air Force, Arkansas State, and Florida State. However, they're riding a seven-game winning streak over similar competition, ignited by a victory at Memphis. Momentum gives them the fourth spot.

5. LSU. The Bayou Bengals' only victory of note is over Florida State (what is it with all these SEC teams playing the Seminoles?). They've lost to a surprisingly undefeated West Virginia team at home, but their real problems are losses to very ordinary Southern Miss, Houston, and Utah, albeit on the road.

6. Auburn. Losing at home to Wofford was a bad start for the Tigers. They seemed to have turned it around by winning at Temple, but then lost to Toledo and struggled to hold of Middle Tennessee and Belmont. They're struggling to find their game just when they need to be hitting their stride.

I hope you find this insightful, interesting, or otherwise entertaining. Next week I'll return to the "Five Things" format. Incidentally, if anyone has any suggestions about what "Five Things" would be interesting to talk about during basketball season, let me know, as I haven't finalized the format yet.

By the way, can you believe what USC-West did to Oklahoma? Wow! Now I'm going to have to give the same grudging respect to the PAC 10 that I was forced to give to Tennessee. When will I be right about something again?