Kermit Davis inherited an Ole Miss program that last season finished 12-20 and ranked 108th at KenPom. So it wasn't that surprising when the Rebels were picked last in this season's preseason SEC poll.

Dead last.

But, that said, it's been clear for a while that Ole Miss is better than prognosticators projected. And the most recent bit of evidence came Wednesday night when the Rebels beat Auburn 82-67 to stretch their winning streak to nine games and improve to 12-2 (with the lone losses coming at Butler and to Cincinnati on a neutral court). In other words, yes, Ole Miss has already won as many games this season as it won all of last season. And it's also worth noting that the Rebels started 97th at KenPom and have climbed all the way up to 34th -- which represents one of the biggest jumps of any team in the country.

Ole Miss is now in the Top 25 And 1.

I have the Rebels 26th.

And, rest assured, if they win Saturday at Mississippi State, they'll move even higher and, on Monday morning, find themselves also ranked in the AP and Coaches polls. It's an amazing coaching job, plain and simple. But, come to think of it, perhaps this shouldn't be that surprising. Davis, after all, spent the past few seasons consistently beating power-conference teams while at Middle Tennessee. That he's quickly also doing it at a power-conference school is something we probably should've seen coming.

Thursday's Top 25 And 1