Auburn secured the outright SEC championship over the weekend and, while doing so, locked up the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, at least in my opinion.
And, yes, that’s still my opinion.
But it should be noted that the top-ranked Tigers did have their six-game winning streak snapped late Tuesday via an 83-72 loss at Texas A&M that dropped Bruce Pearl’s team to 27-3 overall, 15-2 in the SEC and 15-3 in Quadrant 1. Is that a worse résumé than what Auburn had Tuesday morning? Obviously, yes. But, rest assured, that résumé still easily represents the sport’s best body of work, which is why Auburn remains No. 1 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Duke remains No. 2.
If you’re wondering why, it’s because Auburn is still the only team in the country with more than 10 Q1 wins and fewer than four total losses. For context, consider that No. 2 Duke is 6-3 in Q1, No. 3 Houston is 8-3 in Q1 (with an additional loss falling in Q2), and No. 4 Tennessee is 9-5 in Q1.
This isn’t really close.
As I’ve explained previously, it’s best to think of Auburn as a golfer on the back nine with something like a four-shot lead. Sure, the Tigers just bogeyed at Texas A&M, if you’ll allow the analogy. But they’re still comfortably ahead of the field heading into their next hole, which is Saturday’s regular-season finale with Alabama that’ll be played inside a sold-out Neville Arena.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
8
Mississippi State
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