If it wasn’t locked up heading into the SEC Tournament, it surely is now. Because with a 62-57 win over Ole Miss in Friday’s quarterfinals in Nashville, Auburn improved to 28-4 overall and 16-4 in Quadrant 1, all but ensuring the Tigers will be the team Adam Zucker introduces as the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament shortly after the Selection Show starts Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
Again, Auburn is 16-4 in Q1.
That makes the Tigers college basketball’s only team with more than 12 Q1 wins and four-or-fewer losses. They’re No. 1 in strength of record (SOR), No. 1 in Wins Above Bubble (WAB) and No. 1 in Saturday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 66th straight day.
And have you seen Saturday’s SEC schedule?
It’s great.
The first semifinal is Auburn vs. Tennessee. The second is Florida vs. Alabama. Those are the teams ranked first (Auburn), fourth (Florida), sixth (Tennessee) and seventh (Alabama) in the Top 25 And 1. Furthermore, Auburn, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama have an average NET ranking of 4.25. Odds are, that’ll be better than the average NET ranking of the four teams at the 2025 Final Four in San Antonio.
Theoretically, all four teams in the SEC semifinals are still in contention to earn a No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. If Auburn, Duke and Houston are now locks for No. 1 seeds — and they should be, in my opinion — that means Florida, Tennessee and Alabama are competing for what should be one remaining No. 1 seed. If Auburn and Florida both win today, that should finalize the top line. If not, what happens on Sunday could dictate things.
One final note: You might notice that Purdue took an unusually big slide in the Top 25 And 1 after Friday’s 86-68 loss to Michigan. If you’re wondering why, it’s because a fresh look at the Boilermakers’ resume compelled me to get them in what I’d consider the 5-seed range and behind Michigan, which is now 2-1 against the Boilermakers and in possession of three more Q1 wins than Matt Painter’s program. Also, Purdue is just 3-6 in its past nine games, so it felt like an adjustment was necessary. That’s why the Boilermakers are now closer to 20 than 10 in the Top 25 And 1.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
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