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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
1
Auburn Johni Broome finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds in Friday’s 62-57 win over Ole Miss. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday against Tennessee. — 28-4 2
Duke Kon Knueppel finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Friday’s 74-71 win over North Carolina. The Blue Devils’ next game is Saturday against Louisville. — 30-3 3
Houston Emanuel Sharp finished with 26 points and four rebounds in Friday’s 74-54 win over BYU. The Cougars’ next game is Saturday against Arizona. — 29-4 4
Florida Walter Clayton Jr. finished with 18 points and six assists in Friday’s 95-81 win over Missouri. The Gators’ next game is Saturday against Alabama. — 28-4 5
Mich. St. Jase Richardson finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Friday’s 74-64 win over Oregon. The Spartans’ next game is Saturday against Wisconsin. — 27-5 6
Tennessee Chaz Lanier finished with 23 points and one steal in Friday’s 83-72 win over Texas. The Vols’ next game is Saturday against Auburn. — 26-6 7
Alabama Labaron Philon finished with 21 points and four assists in Friday’s 99-70 win over Kentucky. The Crimson Tide’s next game is Saturday against Florida. — 25-7 8
St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor finished with 33 points and nine rebounds in Friday’s 79-63 win over Marquette. The Red Storm’s next game is Saturday against Creighton. — 29-4 9
Wisconsin John Tonje finished with 26 points and nine rebounds in Friday’s 86-70 win over UCLA. The Badgers’ next game is Saturday against Michigan State. 1 25-8 10
Maryland Rodney Rice finished with 26 points and two assists in Friday’s 88-65 win over Illinois. The Terrapins’ next game is Saturday against Michigan. 2 25-7 11
Texas Tech Elijah Hawkins was 3-of-12 from the field in Friday’s 86-80 loss to Arizona. The Red Raiders were eliminated in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. 2 25-8 12
Louisville Terrence Edwards Jr. finished with 21 points and eight rebounds in Friday’s 76-73 win over Clemson. The Cardinals’ next game is Saturday against Duke. 3 27-6 13
Texas A&M Zhuric Phelps was 3-of-19 from the field in Thursday’s 94-89 double-overtime loss to Texas. The Aggies were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. — 22-10 14
Iowa St. Joshua Jefferson committed five turnovers in Thursday’s 96-92 loss to BYU. The Cyclones were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. — 24-9 15
Arizona Caleb Love finished with 27 points and five rebounds in Friday’s 86-80 win over Texas Tech. The Wildcats’ next game is Saturday against Houston. 3 22-11 16
Clemson Jake Heidbreder was 1-of-5 from the field in Friday’s 76-73 loss to Louisville. The Tigers were eliminated in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. — 27-6 17
Michigan Danny Wolf finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in Friday’s 86-68 win over Purdue. The Wolverines’ next game is Saturday against Maryland. 5 23-9 18
Purdue Braden Smith was 5-of-18 from the field in Friday’s 86-68 loss to Michigan. The Boilermakers were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. 7 22-11 19
Kentucky Otega Oweh was 1-of-6 from the field in Friday’s 99-70 loss to Alabama. The Wildcats were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. 2 22-11 20
Memphis PJ Haggerty finished with 42 points and nine rebounds in Friday’s 83-80 win over Wichita State. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday against Tulane. — 27-5 21
Saint Mary’s Paulius Murauskas was 0-of-7 from the field in Tuesday’s 58-51 loss to Gonzaga. The Gaels fell in the title game of the West Coast Conference Tournament. — 28-5 22
Marquette David Joplin was 3-of-12 from the field in Friday’s 79-63 loss to St. John’s. The Golden Eagles were eliminated in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. 3 23-10 23
Oregon Keeshawn Barthelemy was 2-of-8 from the field in Friday’s 74=64 loss to Michigan State. The Ducks were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. — 24-9 24
BYU Trevin Knell was 1-of-5 from the field in Friday’s 74-54 loss to Houston. The Cougars were eliminated in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. — 24-9 25
Illinois Tomislav Ivisic was 1-of-4 from the field in Friday’s 88-65 loss to Maryland. The Illini were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. — 21-12 26
UCLA Eric Dailey Jr. was 0-of-6 from the field in Friday’s 86-70 loss to Wisconsin. The Bruins were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. — 22-10
