Bruce Pearl compares remaining SEC teams to Duke, Houston

As Bruce Pearl waits to learn whether or not Auburn has done enough to be the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, the longtime Tigers head coach is also in the rare position of actually having played the other teams vying to be named No. 1 seeds.

Despite coming up short in Saturday’s SEC Tournament semifinal against Tennessee, No. 3 Auburn (28-5, 15-3 SEC) remains the favorite to be the first team named on Selection Sunday.

Still, after both No. 1 Duke (31-2, 19-1 ACC) and No. 2 Houston (30-4, 19-1 Big 12) won the their respective conference tournament championships on Saturday, Pearl has no doubt each are more than deserving of being counted among the Top 4 teams in the upcoming NCAA Tournament’s 68-team field. In fact, Pearl considers the ACC and Big 12 champs are right on par with the best the SEC has to offer.

And Pearl should know after facing both Duke and Houston in non-conference play, with the host Blue Devils coming out on top, 84-78, on Dec. 4 from Durham, a month after Pearls’ Tigers edged out the host Cougars, 74-69, on Nov. 9 from Houston.

“Yeah, I mean, whether it be Houston or Duke, probably the two best teams outside of our league that we’ve played … I put them right in there with Florida, Tennessee, Alabama,” Pearl said during Saturday’s postgame press conference. “They’re right there. So there are five or six teams right there that have a chance to get to the Final Four.”

No. 4 Florida (30-4, 14-4 SEC) likely cemented its hold on the fourth and final No. 1 seed after besting the No. 8-ranked Volunteers (27-7, 12-6 SEC) to win the 2025 SEC Tournament championship on Sunday.

But that’s not to say fellow SEC Tournament semifinalists Alabama (24-7, 13-5 SEC) and Tennessee aren’t as equally capable of beating the NCAA’s best in March Madness, especially after splitting their season series with Auburn.

The Tide and Tigers split their home-and-home rivalry series during the regular-season, with each winning on their opponents’ home floor, while the Volunteers redeemed their previous 53-51 regular-season loss to Auburn with Saturday’s 70-65 win in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

Bruce Pearl makes emphatic case for Auburn to be No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament

Auburn’s sudden struggles at the end of the season — losing three of its last four games — have caused some fans to question whether the Tigers still deserve to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

After the Tigers’ loss on Saturday, Pearl defended his team’s résumé.

“Our guys are great competitors. I’m very, very proud of them. I believe that this team has from start to finish done enough to be the No. 1 overall seed in this tournament,” Pearl said. “Our résumé is historically one of the strongest résumés in the history of college basketball with the number of Quad 1 wins we’ve had. Certainly losing to Tennessee as a team ranked fifth or sixth in the country is not necessarily — shouldn’t knock us off that spot.”

Despite Auburn’s recent sputters, it still boasts the most Quad 1 wins in the nation this season with 16. Houston and Michigan State trail closely behind with 14 and 13 Quad 1 wins, respectively.

However, both of the latter programs suffered losses in Quad 2 matchups this season, while Auburn’s only losses were against Quad 1 opponents. For the most part, Auburn was a stronghold in a whirlwind of wins and losses in the SEC.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.