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Auburn enters postseason No. 3 in AP, Coaches polls, No. 1 overall seed still within reach

Justin Hokansonby:Justin Hokanson•about 10 hours•

_JHokanson

Miles Kelly (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)
Miles Kelly (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

AUBURN — After eight-straight weeks atop the AP poll and seven of the last eight weeks atop the Coaches poll, Auburn fell to No. 3 in the AP and Coaches polls after an 0-2 week.

Auburn received two first-place votes in the Coaches poll and four first-place votes in the AP poll. Duke is the new No. 1 in both polls.

The Tigers (27-4, 15-3) lost at No. 14 Texas A&M last Tuesday and fell to No. 5 Alabama in overtime on Saturday to end the regular season. Auburn will end the regular season with losses to No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 14.

BRIEF THOUGHTS AND GRADES: AUBURN FALLS TO ALABAMA

Auburn is still No. 2 in both the KenPom and NET ratings.

The Tigers have won a nation-leading 16 Quad 1 games during the regular season (16-4). Auburn’s 16 Q1 wins are the most during the regular season since the NET ratings were established.

Alabama and Michigan State are the next closest teams with 11 Q1 wins on the season. Auburn has double the amount of Q1 wins as 355 other Division I college basketball teams.

For comparison, here’s how many Q1 wins the past five No. 1 overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament possessed entering their conference tournaments:

2019 Duke: 8
2021 Gonzaga: 7
2022 Gonzaga: 8
2023 Alabama: 10
2024 Connecticut: 11

Auburn has five more Q1 wins this season than UConn did entering postseason play last season, and double the amount of three different No. 1 overall seeds from the past five seasons.

Per ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the Tigers have 18 “quality wins,” determined as wins over BPI Top 50 teams. That leads all of college basketball by four over Alabama. Auburn also boasts the No. 1 overall resume according to the BPI.

And Auburn accomplished all that against the No. 2 Strength of Schedule in college basketball.

As for the Tigers’ chances of landing the No. 1 overall seed come Selection Sunday, here’s what ESPN’s Joe Lunardi said about the Auburn-Duke debate.

“I think under normal circumstances we’d already be talking about it. Because you didn’t even mention the fact that wait for it, Duke beat Auburn. Now, admittedly, it was over three months ago. And it was a home game, straight up, at Cameron Indoor,” Lunardi began.

“But Auburn was so far ahead of the field that they were able to take these two losses and could conceivably lose their quarterfinal in Nashville this coming week, and still hold on to the No. 1 overall seed. Did I mention 16 Quad 1 wins? And they’re 16-4 against Quad 1 overall. Nobody’s even close to that. I’d be shocked if a week from right now, Auburn isn’t the first name called on the selection show.”

Auburn’s 10 ranked wins are more than the entire ACC combined (7). The Tigers are 8-3 against current AP ranked teams. And three of the Tigers’ four losses on the season are to Top 6 teams in Duke, Florida and Alabama. The other was a Top 20 road loss at Texas A&M.

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