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Auburn remains No. 1 in AP poll, falls to No. 2 in Coaches poll following first SEC loss

Justin Hokansonby:Justin Hokanson•about 17 hours•

_JHokanson

Tahaad Pettiford (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)
Tahaad Pettiford (Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

AUBURN — Auburn remained at No. 1 in the AP poll, but fell to No. 2 in the Coaches poll following the Tigers’ first SEC loss of the season and only second loss overall of the season.

Alabama is No. 1 in the Coaches poll and No. 2 in the AP poll.

Auburn received 16 first-place votes to Alabama’s 15 in the Coaches poll. Auburn received 34 first-place votes to Alabama’s 23 in the AP poll.

Auburn remains No. 1 in KenPom, NCAA NET, No. 2 in Torvik behind Houston, and No. 3 in ESPN’s BPI behind Duke and Houston.

Following this weekend’s action, Auburn remains the projected No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.

It marks the sixth-straight week Auburn has been ranked No. 1 in one poll.

After winning 14 straight games, No. 1 Auburn fell to No. 6 Florida on Saturday 90-81. Hours later, No. 2 Duke fell at unranked Clemson, while No. 3 Alabama held on at Arkansas to win.

BRIEF THOUGHTS AND GRADES: FLORIDA OVER AUBURN

The Tigers head into a tough week of SEC games, playing at Vanderbilt on Tuesday night and at No. 1 Alabama on Saturday.

Vanderbilt has won four straight SEC home games, with wins over South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. At 5-5 in league play, Vanderbilt is quickly become a legitimate bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.

Then there’s the game at Alabama looming on Saturday.

ESPN’s College Gameday will be in attendance for arguably the most high-profile game in the history of the rivalry. That is, until the two teams meet again on March 8 inside Neville Arena, which could easily surpass this weekend’s game in terms of SEC championship and NCAA Tournament seeding importance.

Auburn and Alabama both sit at 9-1 in SEC play, with Florida and Texas A&M sitting at 7-3.

Tennessee, Ole Miss and Missouri all have four SEC losses, with Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State all have five SEC losses.

According to Torvik analytics, Alabama has the No. 1 toughest remaining conference SOS, while Auburn has the No. 3 toughest remaining conference SOS.

The Tigers’ are 12-2 in Quad I games. That still leads all of college basketball by four games. Tennessee has eight, with Arizona, Kentucky, Oregon, Purdue, Wisconsin, Texas A&M and Alabama all with seven.

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