College Basketball Weekly: Auburn on top, Mike Woodson is out & Dan Hurley is all over the place

We officially have an NCAA Tournament sneak peek while Saturday provided another huge day of results from noon to midnight. Here’s the menu for another loaded College Basketball Weekly post:

• Notable Results
• Quick Hitters
  • Houston’s dominance
  • Mississippi State’s rivalry sweep
  • UConn madness
• Takeaways from the seed reveal
• Auburn triumphs in 1 vs. 2
• Mike Woodson’s weird situation

Notable Results

(AP Ranking)

(6) Tennessee 64 @ (15) Kentucky 75
(3) Florida 81 @ (22) Mississippi State 68
(7) Purdue 73 @ (20) Michigan 75
Indiana 71 @ (11) Michigan State 67
UConn 70 @ (24) Creighton 66
(9) St. John’s 71 @ Villanova 73
(15) Kentucky 78 @ Texas 82
(1) Auburn 94 @ (2) Alabama 85
(6) Houston 62 @ (13) Arizona 58
(16) Wisconsin 94 @ (7) Purdue 84
(11) Michigan State 79 @ Illinois 65
(17) Kansas 67 @ Utah 74
(22) Mississippi State 81 @ (19) Ole Miss 71

Quick Hitters

Houston keeps rolling: Kelvin Sampson’s squad has lost just one game since the end of November, an overtime romp at home vs. Texas Tech on the first day of February, which they dropped by just one point. And still, Houston has fallen just once in regulation — against Auburn in the second game of the season. Otherwise, the Cougs only have losses to Alabama, Tech and San Diego State.

The Big 12 is bloated with mediocrity compared to 2023 and 2022 but still offers an elite top end — but Houston is already closing in on the flagpole in the regular season race, now owning a 13-1 mark after wrestling away Saturday’s game at Arizona away from the Wildcats, and in the McKale Center no less. If there’s a third contender alongside Duke and Auburn, it’s these Cougars.

Mississippi State finally gets a BIG one: Mississippi State is a good basketball team that just couldn’t get over their own literal hump and had dropped home games vs. Florida, Kentucky, Alabama and Missouri so far in conference play. However, away from the pressure of their own home crowd, the Bulldogs scored their biggest win of the season, taking the return game from their Egg Bowl rivals with a commanding victory in Oxford to sweep the series. Ole Miss was never in control of this game as MSU cashed in to save themselves amidst a scary 3-6 recent slide. They’ll get back home for another huge matchup this week vs. Texas A&M, which is yet another chance at a marquee home victory.

Unpredictable UConn: The Huskies fell last Friday at home against St. John’s but rallied to win at Creighton on Tuesday, featuring another viral moment for Dan Hurley as he chirped at a hairline-challenged Blue Jay fan, “Two rings, baldy!” as he walked off the court. The Huskies got 38 points from freshman Liam McNeely in that one but only mustered 68 total points in Saturday’s overtime road loss at Seton Hall, by far the worst team in the Big East, who advanced to 2-12 in the league with their first KenPom top-100 win since November. You just don’t know what you’re going to get with these Huskies or their head coach.

Takeaways from the Top 16

The NCAA Selection Committee provided their annual sneak peek of the top 16 overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament as things stood Saturday morning. Let’s hit some key points from the list, which you can see here.

BREAKING: Kentucky is a No. 3 seed and No. 10 overall in the official NCAA Bracket Preview

Cats have five wins against the top six seeds with six SEC teams in the top 10.

Mark Pope's group looks good just four weeks away from Selection Sundayhttps://t.co/gg6WFYDM7J pic.twitter.com/lSmQBSvsKP

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) February 15, 2025

SEC dominates: The SEC had the top two seeds (1-Auburn, 2-Alabama), three of the four one-seeds, five of the top eight total seeds and six of the top 10. No shock, but Saturday was confirmation that the Selection Committee is well aware of the historic dominance in the Southeastern Conference.

Injuries matter: We try to avoid talking too much Kentucky on these posts, but their slotting at 10th overall despite seven losses (now eight) is notable. One committee member specifically noted that the Wildcats had huge wins and had also suffered some injury setbacks, helping them earn a 3-seed for now. Beyond the implications for our own favorite squad, let’s remember that teams will get leeway for losses amidst dire injury circumstances, so long as they can regroup with full health by March.

The Big 3 Conferences. The SEC obviously scored great, but the Big Ten and Big 12 are the obvious other top leagues. Just look at how Duke is a lone wolf from the ACC and Big East leader St. John’s barely cracked the list despite a 21-4 record that’s much better than Kentucky or Purdue or Kansas, who are all higher rated. The superleagues have a stranglehold and expect 10+ teams possibly coming from each.

Auburn silences No. 1 debate

Last Sunday, we evaluated the various cases for the No. 1 AP ranking following Auburn and Duke’s losses that Saturday. Auburn maintained the top spot while Alabama and Florida rounded out the top three, setting up a 1 vs. 2 matchup between the Tide and Tigers in Tuscaloosa, where Bruce Pearl’s club came away with a statement victory, declaring that they are most definitely still the team to beat nation-wide.

Auburn controlled much of the second half, sans a typical ‘Bama flurry in the final minutes, and got huge contributions from Johni Broome (who is right back in the thick of the Player of the Year race), Chad Baker-Mazara and Tahaad Pettiford, all of which splashed momentum-shifting threes to shut down various Alabama runs or kickstart Auburn’s own.

So the Tigers are 23-2 and won that No. 1 ranking in impressive fashion on the road. Despite hiccups last weekend, they and Duke still feel like the two top contenders.

Mike Woodson is officially on his way out

A few weeks ago, we addressed Mike Woodson’s perilous situation in Bloomington after a poor start to the season — and boy has there been some drama in that department since. Let’s recap:

Following four straight losses, on Friday Feb. 7, Indiana released a statement from Vice President and Athletic Director Scott Dolson, who said that he and Mike Woodson met that Wednesday, where Woodson “informed me he wanted to step down as our program’s head coach at the end of the current season.” IU then dropped their fifth game in a row against Michigan on Saturday, while Woodson sealed his lips on the matter at his media opportunities, leaving fans confused as to whether Woodson would be stepping down or negotiating a buyout.

In fact, Woodson didn’t speak on the matter until after the Hoosiers’ streak-snapping victory at No. 11 Michigan State on Tuesday, where he acknowledged that the players “know I won’t be back.” Tuesday was also the first time any player commented on the matter, as junior forward Malik Reneau said: “Everybody knows what the situation is now.”

At last, we know for sure Woodson will certainly not be coming back. It’s just odd, though, that he nor the players said anything about the decision until nearly a week after Woodson had apparently approached Dolson to initiate a retirement plan. So, we still don’t really know what the details of the separation look like. Is Woodson honorably stepping away and into retirement? Will he negotiate some kind of buyout, since he is owed $8.4 million if let go without cause before March of 2026? I guess we’ll find out.