Auburn lost for the first time in 66 days on Saturday. That's a fact. Now here's another: if you're a human with a brain you should still have Auburn No. 1 based on its incredible body of work.
(I am so I do.)
Yes, for the 33rd consecutive morning, Auburn is No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings on this Sunday, even though the Tigers lost 90-81 to Florida on Saturday. And if you're struggling to understand, it might be helpful, as I've suggested before, to think of Auburn as a golfer with like a four- or five-shot lead and these rankings as a golf tournament. Continuing with the analogy, Auburn bogeyed its last hole while some of the chasing teams parred or even birdied and definitely closed the gap. But, if this were a golf tournament, Auburn would still be comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. That's why I'm keeping Bruce Pearl's Tigers atop the Top 25 And 1.
By the way, I bounced all of this off of Jerry Palm.
Even before the weekend, I'd already decided Auburn was so far ahead of the field that it could take basically any loss and stay No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1, but I did text the man who projects brackets for CBS Sports just to see if my logic was sound. So I asked him if he planned to keep Auburn as his No. 1 overall seed even after the nine-point loss at home.
"Yes," Palm texted back. "12 Quad 1 wins."
That's four more Q1 wins than anybody else in the country, and the Tigers' 12-2 record in Q1 is just so much better than everybody else's that there's no way to justify anybody over Auburn right now unless you preface it by saying you just do not care about the bodies of work.
I, for one, do care about the bodies of work. And the bodies of work just are not close once you understand that Auburn is still 21-2 with a 12-2 record in Q1 even after the loss to Florida.
If you think there's a better résumé out there, name it.
But it's not Alabama's (because the Crimson Tide are 20-3 with a 7-3 record in Q1). And it's not Tennessee's (because the Volunteers are 20-4 with an 8-4 record in Q1). And It's not Duke's (because the Blue Devils are 20-3 with a 5-3 record in Q1). And it's not Florida's (because the Gators are 20-3 with a 4-3 record in Q1).
Do I need to keep going?
Eventually, an entire body of work can start to be discounted by recent play -- point being I might look at a team's awesome entire body of work a little differently if that team loses, say, three of four with multiple defeats coming to unranked opponents (or something like that).
But this isn't that.
All Auburn did Saturday is take a single-digit loss (to a top-10 team) to fall to 14-1 in its past 15 contests. Even after that single-digit loss (to a top-10 team), the Tigers would still so clearly be the No. 1 overall seed if the NCAA Tournament started today that I wouldn't be comfortable trying to rationalize anything other than leaving Auburn atop the Top 25 And 1 heading into Tuesday's game at Vanderbilt.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Denver Jones was 0-of-4 from the field in Saturday's 90-81 loss to Florida. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday at Vanderbilt. | -- | 30-5 |
| 2 |  | Grant Nelson finished with 15 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 85-81 win at Arkansas. The Crimson Tide's next game is Tuesday at Texas. | 1 | 27-8 |
| 3 |  | Chaz Lanier finished with 21 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 70-52 win at Oklahoma. The Vols' next game is Tuesday at Kentucky. | 1 | 29-7 |
| 4 |  | Caleb Foster was 0-of-3 from the field in Saturday's 77-71 loss at Clemson. The Blue Devils' next game is Wednesday against Cal. | 2 | 33-3 |
| 5 |  | Walter Clayton Jr. finished with 19 points and nine assists in Saturday's 90-81 win at Auburn. The Gators' next game is Tuesday at Mississippi State. | -- | 32-4 |
| 6 |  | J'Wan Roberts finished with 20 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 69-59 win at Colorado. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Baylor. | -- | 32-4 |
| 7 |  | Trey Kaufman-Reen finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's 90-72 win vs. USC. The Boilermakers' next game is Tuesday at Michigan | -- | 24-11 |
| 8 |  | RJ Luis finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Friday's 68-62 win at UConn. The Red Storm's next game is Wednesday at Villanova. | -- | 31-5 |
| 9 |  | Curtis Jones finished with 24 points and one assist in Saturday's 82-52 win over TCU. The Cyclones' next game is Tuesday at UCF. | 1 | 25-10 |
| 10 |  | Pharrel Payne finished with 20 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 67-64 win at Missouri. The Aggies' next game is Tuesday against Georgia. | 1 | 23-11 |
| 11 |  | Stevie Mitchell was 4-of-14 from the field in Saturday's 77-67 loss at Creighton. The Golden Eagles' next game is Tuesday against DePaul. | 2 | 23-11 |
| 12 |  | PJ Haggerty finished with 23 points and three assists in Wednesday's 83-71 win over Tulsa. The Tigers' next game is Sunday against Temple. | -- | 29-6 |
| 13 |  | Jase Richardson finished with 29 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 86-74 win over Oregon. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against Indiana. | -- | 29-6 |
| 14 |  | Dre Davis finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 72-70 win at LSU. The Rebels' next game is Wednesday at South Carolina. | -- | 24-11 |
| 15 |  | Danny Wolf finished with 20 points and five assists in Saturday's 70-67 win at Indiana. The Wolverines' next game is Tuesday against Purdue. | 3 | 27-9 |
| 16 |  | Otega Oweh finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 80-57 win over South Carolina. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against Tennessee. | 3 | 24-11 |
| 17 |  | Josh Hubbard finished with 16 points and six assists in Saturday's 76-75 win at Georgia. The Bulldogs' next game is Tuesday against Florida. | 3 | 21-13 |
| 18 |  | John Tonje finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 74-63 win over Iowa. The Badgers' next game is Saturday at Purdue | 3 | 27-10 |
| 19 |  | Steven Ashworth finished with 22 points and seven assists in Saturday's 77-67 win over Marquette. The Bluejays' next game is Tuesday against UConn. | 6 | 25-11 |
| 20 |  | Caleb Love finished with 16 points and six assists in Saturday's 82-73 win over Texas Tech. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday at Kansas State. | 2 | 24-12 |
| 21 |  | Kobe Johnson finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's 78-54 win over Penn State. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday at Illinois. | 2 | 23-11 |
| 22 |  | Elijah Hawkins was 3-of-12 from the field in Saturday's 82-73 loss at Arizona. The Red Raiders' next game is Wednesday against Arizona State. | 5 | 27-8 |
| 23 |  | Tamar Bates was 5-of-17 from the field in Saturday's 67-64 loss to Texas A&M. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Oklahoma. | 8 | 22-12 |
| 24 |  | Reyne Smith finished with 26 points and five assists in Saturday's 88-78 win over Miami. The Cardinals' next game is Wednesday at NC State. | -- | 27-8 |
| 25 |  | Rylan Griffen was 1-of-7 from the field in Saturday's 81-73 loss at Kansas State. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday against Colorado. | 9 | 21-13 |
| 26 |  | Viktor Lakhin finished with 22 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 77-71 win over Duke. The Tigers' next game is Monday against North Carolina. | NR | 27-7 |
