The overwhelming majority of coaches who enter the profession will never be involved in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. But Bruce Pearl has now been in two such games at two different schools and won both of them despite being an underdog and on the road each time.
Amazing stuff.
Final score: No. 1 Auburn 94, No. 2 Alabama 85.
Pearl's top-ranked Tigers went to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday, jumped to a 9-0 lead and never trailed while improving to 23-2 overall, 11-1 in the SEC. The victory came eight days short of the 17-year anniversary of Pearl taking second-ranked Tennessee to top-ranked Memphis and winning 66-62, making him the first coach in history to win multiple No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups on the road.
"I think the thing I'm proudest of is that all eyes of college basketball were on the state of Alabama and the SEC," Pearl said afterward. "What this conference has done in men's basketball is historic. And you never know if a game can live up to the hype … but it was a really clean game. A really clean game, which I was really pleased by. And I know that [Alabama coach] Nate [Oats] talked to his team about that. Because that's how the No. 1 teams in the country should act, that's how they should compete, that's how they should play. And I was really pleased with that."
Needless to say, Auburn remains No. 1 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 40th consecutive day, And, at this point, it's reasonable to assume the Tigers will be there for a while considering the gap between their body of work and everybody else's.
It's large and growing.
Auburn's nine-point win at Alabama pushed the Tigers to 14-2 in Quadrant 1 with zero additional defeats. That means Auburn has fewer losses than any other ranked team and at least six more Q1 wins than everybody else. So, even though the Tigers haven't quite separated from the pack in the predictive metrics, they have definitely pulled away from all challengers in any conversation about bodies of work.
Elsewhere in the sport, Wisconsin probably had the second biggest win on Saturday — specifically a 94-84 victory at Purdue. That result pushed the Badgers to 13-5 inside the first two quadrants with seven victories inside Q1 and zero losses outside of Q1. It's a body of work that compelled me to move Wisconsin from No. 16 up to No. 9 in the Top 25 And 1, one spot ahead of No. 10 Purdue, which caused St. John's, Marquette, Memphis and Michigan to be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Johni Broome finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds in Saturday's 94-85 win at Alabama. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Arkansas. | -- | 32-6 | |
2 | Mark Sears was 4-of-17 from the field in Saturday's 94-85 loss to Auburn. The Crimson Tide's next game is Wednesday at Missouri. | -- | 28-9 | |
3 | Denzel Aberdeen finished with 22 points and three assists in Saturday's 88-67 win over South Carolina. The Gators' next game is Tuesday against Oklahoma. | -- | 36-4 | |
4 | Tyrese Proctor finished with 23 points and four assists in Saturday's 106-70 win over Stanford. The Blue Devils' next game is Monday at Virginia. | -- | 35-4 | |
5 | Milos Uzan finished with 19 points and five assists in Saturday's 62-58 win at Arizona. The Cougars' next game is Tuesday at Arizona State. | -- | 35-5 | |
6 | Zakai Zeigler finished with 22 points and eight assists in Saturday's 81-76 win over Vanderbilt. The Vols' next game is Saturday at Texas A&M. | -- | 30-8 | |
7 | Wade Taylor IV finished with 18 points and nine assists in Saturday's 69-61 win over Arkansas. The Aggies' next game is Tuesday at Mississippi State. | -- | 23-11 | |
8 | Curtis Jones finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 81-70 win over Cincinnati. The Cyclones' next game is Tuesday against Colorado. | -- | 25-10 | |
9 | John Tonje finished with 32 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 94-84 win at Purdue. The Badgers' next game is Tuesday against Illinois. | 7 | 27-10 | |
10 | Braden Smith was 2-of-10 from the field in Saturday's 94-84 loss to Wisconsin. The Boilermakers' next game is Tuesday at Michigan State. | 1 | 24-12 | |
11 | Simeon Wilcher was 4-of-11 from the field in Wednesday's 73-71 loss at Villanova. The Red Storm's next game is Sunday against Creighton. | 1 | 31-5 | |
12 | Kam Jones finished with 19 points and four assists in Tuesday's 68-58 win over DePaul. The Golden Eagles' next game is Tuesday against Seton Hall. | 1 | 23-11 | |
13 | Dain Dainja finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in Thursday's 80-65 win at USF. The Tigers' next game is Sunday at Wichita State. | 1 | 29-6 | |
14 | Danny Wolf finished with 15 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 75-73 win over Purdue. The Wolverines' next game is Sunday at Ohio State. | 1 | 27-10 | |
15 | JT Toppin finished with 32 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 93-55 win at Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders' next game is Tuesday at TCU. | 2 | 28-9 | |
16 | Jaxon Kohler finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 79-65 win at Illinois. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against Purdue. | 2 | 30-7 | |
17 | Koby Brea was 0-of-6 from the field in Saturday's 82-78 loss at Texas. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against Vanderbilt. | 2 | 24-12 | |
18 | RJ Melendez finished with 17 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 81-71 win at Ole Miss. The Bulldogs' next game is Tuesday against Texas A&M. | 1 | 21-13 | |
19 | Sean Pedulla was 4-of-14 from the field in Saturday's 81-71 loss to Mississippi State. The Rebels' next game is Saturday at Vanderbilt. | 5 | 24-12 | |
20 | Steven Ashworth was 1-of-8 from the field in Tuesday's 70-66 loss to UConn. The Bluejays' next game is Sunday at St. John's. | -- | 25-11 | |
21 | Jaden Bradley was 1-of-6 from the field in Saturday's 62-58 loss to Houston. The Wildcats' next game is Monday at Baylor. | -- | 24-13 | |
22 | Tyler Bilodeau finished with 12 points and five rebounds in Friday's 72-68 win at Indiana. The Bruins' next game is Tuesday against Minnesota. | -- | 23-11 | |
23 | Caleb Grill finished with 15 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 87-74 win at Georgia. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday against Alabama. | -- | 22-12 | |
24 | J'Vonne Hadley finished with 17 points and nine rebounds in Wednesday's 91-66 win at NC State. The Cardinals' next game is Sunday at Notre Dame. | -- | 27-8 | |
25 | Derik Queen finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday's 83-75 win at Nebraska. The Terrapins' next game is Sunday against Iowa. | 1 | 27-9 | |
26 | Dillon Hunter finished with 17 points and four assists in Saturday's 72-46 win at Florida State. The Tigers' next game is Saturday at SMU. | NR | 27-7 |
In: Clemson
Out: Kansas