ESPN college basketball pundits weighed in on the significance of Auburn’s 94-85 win over Alabama.
For the first time in SEC history, two teams from the conference met as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country. It could be said even that didn’t do the game justice as the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide were co-No. 1 teams in the AP and Coaches’ Poll respectively.
The nation’s eyes were on SEC basketball, and they weren’t in Lexington, Ky. or Gainesville, Fla. or even Fayetteville, Ark., home to the only SEC schools who have won an NCAA Tournament.
They were in Tuscaloosa, Ala. watching a pair of in-state teams battle it out for national supremacy. College Gameday was in attendance to witness Auburn beat Alabama 94-85 in a tightly contested game in which the Tigers never trailed.
There were a few raised eyebrows when Auburn held onto the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll last week after losing to Florida, but that was explained away by their body of work rather than recency bias.
However, the Tigers left no doubt what the polls will say this week after their win in Tuscaloosa, and ESPN took notice.
“The gap between Auburn and everyone else for the overall 1-seed is only growing,” wrote college basketball insider Jeff Borzello on ESPN. “The Tigers entered with five more Quadrant 1 wins than anyone else in the country and with the No. 1 ranking in five of the seven metrics the selection committee uses.
“Now, they have wins over No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Houston, No. 7 Purdue and No. 10 Iowa State, with their only two losses coming to teams that were 1-seeds in the mock bracket reveal Saturday afternoon, No. 3 Duke and co-No. 3 Florida.”
It wasn’t just that the Tigers won on Sunday, but how Auburn won that impressed Borzello. Despite moving to 7-0 in SEC road games, only Georgia and Ole Miss were ranked when Auburn played them on the road.
“Saturday also showed a side of Auburn we hadn’t seen in an SEC road game this season, and quelled any doubts we had about the Tigers’ ability to dominate an elite opponent in a true road environment in conference play,” Borzello continued.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was certainly impressed with the atmosphere at Coleman Coliseum.
“Look, we’re going to see those guys again, and maybe again,” Pearl told ESPN after the game on facing Alabama as many as four times this season. “So good for Alabama. Coach (Oats) has done an amazing job with that club. This was a great environment to play, the best environment in Coleman since I’ve been even a coach at Tennessee.”
While Pearl was full of praise for his opponent, he left little doubt what he thinks of his own club after the impressive-road win.
“We played great from start to finish,” Pearl said. “We acted like we were the No. 1 team. We prepared like were were the No. 1 team.
“And we are the No. 1 team in the country.”
Pearl will get no argument from ESPN or the voters this week.
