Alabama and Auburn basketball will meet on the hardwood on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum as the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the AP Poll. It will be the first meeting between the two bitter rivals as the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams.
You could actually bill Saturday afternoon's showdown as No. 1 vs. No. 1. Auburn held on to their No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll despite losing at home to Florida two days ago. The Crimson Tide overtook the Tigers in the Coaches Poll and is ranked No. 1 there.
In any case, Alabama and Auburn are two of the best teams in the country, and their matchup at Coleman this weekend is one of the most highly anticipated games of the college basketball season. It will be the first of two guaranteed meetings between the two as they finish the regular season against one another at Auburn Arena.
There's a possibility the two could meet again in the SEC Tournament and perhaps once again at the Final Four.
Alabama fans are undoubtedly a little bit disappointed to not take over as the AP No. 1 team in college basketball. Only two Alabama teams have ever achieved that feat: the Brandon Miller led Crimson Tide two years ago, and then 20 years previously Mark Gottfried's 2002-03 Alabama team was No. 1 in the AP Poll for a couple of weeks.
But they don't hand out banners for being ranked AP No. 1 in February. Alabama head coach Nate Oats doesn't care about the rankings. When asked about the prospect of it happening following Alabama's win over Arkansas and Auburn and Duke both losing, Oats mentioned that he didn't care.
Oats is focused solely on getting the best out of his team right now and knows media-manufactured rankings are completely irrelevant and serve no purpose outside of giving the talking heads on television something to discuss.
On the contrary, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl seems to really care about where Auburn is ranked in the polls. There's no denying that Auburn deserves to still be ranked No. 1 in the country despite losing to Florida. They have the best resume and they have stacked a ridiculous amount of great wins.
I just can't imagine as a coach actually caring about it. Pearl clearly does, however, and spent his Sunday morning retweeting propaganda that supported the Tigers' case as the top team in the land. Being No. 1 in February is apparently a huge deal.
My coach vs. your coach pic.twitter.com/kRvKd3iAyi
— Matthew Whatley 🐘 (@__whatley__) February 9, 2025
It's totally normal for coaches to go to bat for their teams, but it's usually during hotly contested debates: does this team deserve a playoff berth? Where should they be seeded in the NCAA Tournament? Questions that matter. Not inconsequential poll rankings in early February that hold no standing on what happens in March and early April.
Oats seems to have his priorities in line and will hopefully have his team peaking in the next couple of weeks.
Auburn may have already peaked. Maybe Pearl knows that.