Auburn is No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 13th consecutive morning and will likely also remain No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the second straight week when it updates Monday.
But keep an eye on Duke.
While Auburn’s best player, Johni Broome, remains sidelined with an ankle injury suffered nine days ago, Duke’s best player, Cooper Flagg, has emerged as the favorite to become the youngest Wooden Award winner in history. Also true: Duke and Auburn are now co-favorites to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament at +500, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
It’s inarguable, at this point, that Auburn has the sport’s best body of work — a 17-1 record highlighted by a 10-1 mark inside Quadrant 1. The Tigers deserve their No. 1 ranking. But if they were to lose Saturday to Tennessee while Duke extends its winning streak to 13 games via a victory at Wake Forest on the same day, the Blue Devils and Tigers would both then be 17-2 through 19 contests and, given that Duke already owns a win over Auburn and is already ahead of the Tigers in some computers, I would expect Duke to move to No. 1 under that scenario.
For now, though, it’s Auburn at No. 1 and Duke at No. 2 in Monday morning’s updated Top 25 And 1 — and I don’t see any reason that will change until at least Sunday morning considering neither Auburn nor Duke play again until Saturday.
Anyway …
Did you look at Monday’s schedule?
There are no ranked teams in action. So we’re all pretty freed up to watch the College Football Playoff Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes are listed as 8.5-point favorites. On Sunday’s episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, I picked Ohio State.
But I stink at picking games. So you should probably take the Irish.
Either way, enjoy it! Without the 12-team playoff, this matchup wouldn’t even be possible. So, regardless of who wins, I’m mostly just rooting for a fun and compelling game that leaves no silly people any room to try to suggest the old way was a better way.
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