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Tennessee Basketball stays at No. 1 in rankings, but Auburn keeps closing the gap

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey12/23/24GrantRamey
Rick Barnes, Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Head Coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers during the first round game of the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Tennessee Volunteers at Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, BS. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee Basketball will spend another week as the No. 1 team in the country, but No. 2 Auburn continues closing in. The Vols were ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday afternoon,

Tennessee got 41 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 to 21 for Auburn. Last week the Vols got 50 first-place votes to 12 for Auburn. Two weeks ago it was 58 for the Vols and three for Auburn.

The Vols got 20 first-place votes in this week’s Coaches Poll while Auburn received 11. Last week Tennessee got 22 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll to nine for Auburn.The Vols received 26 first-place votes two weeks ago while Auburn got five.

Tennessee hosts Middle Tennessee State on Monday in a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Food City Center. The Vols are down to just two non-conference games left — they host Norfolk State next Tuesday — before SEC play starts at home against Arkansas on January 4.

Vols ranked No. 2 in NET, No. 3 in KenPom

KenPom has Tennessee at No. 3 overall, behind No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Duke. The Vols are No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency, while Auburn is No. 1 on offense and No. 10 on defense. 

Tennessee is No. 2 in the NET rankings, trailing only Auburn. The Vols are 3-0 in Quad 1 games and a combined 8-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games. They don’t currently have any Quad 2 games to their credit. 

Auburn is 6-1 in Quad 1 games and has four wins over AP Top 25 teams. The Tigers are 5-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games and also do not currently have any Quad 2 games.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi last week had Tennessee projected as a No. 1 overall seed and the No. 2 overall seed in his latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection. Auburn was the No. 1 overall seed.

ESPN Bracketology has 13 SEC teams in NCAA Tournament

Lunardi had both Tennessee and Auburn spending the first weekend of the tournament at Rupp Arena in Lexington, with the Vols facing No. 16-seed Southern, across from No. 8 Cincinnati and No. 9 San Diego State. 

Lunardi’s projection last week had 13 of the 16 SEC teams making the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket.

There were three No. 1 seeds from the SEC, with Auburn and Tennessee joined by Kentucky. Alabama was a No. 2 seed and Florida and Texas A&M were both No. 3 seeds.

Mississippi State was a No. 5 seed, ahead of No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 11 Texas and No. 11 Missouri.