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After cracking the top five of the AP Poll last week, Auburn has officially moved a little bit higher as the nation’s final undefeated Power Five team.
POLL ALERT: Baylor leapfrogs Duke, Kansas for No. 2 spot in men's AP Top 25 on strong road wins; Gonzaga still No. 1.
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) January 13, 2020
See the full poll: https://t.co/xXlGQKLkGZ
More AP college basketball coverage: https://t.co/N0HLv6oHbR pic.twitter.com/xCaBtryRfY
What in the world, man. Auburn began the year coming off of a Final Four appearance, and al they’ve done in the first two months of the season is roll up 15 straight wins. That follows a torrid stretch at the end of the 2018-19 season, where they came within an eyelash of a national title. Overall, it’s 27 wins in 28 tries dating back to last February.
The complete demolition of Georgia on Saturday showed that Auburn may be hitting a little stride. The Bulldogs came in after a win at top-ten Memphis and a close loss to Kentucky. Not a bad week overall for Tom Crean and the projected top pick in the draft in Anthony Edwards.
Instead, Auburn controlled the game and held Edwards to just 9 points through the first thirty minutes of the game. Only when other Bulldogs hit foul trouble and the game was out of reach did Edwards finally start making some shots, finishing with 18.
Auburn is 3-0 in the SEC and now has the toughest week on the schedule, with two road games at Alabama and Florida coming up over the next six days. Right now, Bama is playing like the hottest offensive team in the conference, scoring 90 points in five of their last six games. The Tide are a weird team this season, lighting up the scoreboard at times while also losing to Penn.
Meanwhile, Florida was picked to win the league this year, but they’ve fallen on hard times. They gave up 91 to a poor scoring Missouri team a couple days ago, and dropped from a preseason #6 ranking to unranked pretty quickly at the start of the year. Still, the O-Dome isn’t an easy place to play.
As for Auburn, the top four ranking deserves a look at some numbers:
Auburn moved up a spot to No. 4 in the men’s hoops @AP_Top25.
— Scott Scroggins (@ScrogginsNoggin) January 13, 2020
17th time all-time the Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 4
1st time since being ranked 4th on 1/17/2000
4th season Auburn has been ranked in top 4 (1958-59, 4 weeks; 1998-99, 5 weeks; 1999-00, 7 weeks)
The Tigers are right behind Duke in the poll, with Gonzaga and Baylor at #1 and #2. Other SEC teams are... Kentucky at #10, and that’s it. San Diego State checks in at #7 as the nation’s only other undefeated team.
Oh damn, have we made it? https://t.co/4D6xGgko7q
— college and magnolia (@CollegeAndMag) January 12, 2020
War Damn Eagle. See you Wednesday night.