Court Report: Auburn vs. Alabama is the Game of the Year; here’s everything to know for No. 1 vs. No. 2 clash

The date was Jan. 4, 2016. 

Oklahoma went into Allen Fieldhouse to battle Kansas. What transpired that night became one of the best regular-season games of all time: KU won 109-106 in triple OT. OU’s Buddy Hield — on his way to winning national player of the year honors; a topic we hit on just last week — scored a record 46 points, the most by a visiting player in that hallowed arena.

Another notable aspect to that legendary game: It’s the most recent instance of No. 1 playing No. 2 with both teams coming from the same conference.

Until this Saturday.

No. 1 Auburn is making the two-hour-and-45-minute drive to meet No. 2 Alabama, this 171st iteration of the Iron Bowl of Basketball being far and away the biggest. (Alabama leads the series 102-68.) In a region defined by fanatical football aspirations and gridiron greatness, there has never been a hardcourt game so grand in the Yellowhammer State. In fact, the basketball teams beat the football teams to playing with these kinds of stakes; the Tigers and Tide have never met in a top-two affair in football.

The two programs have combined to play 5,671 games across 231 seasons dating back to 1905. It’s all led to this, Saturday at 4 p.m. inside Coleman Coliseum.

And it’s so appropriate that we get this game in this season, when the SEC has never been better. It was meant to be.

“To maybe have the best basketball conference possibly ever, at some point you’d hope the two best teams in the poll end up in the SEC and at that time end up playing each other,” Alabama coach Nate Oats told CBS Sports. “Now, on top of it all, they happen to be from the same state and are big rivals. This could be the best game in all of college basketball all year and the best regular season game in I-don’t-know-how-many years. Rivalry, 1 vs. 2, best conference ever.”

It could be a bona fide classic.

And it’s boosted ever so slightly by the fact these two took care of business in road games Tuesday night. Auburn beat Vandy 80-68, while Alabama hit the century mark for a seventh time this season, winning 103-80 at Texas.

Alabama and Auburn’s combined ranking total: 2. There’s no close second in this rivalry’s history. We’ve never had a top-five, top-10, not even a top-15 matchup with these two. The next-best meeting between the blood rivals was last season, when No. 12 Auburn hosted the 16th-ranked Tide, a 99-81 Auburn win. Prior to that, 2021-22 had No. 4 Auburn at No. 24 Alabama (Tigers won 81-77), and in 1955 the two met when Bama was ranked 16th, Auburn 20th. Johnny Dee’s Tide took that one over Joel Eaves’ Tigers 99-78.

Auburn’s Bruce Pearl has been involved in a game like this before, once, back in February 2008, when his No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers beat No. 1 Memphis (in Memphis) 66-62. It vaulted UT to its first ever No. 1 ranking; it was a program-altering moment then the way Saturday could be for Auburn or Alabama. Pearl told me he remembers telling his UT team, even though it was a road game, they were going to win.  

“I remember the town like it was the national championship game,” Pearl said. “It felt like a Super Bowl, it felt like a Final Four. The pulse outside the hotel that morning and they were lining up all day, and back then College GameDay was fairly new and it was just big.” 

Seventeen years later and he’s back. Did Pearl ever think he’d coach in a top-two matchup ever again? 

“No chance. Absolutely no chance,” he said. “And that’s not why I came to Auburn. I came to Auburn because I thought we could be competitive and bring credibility and we were going to compete.”

When Pearl arrived in 2014, the SEC was on the back end of a six-year run of averaging a paltry 3.7 NCAA bids per year. This season, it could set a record for most bids for a conference.

“One thing I remember at that time was there were really down programs in the league bringing it down, weighing them down. A loss to a bad SEC team could destroy your résumé,” Pearl said. “If you go back to when I took the job, the two worst, it was RPIs back then, TCU was No. 1. It was 261 on a five-year average and we were 254 on a five-year average prior to my getting there.”

Incredibly, Auburn’s proceeded to be a top-three SEC program across 11 seasons under Pearl. Oats arrived via Buffalo in 2019 and has built Bama into its best version ever. Thus: the IBOB has nearly hit football levels of intensity. Tide and Tigers fans have a long and proud psychotic history for their obsessive hatred for the other in football. That affliction has attached itself to basketball in the past few years to an entirely new level, but it’s more than hate for the other. Auburn and Alabama digital propagandists have upped their meme-driven, perpetually online agendas as their teams have settled into top-10 status in the sport in the past half-decade.

“Alabama was my rival the minute I put the Auburn jacket on,” said Pearl, “but now it has national implications instead of just pride of the state. … It’s never been this.” 

“They’re definitely super into it and I’ve felt it,” Oats told me of the fan impact. “Alabama’s had some pretty good tradition with Wimp (Sanderson) and all that. But they’d never made a Final Four. And Auburn’s had (Charles) Barkley and all that but never been at this level. … Bruce did a really good job getting them up to a nationally recognized level, and we’ve been fortunate enough to come in here and get Alabama up to a pretty good level too.”

Pearl told me his team has prepared extremely well the past few days. Accountability can be found all over the facility, while finger-pointing cannot. His guys realize the stakes. They will arrive ready on Saturday — boasting arguably the national player of the year as of today, Johni Broome — for what could turn into a cinematic masterpiece of scoring. Auburn ranks No. 1 in offensive efficiency, Alabama sidled up next to it at No. 2. The Tide are No. 1 in points (90.5 per game) and lead the country with seven outings of 100-plus.

Saturday could be a race to 90 — if not more. 

Alabama got right Tuesday night when it was an outrageous 17-of-29 from 3-point range.

“I hope it gives us a little bit of confidence,” Oats said. “Auburn’s so good, so deep and talented we need everyone playing well. I mean, shoot, it’s going to be a war on defense.”

Oats is 6-4 against Pearl. What’s it like to scheme against him?

“Great, great coach,” Oats said. “You’re not just going to be able to put them away by playing hard. You have to play hard, be tough AND put together a really good game plan on top of all of it. Coaches are going to have to be a big part of this win, if we’re able to get it, because they’re going to have wrinkles, we’ll have to make adjustments. They’ve got all the different counters to their flex actions.”

Oats is worried about Alabama’s 17 turnovers against Texas; the 3-pointers mitigated those mistakes. They won’t be able to do that against Auburn, even at home. We talked Wednesday morning as he was about to call a staff meeting and go over the first round of film review and scouting objectives. Oats was going on little sleep after the late flight home late, which included film review. He prepared his team Tuesday by playing them clips of Tom Brady and Nick Saban talking about their prep for their biggest games. The message from those legends: the big game doesn’t feel as big if you’ve prepared the same way for all the other big games you’ve had.

And yet.

“Now, I do know the ramifications are bigger and the spotlight’s going to be bigger,” Oats said. “We’re going to do what we usually do but we know there’s a lot more riding on this one.” 

It’s two programs that have won six of the last eight SEC regular season/tournament championships (Alabama four, Auburn two). It’s the most anticipated non-NCAA Tournament matchup of the year, with a chance of being the best game of the year if both teams play to their max potential.

To that point, KenPom.com has a pregame rating system called “Thrill Score” which ranks a game’s potential for greatness (and entertainment value) based on three factors: the rating of the teams, the competitiveness of the matchup and the expected combined points total. Tigers-Tide is a record-setter, clocking in at a whopping 92.9. That’s by far the highest Thrill Score in history (dating back to 2010). 

This is all wonderfully timed, coming the weekend succeeding the Super Bowl, the game a gem on what should be another stellar Saturday in what’s become a sensational season. We’ve had 44 previous top-two matchups in college basketball, but the scene Saturday in Tuscaloosa will be unprecedented. To better understand the stakes, let’s look at the history of No. 1 vs. No. 2.

No. 1 vs. No. 2 since the beginning, by the numbers

The 2024-25 season marks the 76th year of the AP men’s college basketball rankings. No. 1 Auburn at No. 2 Alabama is the 45th battle between the top two in the poll — and the 27th instance in the regular season. It’s the 12th time two teams from the same league have squared off.

We’re treated to a 1-2 often, but far from annually: Saturday will mark the fifth top-two game in the past decade. The most recent affair was Nov. 23, 2021: No. 1 Gonzaga beat No. 2 UCLA 83-63 in Las Vegas. If you want the full framing of No. 1 vs. No. 2, let’s dive into the data, which I retrieved from the NCAA’s record book, SportsReference.com and College Poll Archive.

• The nine most recent top-two games were in the regular season. The No. 2 team is 14-12 in the regular-season. No. 1 leads overall 23-21.
• The most recent instance of No. 1 playing No. 2 in a postseason game was the 2005 national championship between North Carolina and Illinois.
• A 1-2 game has never included Alabama or Auburn — until Saturday!
• Pearl has coached in the only two 1-2 intrastate matchups featuring an SEC team, the other being No. 1 Memphis vs. Pearl’s No. 2 Tennessee squad in ’08.
• UCLA holds the record with 10 appearances in these games. Kentucky’s nine ranks second. 
• The all-time points differential is +18 in favor of the No. 1 team, with the average score the past 44 meetings: No. 1 team 74.9, No. 2 team 74.5. 
• KenPom predicts No. 2 to win: Auburn 88, Alabama 86.
• There have been five games that required overtime, with two of those needing three OTs. In 1957, North Carolina beat Kansas 54-53 in triple OT in the NCAA Tournament title game.
• The top two teams can provide classics, but it’s more likely than not we won’t have a close finish: 43% of the time (19 out of 44) the margin has been six points or fewer. Eight times (18%) these games have been decided by one point and/or required overtime.
• Largest gap for No. 1 over No. 2 was Duke’s 31-point beatdown of Texas in 2005 (97-66).
• Largest gap for No. 2 over No. 1 is Kentucky 81, St. John’s 40 in 1951.

Intra-conference top-two results

Saturday’s game will be the 11th conference battle between the top two teams. The No. 2 team is 6-5, with eight games happening during the regular season; the home team is 5-4. (Winners in bold.)

» Jan. 4, 2016: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 2 Oklahoma
» Feb. 25, 2007: No. 1 Wisconsin @ No. 2 Ohio State
» Feb. 5, 1998: No. 1 Duke @ No. 2 North Carolina
» Feb. 3, 1994: No. 1 Duke @ No. 2 North Carolina
» March 10, 1990: No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 2 Kansas (Big Eight Tournament)
» Feb. 13, 1990: No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 2 Missouri
» Feb. 4, 1986: No. 1 North Carolina @ No. 2 Georgia Tech 
» March 9, 1985: No. 1 Georgetown vs. St John’s (Big East Tournament)
» Feb. 27, 1985: No. 1 St. John’s vs. No. 2 Georgetown
» Jan. 26, 1985: No. 1 Georgetown vs. No. 2 St. John’s 
» Jan. 9, 1982: No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Virginia

No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the regular season

• Dec. 17, 1951: No. 2 Kentucky def. No. 1 St. John’s 81-40
• Dec. 21, 1954: No. 1 Kentucky def. No. 2 Utah 70-65
• Dec.14, 1964: No. 2 Michigan def. No. 1 Wichita State 87-85
• Jan.20, 1968: No. 2 Houston def. No. 1 UCLA 71-69
• Dec.15, 1973: No. 1 UCLA def. No. 2 North Carolina State 84-66
• Jan. 19, 1974: No. 2 Notre Dame def. No. 1 UCLA 71-70
• Jan. 26, 1974: No. 2 UCLA def. No. 1 Notre Dame 94-75
• Nov. 29, 1975: No. 1 Indiana def. No. 2. UCLA 84-64
• Dec. 26, 1981: No. 1 North Carolina def. No. 2 Kentucky 82-69
• Jan. 9, 1982: No. 1 North Carolina def. No. 2 Virginia 65-60
• Dec.15, 1984: No. 1 Georgetown def. No. 2. DePaul 77-57
• Jan. 26, 1985: No. 2 St. John’s def. No. 1 Georgetown 66-65
• Feb. 27, 1985: No. 2 Georgetown def. No. 1 St. John’s 85-69
• Feb. 4, 1986: No. 1 North Carolina def. No. 2 Georgia Tech 78-77 (OT)
• Feb. 13, 1990: No. 2 Missouri def. No. 1 Kansas 77-71
• Feb. 10, 1991: No. 1 UNLV def. No. 2 Arkansas 112-105
• Feb. 3, 1994: No. 2 North Carolina def. No. 1 Duke 89-78
• Feb. 5, 1998: No. 2 North Carolina def. No. 1 Duke 97-73
• Dec. 10, 2005: No. 1 Duke def. No. 2 Texas 97-66
• Feb. 25, 2007: No. 2 Ohio State def. No. 1 Wisconsin 49-48
• Feb. 23, 2008: No. 2 Tennessee def. No. 1 Memphis 66-62
• Nov. 12, 2013: No. 2 Michigan State def. No. 1 Kentucky 78-74
• Jan. 4, 2016: No. 1 Kansas def. No. 2 Oklahoma 109-106 (3OT)
• Nov. 14, 2017: No. 1 Duke def. No. 2 Michigan State 88-81
• Nov. 5, 2019: No. 2 Kentucky def. No. 1 Michigan State 69-62
• Nov. 23, 2021: No. 1 Gonzaga def. No. 2 UCLA 83-63

No. 1 vs. No. 2 in postseason play

• March 26, 1949: No. 1 Kentucky def. No. 2 Oklahoma A&M 46-36 (national championship)
• March 23, 1957: No. 1 North Carolina def. No. 2 Kansas 54-53 (3OT) (national championship)
• March 18, 1960: No. 2 California def. No. 1 Cincinnati 77-69 (national semifinals)
• March 25, 1961: No. 2 Cincinnati def. No. 1 Ohio State 70-65 (OT) (national championship)
• March 24, 1962: No. 2 Cincinnati def. No. 1 Ohio State 71-59 (national championship)
• March 20, 1965: No. 2 UCLA def. No. 1 Michigan 91-80 (national championship)
• March 18, 1966: No. 1 Kentucky def. No. 2 Duke 83-79 (national semifinals)
• March 22, 1968: No. 2 UCLA def. No. 1 Houston 101-69 (national semifinals)
• March 25, 1974: No. 1 NC State def. No. 2 UCLA 80-77 (2OT) (national semifinals)
• March 31, 1975: No. 1 UCLA def. No. 2 Kentucky 92-85 (national championship)
• March 22, 1976: No. 1 Indiana def. No. 2 Marquette 65-56 (Elite Eight)
• April 2, 1983: No. 1 Houston def. No. 2 Louisville 94-81 (national semifinals)
• March 9, 1985: No. 1 Georgetown def. No. 2 St. John’s 92-80 (Big East championship)
• March 29, 1986: No. 1 Duke def. No. 2. Kansas 71-67 (national semifinals)
• March 10, 1990: No. 1 Oklahoma def. No. 2 Kansas 95-77 (Big Eight semifinals)
• March 30, 1996: No. 2 Kentucky def. No. 1 Massachusetts 81-74 (national semifinals)
• March 27, 1999: No. 1 Duke def. No. 2 Michigan State 68-62 (national semifinals)
• April 4, 2005: No. 2 North Carolina def. No. 1 Illinois 75-70 (national championship)

If Indiana privately covets Dusty May, Michigan must act now

Next month, Indiana will hire its fourth coach in an eight-year span. Here’s the first dossier of candidates for the job. There are 16 names included, and I think it’s highly probable IU’s next coach is in that story linked in the sentence before this one. One of the names is Michigan’s Dusty May, who was once Indiana’s Dusty May, back when he was a student manager for Bob Knight.

It’s unknown where or how high May ranks on Hoosiers’ athletic director Scott Dolson’s list.

It’s unknown how much May would covet or seriously consider leaving Michigan (after one season) for his alma mater.

Maybe May doesn’t become a candidate. 

Right now, it’s reasonable to speculate he could be.

Michigan spun out fast under Juwan Howard only to revive its program immediately under May. To assume he’d stick around just because he’s been there less than a year would be naive. May’s current deal pays him $3.75 million annually over a five-year span. It’s a good contract but not a great one; May could have commanded more last year when he turned down Louisville and Vanderbilt. If Michigan AD Warde Manuel believes he has a coach who can be one of the best in the sport over the next decade — and why wouldn’t he? Michigan (19-5, 11-2) is in first place in the Big Ten after beating Purdue — he’d better be working with May’s agent to amend the paperwork ASAP.

It would be AD malpractice to allow even a window of possibility for Indiana to not pay top dollar. If there’s even a slight chance you lose him, make Indiana sign over an extraordinary amount of money in the process. 

Think it can’t happen? There is precedent for this in the past decade. 

In 2017, Brad Underwood turned a plodding, 12-win Oklahoma State program into a quick-rising 20-win team with an NCAA Tournament appearance and the No. 1 offense in college basketball in a year’s time. Underwood’s agent, Bret Just, tried for more than a month to get OSU to renegotiate a deal, but then-OSU AD Mike Holder didn’t treat the situation with urgency. Prior to Illinois firing John Groce on March 11, 2017, third parties contacted Just to gauge Underwood’s interest. After the firing, Illinois AD Josh Whitman zealously courted Underwood, yet only a handful of people knew.

Six days after Groce was fired, Oklahoma State lost in the first round of the NCAAs to, of all teams, Michigan. Less than 24 hours later Underwood bolted to Illinois in a move that stunned the industry. The Fighting Illini have been a top-three Big Ten program since he took the job, with six NCAA Tournament-level teams in eight seasons. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is 60-88 vs. Big 12 opponents with only one NCAA Tournament bid since it let Underwood get away. (As fate would have it, Mike Boynton inherited the OSU job after Underwood left; he’s now May’s top assistant at Michigan.)

Who knows what direction Indiana chooses. Maybe this never becomes a thing. But if I’m Manuel, I’m wasting no time to get an amended term sheet on May’s desk as soon as possible. For more, Gary Parrish and I discussed this on Monday’s Eye on College Basketball on CBS Sports Network.

Super Bowl was a blowout. What’s the college hoops comp?

The Eagles annihilating the Chiefs — it was 40-22 but to anyone who watched, the game felt like a bigger rout than 18 points — prompted Parrish to ask …

The 2021 title game kind of fits. Gonzaga has zero national championships and it didn’t have the best player in the sport. But it was considered the best team and the favorite, just like KC. Gonzaga entered 30-0 (COVID-shortened season, remember) and, like Kansas City, was going for something that hadn’t been done in multiple generations. In GU’s case, the first undefeated title run since Indiana in 1976. Within minutes of the game starting, it was evident the favored team was severely overmatched. 

It got me thinking. Which reigning champions in college hoops have gone down the hardest deep in the NCAA Tournament? Framing in stricter terms, there isn’t an A-to-A analogy. There’s only one reigning champion with a great record to lose in the title game in blowout fashion: 1959-60 California. A 28-1 Golden Bears team coached by Hall of Famer Pete Newell got rocked by 20 against Ohio State. That’s your closest statistical comp to Sunday’s Super Bowl. 

There are three more somewhat similar results. All feature reigning champions, all of them losing in the Elite Eight or later.

1957: 2X champ San Francisco is walloped 80-56 by Kansas in Final Four
1998: No. 1 Arizona loses by 25 points, 76-51, to No. 3 Utah in the Elite Eight
2001: No. 1 Michigan State downed 80-61 against No. 2 Arizona in Final Four

@ me

Find me on Bluesky or X/Twitter and drop a Q anytime!

The pitiable 85-65 loss at Clemson dropped UNC to 14-11 and booted the Tar Heels altogether out of the NCAA Tournament conversation. In addition to not having the size on the interior to fight with most good teams, Davis’ collection of guards and wings have been woefully inadequate as shooters. RJ Davis, one of the four best players in the country last season, has oddly regressed. They lack multiple threatening perimeter defenders. After being ranked preseason top-10, the season is a bust. The noise is increasing; if UNC fails to hit 20 wins, a change could easily be in the offing. If that happens, the carousel gets dialed up two more notches, because many around the sport believe UNC is the best job in college basketball. 

As for Clemson, it’s notched wins over Duke, Carolina and Kentucky, marking only the third time the Tigers have won against Duke, UNC + another blue blood in the same season. 

2024-25: Duke, UNC, Kentucky
2019-20: Duke, UNC, Louisville
1978-79: Duke, UNC, Kentucky

Auburn held the top spot after losing at home Saturday. The last time the No. 1 team held its post in the week following a loss was Feb. 6, 2023, when Purdue lost at Indiana but stayed put.

It will be, but the push for national coach of the year is always a different conversation than the one for NPOY. It involves different factors and benchmarks than how we judge players. Pearl and Scheyer are both in the top five right now, with guys like Rick Pitino, Nate Oats, Todd Golden, Mark Pope and Dusty May all in play. The list will likely modify a week — let alone a month — from now.

Arkansas’ next four games: vs. LSU Wednesday, then at Texas A&M, at Auburn, vs. Missouri. Go 2-2 in that stretch and we can have a conversation. Anything worse than that and … no. The SEC has no shot at sending 14 teams dancing, IMO. I’ve said since early December the number would be 12 and I’m not moving off that prediction.

There’s speculation in agent circles he’d be a prime target for Arizona State and that Bennett would have interest if that job becomes available this year or next. I think that’s conceivable, but keep in mind Bennett has turned down overtures from high-major programs many times over the past 10-plus years. With Gonzaga, Oregon State and Washington State set to leave the WCC in 2026, he could rule that league until he decides to retire. So: I will believe it when I see it.

It’s the Akron Zips! John Groce’s 19-5 program has won 12 in a row following its 105-92 victory vs. Western Michigan on Tuesday. The longest home-winning streak nationally belongs to St. John’s (17).

Norlander’s news + nuggets

• This was overlooked by most, but Virginia honored Tony Bennett and hung a banner last Saturday. Here’s a really good write-up from the typically terrific David Teel. The standout factoid? Former Wahoo Jack Salt flew across 15 time zones, from Australia, to see it in person. I linked up with Bennett on Sunday and he told me that on a day filled with meaning and gratitude, having his dad and mom — Dick and Anne — being able to experience it in person was the best part of it all.
• Absolutely wild: Kansas State’s win Tuesday night over Arizona means, since Jan. 23, Jerome Tang’s team has been the best in all of college basketball. It’s also 13-3 at home vs. ranked teams under Tang.
• Seems like a snakebitten season for Baylor (15-9). I talked to Scott Drew last week and he’d mentioned to me the team had just had its first full practice with everyone healthy … of the entire season. He was elated. Fast-forward to Saturday, junior center Josh Ojianwuna is done for the year with a left knee injury. The Bears — who came up short at Houston on Monday night despite 58% shooting — will go small for the rest of the season, hoping they can disrupt enough to land in the 7-10 seed range and get a good draw in the Dance. 
• In most seasons we get at least one team that runs the table in league play. If it’s gonna happen in 2025, one of these three teams needs to pull it off: Akron (11-0, MAC), Southern (11-0, SWAC), Yale (7-0, Ivy).
• George Mason won at Saint Louis on Tuesday night in overtime to improve to 20-5. The Patriots will be a compelling bubble candidate if they can get to 27 wins by Selection Sunday. 
• At No. 9 in this week’s AP Top 25, St. John’s has its best placement since it was ninth in the final AP poll of the ’99-00 season. That was also the last time St. John’s was ranked higher in the AP poll than all other Big East teams, which is also true this week. Here’s my file from Gampel Pavilion last Friday, including the unusual motivation tactic Rick Pitino used shortly before the game.
• This hardly got any attention last week when he brought it up, but it’s ripe for discussion and potential criticism: Mark Few is fining his players (an undisclosed amount) for getting technical fouls. The list of coaches who could do this without any blowback is short. 
• UConn dropped out of the rankings this week, so with that in mind, know that only five teams have won national title when unranked this late into a season (Feb. 10 or later): 1949-50 CCNY; 1982-83 NC State; 984-85 Villanova; 1987-88 Kansas and … ? Yes: 2013-14 UConn.
• “CBS Sports, for the first time in its history, used an on-campus production site for a linear broadcast.” That’s a line from this interesting story on Kansas State students helping to recently put on a Big 12 broadcast from K-State’s top-notch broadcasting facility. CBS and the Big 12 partnered for more games this season than ever before, and it’s really cool to see this kind of progressive collaboration.