College basketball power rankings: Auburn usurps Tennesse for top spot, UConn continues steady climb

Tennessee went on the road and beat Illinois at the buzzer on Saturday, then turned around three days later and demolished Western Carolina at home by 48 points. … and yet the Vols have still been supplanted by Auburn at No. 1 in this week’s men’s college basketball power rankings.

That says more about Auburn than it does about Tennessee — Auburn currently ranks No. 1 at both KenPom.com and BartTorvik.com after dominant wins over Ohio State (91-53) and Georgia State (100-59) in the past week. The Tigers also won three games in three days against a strong Maui Invitational field in November and are 3-0 in the last 11 days with a 41-point average margin of victory.

Auburn has earned its place atop the rankings. Tennessee has been excellent, no doubt — credit where it’s due — but Auburn has been operating in its own elite tier so far.

This week’s Power Rankings reflect that — with Tennessee dropping one spot to No. 2 as part of a shakeup in the top five. UConn climbed another notch, while the Florida Gators made their highest appearance of the season.

There’s much to unpack here, so let’s dive in with the rankings guidelines as we always do and make clear how we operate in this space. I promise to abide by these as closely as I can throughout the season. 

Power Rankings definition: Ranking teams with an emphasis on recent performance based on their level of competition. These are heavily unscientific in nature and can be distilled down to a “vibes” ranking — with things like margin of victory, injuries, performance vs. top competition, momentum and other sometimes subjective factors weighing into the equation. The power rankings can be thought of in a weekly setting as a reaction — or sometimes even an overreaction — to the small sample of the week that was. 

Let’s get to it.