College basketball rankings: Why Auburn deserves to be No. 1 with or without Johni Broome

Auburn is No. 1 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the sixth consecutive morning and will likely move to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll when it updates later Monday.

But are the Tigers really the sport’s best team as currently constructed?

That’s a fair question.

Truth is, they’re probably not now that Johni Broome, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, is sidelined indefinitely with a left ankle sprain suffered in Saturday’s win at South Carolina. Auburn is expected to be without its best player, and one of the sport’s best players, for at least a week and possibly multiple weeks. And if some AP voters choose to take that into account and instead move Iowa State or Duke to No. 1, I’ll totally understand.

But, like I explained Sunday, I’ve personally never made a habit of punishing teams in the Top 25 And 1 for injuries until the injuries result in negative results that damage the body of work. So, that’s why I’m keeping Auburn No. 1 despite Broome’s injury. The Tigers are 15-1 overall and 7-1 in Quadrant 1 — making them the only team in the country with at least six Q1 victories and no more than one total loss. Simply put, that’s college basketball’s best body of work, and one that I’ll respect until it’s not.

So how much will Broome’s absence impact Auburn?

It’s impossible to know for sure. But one way to illustrate its significance is to highlight that KenPom.com projects Auburn as a 13-point favorite over Mississippi State on Tuesday at home — but EvanMiya.com is only putting the number at -4.5 after factoring in Broome’s absence. These are, to be clear, two different computer formulas, and the actual point spread will probably fall somewhere in the middle of those two numbers. But the point remains the same — that the Tigers are a much different team without their All-American, and that’s going to be reflected in the point spreads connected to every game Auburn plays until Broome is healthy enough to return to the lineup.

Top 25 And 1 rankings