1. Auburn (7-0)
When these Tigers beat Houston in the opening week of the season, the narrative changed quite a bit. Expectations were certainly high in Auburn, though they put the rest of the country on notice immediately. Their early results proved that Johni Broome and the rest of this lineup would be a menace and their trip to Hawaii only punctuated that statement.
Their Maui Invitational run started with a Top 5 matchup against Iowa State, with the Tigers getting 21 points, 10 rebounds, and the game-winning putback by Broome to beat the Cyclones 83-81. In the semifinals, Auburn secured another ranked win, handling North Carolina in an 85-72 victory, with Broome supplying 23 points and 19 rebounds. The Tigers asserted control in the opening half and coasted to a 90-76 win over Memphis to conclude an amazing trip to Maui, leaning on 21 points and 16 rebounds in another strong Broome performance.
An already brilliant resume gets significantly more impressive. Auburn has done impactful things on offense in the first month of the season, with Broome and that frontcourt leading the charge for these Tigers. They have three ranked wins and have looked simply incredible in the first month of the season, but they can ill afford to relax. As if Maui wasn’t challenging enough, a true road test at Duke awaits in the ACC/SEC Challenge next week.
This concludes an extremely busy and exciting week in the college basketball season and in these Top 25 rankings. With all of the changes and commotion, do you agree with the new teams in the rankings or did we miss the mark on a few of these choices? Which teams are in these new rankings for the long haul?