College basketball rankings: Auburn, Duke hold steady at 1-2; Tennessee into top 5

Ahhhhh, March! The glorious month arrived on Saturday with a loaded slate. As if the Southeastern Conference has not flexed its collective muscles enough throughout the season, the league sent a reminder to the nation that it has posted a historic campaign by giving us three top-20 matchups on the first day of college basketball’s best month of the year. 

And in Knoxville, we got an instant taste of madness when Tennessee’s Jahmai Mashack hit a 40-footer at the buzzer to give the Volunteers a 79-76 win over Alabama. Rick Barnes’ team rallied from down 76-72 with 36 seconds left to score the game’s final seven points in wild fashion: 

Elsewhere in college basketball on Saturday, we saw Auburn and Duke show why they’re the nation’s top two teams. 

The Tigers held Kentucky without a field goal for close to 11 minutes, rolling to a 94-78 win in Lexington. Bruce Pearl’s team claimed the outright SEC regular-season title with the victory and went to 27-2 overall, showing you must play an A+ game to have a chance at beating them. Why? Because Miles Kelly drilled nine triples and had 30 points, while Chad Baker-Mazara scored 22. Johni Broome? He shot 3-for-9 while a double-figure scorer in Denver Jones attempted just two shots — and it didn’t remotely matter. 

This team defends at a terrific level and is a total nightmare for opponents to guard because the Tigers can answer every question. I’m actually a bit perplexed as to why we’re not talking more about Auburn being a generationally great college team. The Tigers lost just one league game and have run away with a title in the SEC, which is tracking to send 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament. 

[Related: Mike DeCourcy’s latest NCAA Tournament projections]

When we’re talking about dominance, how about Duke? The Blue Devils have won six straight games, each of them coming by at least 18 points. 

After Cooper Flagg exited in the first half with an eye injury, there were some nerves at Cameron Indoor Stadium about the future No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft being OK. But the superstar freshman did return for the second half and finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in a 100-65 rout of Florida State. For Jon Scheyer’s team to be without Tyrese Proctor — who was out due to a knee injury but should be back in the near future — and still win by that margin, even amid a Flagg scare, is proof of how much of a wagon this team is. Duke is No. 1 in KenPom for a reason. 

While we’ve led with Auburn and Duke throughout the season, I think it bears noting that Florida has every bit of a shot to cut down the nets in San Antonio this April. The Gators are an offensive juggernaut, shredding a top-10 Texas A&M defense on Saturday night and beating the Aggies 89-70 on 14 made triples. 

I think the biggest testament to how good Todd Golden’s team is at scoring is the fact that All-American guard Walter Clayton shot 3-for-13 from the floor and 2-for-8 from downtown, and it didn’t make a difference. That’s because senior guard Will Richard was a flamethrower on Saturday night, shooting 9-for-13 from the floor and delivering 25 points, while big man Thomas Haugh was a major matchup problem for the Aggies, going for 17 on 7-of-10 from the floor. How about 21 assists on the night? And on the other side, the Gators shut down Wade Taylor IV to the tune of 3-of-11 as the Aggies dropped their fourth in a row. 

Three other weekend takeaways:

The St. John’s Red Storm are more than just back — they’re champions. For the first time since 1985, the Johnnies are outright Big East regular-season champions after RJ Luis led the way with 21 points in a title-clinching 71-61 win over Seton Hall in front of a third straight capacity weekend crowd at Madison Square Garden. Rick Pitino’s Hall of Fame career has written one of its best chapters ever, as the 72-year-old has elevated St. John’s University to a level it hasn’t seen in four decades. He’s the first college coach to win a regular-season conference title at five different schools and, with his 880th career win on Sunday, he passed Dean Smith for seventh all-time. What a story brewing in Manhattan. 

Iowa State and Texas Tech made statements on Saturday. For the Red Raiders to win at Allen Fieldhouse and drill 15 triples in the process showed why they can be a dangerous team on the Big Dance floor. Grant McCasland’s acquisition of JT Toppin from the transfer portal was a slam dunk. In Ames, the Cyclones got revenge on Arizona and also displayed why they are still a dark horse to reach the Final Four. When they get offensive balance like they did Saturday, with five scoring in double-figures and Milan Momcilovic causing matchup problems with his 3s, they’re special because the defense does not waver. 

Life on the bubble continues to intensify, and we had bubble winners and losers over the weekend. The biggest eyebrow-raising result was John Calipari and Arkansas taking a 19-point loss to a weak South Carolina team. That should push the Razorbacks out of projected fields for now. Georgia totally changed its hopes this week, following a Q1 win over Florida with a dominant road victory at Texas. The Longhorns should be out of projected fields and Rodney Terry’s seat is heating up. 

In the Big Ten, Indiana rolled past Washington behind Malik Reneau, who is such a talent, and Luke Goode, who’s showing why Mike Woodson wanted him out of the portal. If the Hoosiers win at Oregon on Tuesday night, they belong in. Either way, their home game against Ohio State on Saturday is a mammoth showdown. Nebraska should be very bubbly after taking a bad loss to Minnesota. 

And in the Big East, Xavier really helped itself with a 22-point win over Creighton. Zach Freemantle and Ryan Conwell combined for 43. They’re underappreciated as a terrific duo in the sport. The Musketeers have won five in a row. If Xavier wins at Butler and then beats Providence this week, it should be on the right side of the bubble.

 Now here’s my top 25: 

1. Auburn (27-2)
2. Duke (26-3)
3. Houston (25-4)
4. Florida (25-4)
5. Tennessee (24-5)
6. St. John’s (26-4)
7. Alabama (23-6)
8. Michigan State (24-5)
9. Texas Tech (22-7)
10. Clemson (24-5) 
11. Iowa State (22-7)
12. Wisconsin (22-7)
13. Louisville (23-6)
14. Maryland (22-7)
15. Memphis (24-5)
16. Saint Mary’s (27-4)
17. Missouri (21-8)
18. Purdue (20-9)
19. BYU (21-8)
20. Marquette (22-7)
21. Michigan (22-7)
22. Kentucky (19-10)
23. VCU (24-5)
24. Vanderbilt (20-9)
25. UC San Diego (26-4)

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.

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