
Today at 2:00 a.m. <br>by <a class="underlined-byline" href="https://www.wholehogsports.com/staff/tom-murphy">Tom Murphy</a> <br>FAYETTEVILLE — The drama set to be on display at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., this week will mostly revolve around the top and the bottom of the SEC.<br>Auburn, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee are all contenders for earning a No. 1 seed line at the NCAA Tournament based on their performances in Nashville.<br>Auburn fell out of the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time in eight weeks but is still No. 3, while Florida is No. 4 and Alabama No. 5 heading into the postseason.<br>CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm included Auburn and Florida among his projected No. 1 seeds Monday.<br>ESPN’s Joe Lunardi left Auburn as his top No. 1 seed Sunday and also had Florida on the top line, while Alabama and Tennessee were 2 seeds in his projection.<br>On the other end of the spectrum from those potential top seeds are the bubble teams: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Vanderbilt.<br>Lunardi listed 13 SEC teams in the field, with Oklahoma among the last four in, Texas among the first four out and Arkansas one of the last four to receive byes.<br>Palm included 13 SEC teams in his bracket projection Monday, with Texas joining LSU and South Carolina on the outside. <br>Writing about the Razorbacks, Palm said a win over South Carolina two weeks ago would have kept the Hogs off his bubble and solidly in the field.<br>“Arkansas gets another shot at the Gamecocks in the opener of the SEC Tournament. A win there should be enough to punch their ticket,” he wrote.<br>Of the Sooners, Palm wrote that a loss to Georgia in the opening round in Nashville “may be one too many.”<br><strong>Beating No. 1</strong><br>Texas A&M didn’t just log its first-ever win against the AP No. 1 team by downing Auburn last Tuesday before a crowd of 12,257 on Senior Night at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas.<br>The Aggies pulled off the 83-72 win in wire-to-wire fashion, snapping a four-game losing streak and taking down a team that might have experienced an emotional letdown after clinching the SEC regular-season title three days earlier with a huge road win at Kentucky.<br>Texas A&M had been 0-9 in games against the AP No. 1 team. The three highest-rated wins in school history have come in the Buzz Williams era, with Tuesday’s victory joining a 67-61 win over No. 2 Alabama in the 2022-23 regular-season finale and a 67-62 win over No. 4 Auburn at the 2022 SEC Tournament.<br><strong>8 is a lot</strong><br>Kentucky’s 91-83 win at No. 15 Missouri checked off a huge milestone.<br>The Wildcats posted their eighth win over a top 15 team, the most in school history. The eight wins also tied Indiana (1992-93) and Duke (1978-79) for the most in a single season in Division I history.<br>Kentucky also posted top 15 wins over Duke (77-72), Gonzaga (90-89, OT), Florida (106-100), Mississippi State (95-90), Texas A&M (81-69) and Tennessee twice (78-73 and 75-64).<br><strong>8-10 log jam</strong><br>Arkansas wound up landing the No. 9 seed for the SEC Tournament by nosing out all the competition among the four teams that finished 8-10 in conference play.<br>The Razorbacks were 1-0 against Georgia, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, with the last two wins coming during the final week. Arkansas improved to 8-5 since opening league play at 0-5.<br><strong>Mini run</strong><br>Auburn’s loss at Texas A&M last week ended its six-game winning streak, leaving an unexpected club in the lower half of the standings with the longest current SEC win streak heading into the postseason.<br>Georgia is on a four-game run, it’s longest in league play since back-to-back wins over Kentucky and Oklahoma during the first full week of league play.<br>The Bulldogs, who had lost five of their past six games prior to the hot streak, might have nailed down an NCAA Tournament berth with their 88-83 win over Florida on Feb. 25 at Stegeman Coliseum.<br>Georgia followed that with back-to-back key road wins, 83-67 at Texas and 73-64 at South Carolina, before wrapping up league play with Saturday’s 79-68 win over Vanderbilt.<br>Georgia, which earned the No. 11 seed, will get back in action Wednesday against 14th-seed Oklahoma at the SEC Tournament.<br><strong>Mini slump</strong><br>Auburn clinched the SEC title March 1 then proceeded to go 0-2 last week, with the road loss at Texas A&M followed by a hard-fought 93-91 home loss in overtime against Alabama.<br>The Tigers had not lost two games in a row all season until the current slide. The Tigers earned the top seed and a double bye for the SEC Tournament and will face the winner of No. 8 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 9 Arkansas or No. 16 South Carolina on Friday.<br><strong>Top players</strong><br>Florida’s Alex Condon and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears split the weekly honors given out by the SEC office Monday.<br>Condon was named SEC player of the week after the 6-11 sophomore from Perth, Australia, averaged 22 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot in wins over Alabama and Ole Miss. His 27 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in the 99-94 win at Alabama made him the only SEC player this century with those numbers in a road win at a top 10 team.<br>Fears, a 6-4 guard, earned SEC freshman of the week honors. The Joilet, Ill., native averaged 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1 steal in wins over Missouri and Texas. Fears had a career-high 31 points on 13 field goal attempts and 9 of 10 free throw shooting in the 96-84 win over Missouri.<br><a href="#" onclick="event.preventDefault();Osano.cm.showDrawer('osano-cm-dom-info-dialog-open')">Privacy Preferences</a><br>Copyright © 2025, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC. (NWA Media)<br>All rights reserved.<br>This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC.<br>Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. 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