Auburn's projected AP ranking after suffering second loss of season

The SEC comes for everyone eventually. After starting conference play 9-0 and winning 13 straight games overall, the Auburn Tigers finally fell to an SEC foe, losing 90-81 to Florida on Saturday afternoon.

I think things are going to be just fine for Burce Pearl's team. They have dominated the best conference in college hoops so far, and now have two total losses on the year — to Duke and Florida. Not what you'd call "bad losses."

Florida was missing a pretty important player in Alijah Martin, though, and the loss coming at home in front of a raucous crowd make the defeat somewhat surprising; but Florida will likely leap into the top five on Monday, so in no world is this loss reason for concern.

Projecting Auburn's AP ranking on Monday

While Auburn still has an argument for being the best team in college basketball, they likely won't retain the No. 1 ranking after a home loss today. I predict Auburn drops to No. 3 behind Duke and Alabama, assuming both of those teams win on Saturday — versus Clemson and Arkansas, respectively.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on your level of optimism) the Tigers will have ample opportunity to retain that top spot, and the presumed top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Auburn still has yet to play Alabama, meaning the Tide are on the schedule twice before the end of the year, along with Ole Miss, Kentucky and Texas A&M, who are all currently in the AP Top 25 as well.

The SEC might send a nearly unfathomable 14 teams to the Big Dance, and the AP Top 25 has been very forgiving to teams losing SEC games this season because of how deep the conference is. Auburn seemed unfazed by that depth until Saturday, when it was finally tripped up.