NCAA men's basketball Power Rankings: An SEC shuffle at the top

For much of the past two months, there has been a tier of teams atop the national rankings and leading the race for the 1-seeds. But Florida's loss at Georgia on Tuesday night opened up the discussion to figure out which of that group is best positioned to end up on the top line come Selection Sunday -- and helped us settle the top five in this week's Power Rankings.

Auburn and Duke are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The Tigers likely have a sizable cushion for the overall No. 1 seed in a couple weeks, and the Blue Devils are in good shape barring a surprising loss. That leaves three SEC teams -- Alabama, Tennessee, Florida -- and Houston to consider.

From a numbers perspective, Houston has the inside track to a 1-seed. The Cougars are in the top four of six of the seven metrics used by the selection committee. Their quality wins have increased recently, too, with wins over Texas Tech, Iowa State and Arizona over the past two weeks.

Alabama, despite back-to-back losses to Auburn and Missouri, would be a surefire 1-seed if it finishes the regular season with two more wins. The Crimson Tide face perhaps the most difficult three-game stretch in recent memory: at Tennessee, vs. Florida and at Auburn. They rank No. 2 in the three résumé-based metrics, with 10 Quadrant 1 wins.

Tennessee and Florida would get a boost by beating Alabama down the stretch. The Gators have the slightest metrics edge over the Vols, and they split their two head-to-head meetings. Tennessee has nine Quadrant 1 wins to Florida's five, while the Gators have 14 combined Quadrant 1 and 2 wins compared to Tennessee's 13. Florida does have arguably the best win of the season, beating Auburn at Auburn.

Let's see where we landed and dive into the full top 25.

1. Auburn Tigers (26-2)

Previous ranking: 1