With the calendar flipping to February in just five days, we’ve officially hit the homestretch of the 2024-25 college basketball season — and the field is as wide open as ever.

While Auburn is clearly the No. 1 team in the country, the Tigers barely survived a 53-51 rock fight vs. Tennessee on Saturday. Auburn also has a two-point win over Iowa State — and an 84-78 loss to Duke.

The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is incredibly thin. And there are at least 10 teams with legitimate national championship hopes.

Updated NCAA NET Rankings

In the latest NCAA NET Rankings, both Arizona and Iowa State dropped ahead of their Big 12 showdown on Monday in Tucson.

After beating Arizona State 76-61, Iowa State dropped from No. 5 to No. 6 in the NET. The NET Rankings are the only rankings that truly matter. The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses the NET as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament.

After beating Colorado 78-63, Arizona dropped from No. 14 to No. 16 in the NET.

Iowa State is currently projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by both ESPN and CBS Sports. Arizona is projected as a No. 6 seed by ESPN and a No. 7 seed by CBS Sports.

If Arizona can beat Iowa State on Monday, the Wildcats will almost assuredly jump into the top 10 of the NET. The Big 12 currently has nine teams in the top 50 of the NET: No. 3 Houston, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 8 Kansas, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 16 Arizona, No. 28 Baylor, No. 38 BYU, No. 42 West Virginia and No. 47 Cincinnati.

West Region Outlook

Arizona is hoping to be placed in the West Region of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, which would mean much less travel for the Wildcats. The ideal scenario would be to play their first-round games in Denver, then advance to the Sweet 16 in San Francisco.

Three potential first-round or second-round opponents for Arizona fans to keep an eye on are No. 16 Gonzaga, No. 23 Saint Mary’s (California) and No. 27 Oregon.

Saint Mary’s (18-3) has won eight consecutive games and looks like the best team in the West Coast Conference. The Gaels have climbed more than 10 spots in the NET over the past two weeks and could move into the top 20 with wins over Santa Clara and Gonzaga this week. CBS Sports has Saint Mary’s slotted as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament — matched up against No. 7 Arizona in the first round.

Gonzaga has been scuffling recently and appears headed for a seed in the 8-9 range. Oregon is currently projected as a No. 3 seed by ESPN, with a potential second-round matchup against No. 6 Arizona in the West Region.

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