Alabama’s mens basketball team chalked up another win. The difference was the Tide beat LSU with no help from star guard Mark Sears. The usual playmaker for Alabama was held scoreless for the first half of the game and sat out on the bench for the second half.

The Vols likely would catapult onto the No. 1 seed line with a win at Auburn, but it would carry weight beyond the immediate effect on bracketology. A win at Auburn would give Tennessee two marquee road wins on its NCAA Tournament profile come Selection Sunday. The other was a 66-64 win at Illinois On dec. 14.

Auburn claimed the program’s second No. 1 ranking last week and won both its games despite playing without injured big man Johni Broome. The Tigers rolled over No. 14 Mississippi State 88-66 and survived a late comeback to beat then-No. 19 Georgia 70-68.

The Illini had the week's biggest slide by falling six spots after a weekend home loss to Southern California.

This week's AP top 25 men's basketball poll has Illinois at #19 in the country. That's down from #13 last week. Illinois stands at 13-and-4 on the season. Six Big Ten Conference teams are in the top 25 this week led by Michigan State (#12) and Oregon (#13). Purdue is 17th - Illinois 19th - Michigan 20th - and Wisconsin enters the poll at #24.

Alabama and Auburn enter offseasons with incredibly consequential quarterback competitions will dictate the direction of programs in need of momentum.