Imagine Duke and North Carolina meeting as the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the country... in football.
The opposite is set to happen on Saturday, when Auburn's No. 1-ranked men's basketball team travels to Coleman Coliseum to face No. 2 Alabama (4 pm. ET, ESPN).
How did we get here?: That the Iron Bowl rivals are peaking in their "other" sports simultaneously seems... about as likely as Duke and North Carolina rising to the top of college football at the same time. Auburn had been to one Elite Eight until Bruce Pearl took the Tigers to their first Final Four in 2019; Alabama also enjoyed one Elite Eight trip prior to Nate Oats taking the Crimson Tide to the Final Four last spring.
This season, however, Auburn and Alabama are on a collision course for the first of what could be three or four high-profile clashes. Auburn has been the nation's No. 1 team for a month now, sitting at 21-2 overall and 9-1 in SEC play. So strong is the Tigers' resume that they endured a 90-81 home loss to No. 6 Florida last Saturday and remained No. 1 this week. Alabama, meanwhile, is 21-3 and also 9-1 against the SEC. The Crimson Tide have been ranked in the AP Top 10 all season and lead the nation in scoring at 90.5 points per game.
Alabama leads the all-time series 102-68, but the Iron Bowl of Basketball -- what a name, huh? -- is level at 6-6 since Oats joined the rivalry in 2019. The home teams won both meetings last season.
The Tigers and Crimson Tide will close the regular season against each other March 8 in Auburn, and could obviously meet again in the SEC tournament in Nashville and the Big Dance as well. We can only hope.
SEC dominance: Despite the conference's putrid 82-82 record against itself, the It Just Means More Conference has dominated this basketball season -- which makes Auburn and Alabama's respective starts all the more impressive. Beyond the top two spots, the SEC also boasts No. 3 Florida, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 22 Mississippi State in this week's AP poll.
1 vs. 2 history: There have been 25 regular season AP 1 vs. 2 games in football, most recently in 2022 when No. 1 Georgia hammered No. 2 Tennessee, 27-13. When limiting the list to exclusively to historic rivals, a la Alabama and Auburn, the list drops to 11:
-- No. 1 Ohio State 42, No. 2 Michigan 39 (Nov. 18, 2006)
-- No. 2 Florida State 24, No. 1 Florida 21 (Nov. 30, 1996)
-- No. 2 Miami 17, No. 1 Florida State 16 (Nov. 16, 1991)
-- No. 1 Notre Dame 24, No. 2 Michigan 19 (Sept. 16, 1989)
-- No. 1 Notre Dame 27, No. 2 USC 10 (Nov. 26, 1988)
-- No. 2 Oklahoma 17, No. 1 Nebraska 7 (Nov. 21, 1987)
-- No. 1 Nebraska 35, No. 2 Oklahoma (Nov. 25, 1971)
-- No. 1 Texas 15, No. 2 Arkansas 14 (Dec. 6, 1969)
-- No. 2 Texas 28, No. 1 Oklahoma 7 (Oct. 12, 1963)
-- No. 1 Army 32, No. 2 Navy 13 (Dec. 1, 1945)
-- No. 1 Army 23, No. 2 Navy 7 (Dec. 2, 1944)
You'll notice that list does not include the Iron Bowl. The closest Alabama and Auburn have come to a 1 vs. 2 game was 2013, when No. 4 Auburn Kick-Sixed No. 1 Alabama.
Saturday will be the first 1 vs. 2 basketball game in SEC history. There have been more than 40 1 vs. 2 games on the hardwood, but Saturday will be the first conference game since No. 1 Kansas beat No. 2 Oklahoma, 109-106 in triple overtime, in 2016. We should only be so lucky on Saturday.
Saturday at 4 p.m. ET inside Coleman Coliseum will surely have a surreal feeling, a how did we get here? vibe. For a football first, second and third school, being No. 1 or No. 2 in basketball is cool, but being No. 1 or No. 2 and beating your arch rival while they're No. 1 or No. 2 will be even cooler. On the flip side, being better than everyone else in the sport except the one team you want to beat more than anyone else will feel bitterly disappointing.
No one can know exactly how Coleman Coliseum will feel before the game on Saturday, because no one's ever experienced it. But once the game tips, the Iron Bowl of Basketball will feel a lot like the Iron Bowl, period.