Tennessee received 38 more first-place votes than Auburn in last week's Associated Press Top 25 poll. My guess is that the gap between the two programs will close some Monday when things update given what Bruce Pearl's Tigers just did to Purdue.

But first, there’s still some marquee non-conference college hoops to nosh on, as Jon Rothstein would say. So, in today’s College Basketball Weekly, the top mid-major programs are coming under the microscope as we’ll address which of these smaller-conference contenders are really worth monitoring.

FOX Sports national college basketball writer John Fanta reveals his latest top 25 rankings, headlined by Auburn, Tennessee and Iowa State.

The AP Top 25 college basketball poll released Monday featured Tennessee holding on to its No. 1 ranking despite a strong surge from No. 2 Auburn. The Volunteers received 41 first-place votes, while the Tigers snagged the other 21 votes for the top spot.

Tennessee and Auburn remained Nos. 1-2 atop The Associated Press men's college basketball poll. It's a fitting spot for a pair of Southeastern Conference teams considering the league put 10

Not many things are better at making a top-ranked college basketball team temporarily lose focus like a nonconference game against a mid-major opponent two days before Christmas. Tennessee learned this Monday night.