No. 1 Auburn faces No. 2 Alabama on Saturday in a matchup highlighted by a bunch of players who returned to college after being told not to jump to the NBA.

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In a state entrenched in football tradition, Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl have transformed the Tide and Tigers to the two best teams in college basketball.

The Tigers have a national player of the year candidate in center Johni Broome, but Alabama counters with an All-American guard in Mark Sears and four others who average double figures. With always-animated Auburn coach Bruce Pearl squaring off against one of the sport's new coaching superstars in Nate Oats in what should be a wild environment,

Two of college basketball's top teams meet Saturday afternoon when Alabama and Auburn meet inside Coleman Coliseum. Here are updates from the game.