The Auburn women’s basketball team has apparently earned enough respect not to plummet in the polls after a loss.

The Tigers dropped one spot to No. 6 on Monday in the new Associated Press top 25 poll, swapping places with Louisville (20-2).

The Tigers almost held firm at No. 5 despite picking up their first loss of the season Thursday at Georgia. Louisville tallied just one more voting point (873) than Auburn.

Auburn rebounded Sunday with a 66-55 victory at LSU.

In hindsight, though, Auburn can look at the weekend as a missed opportunity to move up in the poll, as previously No. 3 Duke lost at Florida State on Thursday. The Blue Devils dropped just one spot to No. 4, as California (18-2) vaulted four spots to No. 3.

UConn, the lone undefeated team in the nation, remained the No. 1 team in the country and received all 45 first-place votes.

Despite the drop, Auburn still sits at its highest point in the polls since 2000.

“None of this matters until it matters, and that’s the NCAA tournament,” Fortner said last week. “You just want to be ready to play at that point.
Everything we’re doing right now is to prepare ourself to play in the postseason. Everything up to that point really is just to get your team better and better and not about the polls.”

Auburn resumes its conference schedule Thursday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum against Ole Miss.

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