Auburn’s quest for back-to-back Southeastern Conference tournament championships is over.

The Tigers fell 70-65 to Tennessee Saturday afternoon, ending their stay in Nashville and dropping Auburn to 1-3 in its last four games. It was a four-game stretch in which Auburn lost to the current No. 14, No. 8 and No. 5 teams in the country.

Auburn is no stranger to playing top competition — it has the No. 2 strength of schedule in the country, per KenPom — but Saturday, along with last Saturday and last Tuesday, Auburn couldn’t get over the hump.

But for a team that’s 28-5, leading the country in Quad I wins and No. 2 in the NET, what does another close loss to a top team mean?

It depends on what specifically you are referring to.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi wrote in his projections before Saturday’s games that Auburn “has locked up the No. 1 overall seed regardless of further results.” That would suggest that the loss means nothing in terms of NCAA tournament seeding.

He released another projection shortly after the Auburn-Tennessee game, and his words remained the same.

Auburn’s 16 Quad I wins is three more than the next best team (Michigan State) and the Tigers have played the toughest schedule in the country.

“I believe this team has done enough to be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament,” Bruce Pearl said after the Tennessee loss, making one last case before Selection Sunday.

Duke, the team competing closest with Auburn for the No. 1 overall seed, has half as many Quad I wins as Auburn, and even a win over Louisville would keep the Blue Devils seven wins behind Auburn.

While seeding will likely remain unchanged, what about the form of this Auburn team going into March Madness?

It may be a little dramatic to start sounding the alarm bells, but Auburn has lost more in the past two weeks than it had the entire season beforehand. The recent losses may have been against good teams, but that doesn’t keep them from being disappointing.

The trend in the first two losses was issues with physicality and on the offensive glass, problems that have plagued Auburn in many of its losses this season.

Against Tennessee, the Vols had just one more offensive rebound than Auburn, but an issue that hurt the Tigers against Alabama popped up again. They shot 13-for-22 from the free throw line in a game where Tennessee shot 25-for-27.

SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome was 5-for-12 from the line, a stain on a 23-point performance. Against Alabama, Auburn shot 11-for-17 at the free throw line, including 2-for-5 from Broome who finished with 34 points.

Little things like free throws and defending the glass can make all the difference in March, and it already has in three of Auburn’s last four games.

On the other hand, Auburn has proven over the course of this season that it can beat top caliber teams. The Tigers have wins over Houston, Iowa State, Purdue, Tennessee, Alabama and other top teams.

The biggest thing that the recent losses change for Auburn is its perception. For most of the season, the Tigers were the team to beat, ranking No. 1 for eight straight weeks.

Recent losses combined with the success of teams like Florida and Houston has changed that narrative. Will that help Auburn? Potentially.

Pearl said before the conference tournament that many of his most successful teams in the postseason didn’t have all the recognition before the runs started. Auburn already has one trophy after winning the SEC regular season title, but the end of the regular season combined with the conference tournament should put a bad taste in its mouth.

Another thing worth considering is that Auburn likely won’t play a team as good as Tennessee or Alabama until at least the Elite Eight.

While its first weekend games should be taken seriously, Auburn will face two weaker opponents when it faces a 16-seed followed by an eight or nine-seed. That’s a big difference from facing teams fighting to be a one-seed in high-stakes games.

With all those factors in mind, Pearl isn’t concerned, he gave a sarcastic response to a reporter after the Tennessee game asking if the team was panicked, and made it known that he’s itching to get his team back on the court next week.

“We lost to Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M. Yeah, we’re panicked,” Pearl said with a sarcastic shrug. “I can hardly wait till next weekend and start playing again. Just get to Sunday. Let’s find out where we’re going, let’s find out who we’re playing and let’s get back to work.”

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m