Bruce Pearl often makes analogies to football in his press conferences. For a man who has done so much to change the perception and the success of basketball in Auburn, he’s still aware the most prominent sport around these parts and this state is football.

But in 2024, a school and a state not known historically as basketball power has been among the best in the country, and the early leaders in the SEC.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m definitely proud of the state of basketball in Alabama,” Pearl said during a press conference Monday. “I am. I’m proud of it. Between Auburn and Alabama, in four of the last five years, we’ve been the champions. I don’t think the SEC, quite frankly, has done enough to really promote that. Like sometimes when I say that – do you remember reading that? I don’t remember reading that in Sports Illustrated. I remember reading times when Auburn and Alabama won four of the five SEC championships, but not in basketball.”

Alabama beat Mizzou on Tuesday night to improve to 4-0 in league play. The only other unbeaten in the SEC is Auburn, at 3-0. With a win Wednesday night on the road against Vanderbilt, No. 13 Auburn will re-join its in-state rivals atop the SEC. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and the game will be aired on the SEC Network.

The SEC has already seen its share of upsets to whittle down to just two unbeaten teams after not even two weeks of conference play.

“This whole league is obviously pretty competitive,” Pearl said on Jan. 11, before Auburn played LSU. “Just after two games, you can see how wild this race is going to be and how challenging it’s going to be to survive.”

Auburn is ranked in the top 15 while Alabama is unranked in the Associated Press top 25 poll, but the Tigers and Crimson Tide are both analytics darlings. Both teams are ranked in the top 10 in both the KenPom and Torvik computer rankings. In the Torvik rankings, both Yellowhammer state schools are in the top five.

KenPom projects Auburn and Alabama to be the top two finishers in the SEC come season’s end. Like Pearl said, it’s the type of championship battle more expected during football season.

The last three SEC regular season champions have been either Alabama or Auburn. Auburn won the 2019 SEC tournament. Auburn and Tennessee split the 2018 regular season title with Tennessee.

Pearl has built Auburn into a consistent contender since his arrival on the Plains in 2014. Alabama head coach Nate Oats has quickly built Alabama into one of the SEC’s best programs since he was hired in 2019. It’s led to the type of basketball back-and-forth battles among heated rivals that haven’t frequently existed.

The two rivals will meet for the first time this season on Jan. 24 in Tuscaloosa. After Auburn plays Vanderbilt, it will host No. 22 Ole Miss on Saturday. Alabama will play at No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday as its only remaining game before facing Auburn.

Auburn and Alabama have never had simultaneous runs of success quite like this.

Yet that extends beyond the two SEC schools.

Samford currently owns the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games. The Bulldogs are 16-2 overall and top-80 in KenPom.

Eight out of the 10 Division I teams in Alabama have a record of .500 or better. Six have already won 10 more games long before hitting the 20-game mark of the season.

Analytics won’t reflect the success of the state’s smaller programs because of their strength of schedule. But with winning like this, all at the same time? It’s a golden age for basketball in Alabama.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]