Auburn's three point shooting machine, Tay Waller.
I know what you’re asking, what’s an Alabama fan doing writing an article about Auburn’s chances of going to the NCAA tournament. You might also be asking how Auburn could go to the NCAA tournament, after all this is Auburn Basketball. The only way that could possibly happen is if they somehow won the SEC tournament. I don’t think so, because if you haven’t been watching Auburn has become surprisingly better as the year has drug on. I might even say Jeff Lebo has them playing, good.
Let me break it down for you Auburn football fans who have never kept up with basketball before. Auburn is currently sitting at 18-10 (7-6 SEC) record. That’s pretty good even if the SEC is down. They are currently sitting in 2nd place in the SEC West and holding on to the first round bye in the SEC tournament that goes with it. They have three remaining games in the regular season. They have Mississippi State and Alabama on the road and LSU at home (where they are 15-3).
Auburn is currently tied with Mississippi State with both teams having a 7-6 SEC record. Auburn has already demolished the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide at home this year, so winning on the road against them would not be a stretch. If the Tigers could win both of those home games, then they would have a chance to play LSU (a ranked NCAA bound team) at home. They also have good resume win in beating Tennessee. Also they played fairly well in losses to Xavier, Dayton, and Florida. If they won their last three games it would give them a final record of 21-10 and more importantly a 10-6 conference record. That might be good enough to get them into the NCAA tournament alone. Just one more victory and they would at least be NIT bound.
Let me break it down for you Auburn football fans who have never kept up with basketball before. Auburn is currently sitting at 18-10 (7-6 SEC) record. That’s pretty good even if the SEC is down. They are currently sitting in 2nd place in the SEC West and holding on to the first round bye in the SEC tournament that goes with it. They have three remaining games in the regular season. They have Mississippi State and Alabama on the road and LSU at home (where they are 15-3).
Auburn is currently tied with Mississippi State with both teams having a 7-6 SEC record. Auburn has already demolished the Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide at home this year, so winning on the road against them would not be a stretch. If the Tigers could win both of those home games, then they would have a chance to play LSU (a ranked NCAA bound team) at home. They also have good resume win in beating Tennessee. Also they played fairly well in losses to Xavier, Dayton, and Florida. If they won their last three games it would give them a final record of 21-10 and more importantly a 10-6 conference record. That might be good enough to get them into the NCAA tournament alone. Just one more victory and they would at least be NIT bound.
If they won their last three games they will get a first round bye in the conference tournament. To be safe I would say three straight regular season victories and one SEC tournament victory would be enough to push the Auburn Tigers into an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. Sound farfetched? It’s actually pretty believable.
Auburn fans have their best chance in years to make the tournament. Especially with electric point guard Tay Waller shooting three pointers like they are going out of style. Here’s my advice to Auburn fans. Saturday you play Mississippi State at 6:00 p.m. It will be on FSN. Watch it and cheer for your team who still has tourney hope. It might be tough for Auburn to make the tournament. But you still have a chance, which is more than most teams have this year.
Auburn fans have their best chance in years to make the tournament. Especially with electric point guard Tay Waller shooting three pointers like they are going out of style. Here’s my advice to Auburn fans. Saturday you play Mississippi State at 6:00 p.m. It will be on FSN. Watch it and cheer for your team who still has tourney hope. It might be tough for Auburn to make the tournament. But you still have a chance, which is more than most teams have this year.
** Addendum to my article. Who called it! I’m not going to brag but who called this. With last night’s win at Alabama and a very solid win at Mississippi State Auburn has clinched a second seed in the SEC Tournament and the first round bye that goes along with it. This basically gives Auburn two good shots to find its way into the tournament.
First with a first round bye Auburn has to win three games, not four to win the SEC Tourney and clinch an automatic spot, a pretty tall order even for a team as hot as Auburn. Although Georgia didn’t think it was so hard in 2008.
The second way will take some help and a strong solid effort from the Tigers. First off they must beat LSU at home on Saturday. That gives them two quality wins against Tennessee and LSU and gives them a 10-6 SEC record. No SEC team with a 10-6 conference record has ever been left out of the tournament. (Although as Drew said there is a first time for everything.) They also have another lucky break. Two of the teams they are competing against are Florida and Kentucky who have to play each other. It could be the loser of that game finds himself off the bubble. Auburn also needs to hope that Tennessee beats Alabama, thus making their victory against the Vols look that much stronger.
Finally to seal the deal, one victory in the SEC tournament would be huge. Also Auburn needs to hope that several of the locked in mid major teams win their conference tournaments. What I mean by that is this. Butler is a lock to go to the NCAA tournament. If they lose their conference tournament it doesn’t really matter because they will go dancing anyway. However, should they lose a team like Milwaukee or Green Bay gets the automatic slot and Butler is rewarded one of the 30 something at-large slots, a slot that could be going to a team like Auburn. The same thing applies with Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament and Gonzaga in the Big West tournament. They need automatic bids not at-large bids.
First and foremost though Auburn must get a win over LSU, which is very possible since the Tigers get the Bengal Tigers at home. Your still in it Auburn, and let’s not forget who said was preaching that a couple weeks ago bitches!
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