That leaves 12 teams vying for four final at-large spots, and look who's finally getting close: your Auburn Tigers.
This is ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest projection, which has Auburn as high as it has ever been.
LUNARDI'S LAST FOUR IN
- San Diego State
- Creighton
- Maryland
- Penn State
- Arizona
- Auburn
- St. Mary's
- New Mexico
- UNLV
- Florida
- USC
- Tulsa
That means Auburn has the perfect opportunity to move up with a win against Tennessee tomorrow in a game everybody will be watching nationally. A win, and I would have to think Auburn would move into one of those remaining four spots. I mean, that would give the Tigers 10 wins in their last 11 games, and certainly make them a viable candidate to be in the Top 25. Can you keep a Top 25 team out of the NCAA tournament? Has this happened? (Note: I think a ranked UNLV team got left out once, but that had to do with some shenanigans noted humanitarian Isaiah Rider pulled late in the season.)
There are some things to watch though. Namely, the bid thieves who could still win their conference tournaments. Be wary of what these teams do tomorrow:
- Baylor: Is in the Big 12 title game after upsetting Kansas and Texas on back-to-back days. Will play NCAA lock Missouri in the championship. Auburn fans should pull hard for Missouri.
- Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane have a tall task to get the Conference USA's auto bid, going up against No. 3 Memphis. But it will get that opportunity. (Strangely, Auburn fans have to root for the "Tigers" in each of those matchups. Coincidence? I think not.)
- Southern California: The Trojans just finished beating UCLA and can now get the Pac-10's automatic berth with a win against Arizona State tomorrow night. As an at-large candidate, the Trojans are a fringe bubble team at best.
11 comments:
Good to see Lunardi finally respecting AU. I think AU still has to win tomorrow to get in. Tennessee scares me because they are one of those either red hot or ice cold teams. If Tennessee shoots well, AU will almost definitely lose. However, if AU beats UT, I would be more than 50% sure AU would get in to the tourney as an at large, even though AU's overall resume is weaker than say Arizona or Penn State. The committee just can't ignore a team as hot as AU has been while the other bubble teams choke down the stretch.
I'd agree about letting in a team like Auburn that's on a hot streak over other marginal bubble teams like Penn State and Arizona.
If I was Auburn, I'd be more concerned with the teams stealing auto picks. You can't do anything about a Baylor or Tulsa playing their way in, other than playing your own way in.
I know that conferences aren't delegated a certain number of spots to get into the NCAAs and i know this is a supposed down year for the SEC, but do you really think the SEC could only get two bids? I am thinking Auburn should be in win or lose tomorrow. Either way an auburn win should cement it tomorrow, and i am so glad bama lost. Auburn's weakness is low post defense, and not going up against Jymichael Green is fine by me.
I looked back at the stats from the first AU-UT game. UT shot extremely well in that game, but AU still pulled it out. But that was at AU. I just hope UT shoots something like 4 for 25 from three point range. That is where they live and die. I just don't like the fact that UT is a very experienced, wide open, and frankly the more talented team. I would rather AU play a more conventional team most likely for their season, but oh well...War Eagle
Two bids for a major conference is very rare, but not unprecedented, as I wrote in an earlier blog.
Of course, you have to go back to the late '80s in the Pac-10 to find the last such example.
The thing is, Auburn's win tonight still wasn't that great of a win. With Florida being out of the NCAAs, it's just another win against an NIT-bound team. Now, Tennessee, that's a different matter completely.
by the way, how frankie sullivan didn't get more playing time in the second half over the most average player in SEC history, Qunatez Robertson, is mind boggling. Sullivan and knox are the reasons for this late surge. Auburn, for once in the Lebo era, have decided to quit living and dying by the three point shot.
Tez did make the game-saving blocked shot in the final second. Shouldn't you cut him a little slack because of that?
Tez is useful in certain situations, but him playing more than half the game and only scoring 3 points while sitting a spark plug like sullivan doesn't quite make sense to me.
Tez is valuable in a defensive sense, and that's what Auburn prizes right now.
But I agree that Lebo should do anything he can to get Sullivan more minutes. The kid has no fear.
Then again, when you've won nine of 10, it's hard to second guess anything Lebo has been doing.
Penn State is not in. No way they're gonna put them in.
Not saying AU is in, but Penn State is not in. Nor is Notre Dame, like so many "experts" think.
The committee knows what they're doing.
I agree about penn state. I try to watch as little of big 10 athletics as possible. So i don't know much about them, but how do both teams involved in a 38-33 final score get tournament bids. That's like beating someone 3-2 in football.
But the big 10 getting 8 teams in and the sec getting 2 teams should be against NCAA policy.
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