Auburn made its case on the court for earning an NCAA tournament bid with a thorough thrashing of No. 12 LSU at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.Jeff Lebo made his case afterward, too.
The Auburn coach openly stumped for his Tigers (21-10, 10-6 SEC) to at the very least be in consideration for the NCAA tournament.
“The way we’re playing right now … I don’t think you can ignore that,” said Lebo, whose team has won eight of nine. “I’m not one toot our own horn, but I’ve got to for these kids. To say that we’re not even in the mix is a complete slap in the face to our kids and to the Southeastern Conference.”
The words came after a week during which bracket experts like ESPN's Joe Lunardi and CollegeRPI.com's Jerry Palm were openly dismissive about Auburn's chances, citing the team's low RPI (72 entering Saturday) and lack of marquee wins.
The Tigers have won 21 games for just the sixth time in school history. They reached 10 SEC wins for the first time since the school's 1999 SEC championship season.
Since the SEC expanded to 12 schools in 1991, no eligible team has won 10 league games and not been invited to the NCAA tournament.
“Everybody talks about
Some thoughts and notes on the game ...
- Weird offensive game for Auburn, which went 2-for-16 from 3-point range. The Tigers beat LSU at its own game down low, holding a 42-20 scoring advantage in the paint and 45-37 rebounding edge. "If you would have told me we were 2 of 16 and we’d win by 16, I would have said you’re insane," Lebo said.
- Korvotney Barber was a beast down low. He finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds and was pretty much Auburn's only offensive option early in the game. That's 11 double-doubles for Vot this season. Quite a way to (possibly) finish your career at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
- Rasheem Barrett added 12 points, DeWayne Reed 11 and Tay Waller 9. Barrett also had nine rebounds.
- Marcus Thornton was the real deal, scoring 23 points. He'd be my choice for conference player of the year if I had a vote. But he didn't get much help. Tasmin Mitchell finished with a season-low five points on 1-for-10 shooting. LSU shot 32.1 percent as a team and scored a season-worst 53 points.
- Auburn has won eight of nine. Few teams in the country have been that hot. Thanks to Auburn sports information, we have these four teams from the big-six conferences (streaks are as of 7 p.m.):
- North Carolina has won 12 of 13
- Louisville has won 7 of 8
- Pittsburgh has won 10 of 11
- Washington has won 8 of 9
So no, I don't think the Tigers will make the tournament unless they win the SEC next week. But I would agree with Lebo that you have to at least bring Auburn into the discussion at this point, even if it is a token admission.
1 comment:
You say winning the SEC tourney is the only way. How close does making the finals get them? Obviously, you're putting them in Auto Bid territory still at that point, but by how much?
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