I would think twice before giving Auburn its One Shining Moment. If Saturday was any indication, the Tigers aren’t quite as strong as we all thought before the final month of the season.
As strong as Auburn has been, being the No. 1 team in the country for months, they showed a weakness over the last couple of weeks and it can be beat. Following the upset loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament semifinals, the Tigers have now lost three games in the last four games; they had two losses in the first 29 games before then.
Now I’m not saying it’s cause for concern or even that they'll be the next No. 1 seed to fall to No. 16 seed. I’m just saying, they aren’t the strong favorites in my eyes after failing to reach the SEC tournament championship game.
The Auburn Tigers are officially on upset alert and could bust a lot of brackets during March Madness
Going off Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update, the Tigers are in a favorable region. Their biggest threats to spoiling their championship hopes are Clemson, Iowa State, Kentucky, Missouri and Michigan State.
Marquette is a team to watch, though I don’t think Auburn will struggle in the opening weekend. Clemson could be their biggest threat. Clemson went on a miraculous run to the Elite Eight, before falling to Alabama.
Clemson already beat Duke this year and reached the ACC Tournament semifinals, losing to Louisville on Friday. They’re a team that could once again catch fire and spoil quite a few brackets.
Personally, I think Auburn is getting off easy in not being bumped from the No. 1 overall seed by Lunardi’s projections. The Tigers, while dominating the season, have struggled lately. And while they still look like a really strong team, they can’t keep getting rewarded for the past.
Auburn doesn’t look like the best team in the SEC right now. If they did, they would have had no problem with Tennessee and prepared for a rematch against Florida. Instead, they’re at home and clinging to the thought that they might have a tougher road.
If they did get knocked out of contention for the No. 1 seed, their path to the championship becomes even tougher. Auburn might have looked good a month ago. But things have changed.
They aren’t the same dominant team and now it’s time to really start thinking about the Tigers as one of the teams that could get knocked out of the NCAA Tournament earlier than they expected to.