It looks reasonable to me. Hopefully, Auburn "Takes Care of Our Damn Business," and somebody takes out UF.
The Auburn Tigers claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament despite dropping three of their last-four games. The committee rewarded the Tigers' entire body of work across a historically difficult schedule rather than being swayed by recency bias.
That said, there are some concerns that Auburn will be able to turn the intensity back to full throttle after taking their foot off the gas when they clinched the SEC Championship (and No. 1 overall seed) with two games to spare in the regular season.
ESPN's Jeff Borzello had the monumental task of predicting every game in the tournament, including the First Four games which begin on Tuesday.
He has Auburn winning the South Region, but falling to the red-hot Florida Gators 85-82 in the Final Four. Ironically, he points to a past Gators team as reason to believe this version of the Auburn Tigers can win it all.
"There could be parallels to draw with the 2007 Florida team that rolled through the country for 3½ months, then lost three of its final four regular-season games -- that squad went on to dominate the postseason and win its second straight national championship," wrote Borzello on ESPN+.
A key phrase in Borzello's analysis is "second straight." The Gators had the experience of already having won an NCAA Tournament, while Auburn, and Bruce Pearl, have the added pressure of never having won the big trophy.
"I like Florida over Auburn," wrote Borzello. "The Gators beat the Tigers on the road back in early February and have the bigs to deal with Broome one-on-one and make it tough for him to beat them with tough 2s around the rim all night. Florida can beat you in multiple ways, and the Gators have improved their depth over the course of the season after dealing with injuries during conference play
Borzello has Florida beating Duke in the final. The Gators are playing their best basketball right now and may find Auburn to be their toughest test in the tournament. Duke is undoubtedly a great team with their sparkling 31-3 record, but their ACC Tournament win over No. 13 Louisville was their first game against a ranked opponent (at the time) since their win over Auburn in the beginning of December.
Auburn heads back to Rupp Arena in Lexington, scene of their SEC championship celebration earlier this month. The Tigers will take on the winner of Alabama State vs. Saint Francis on Thursday at 1:50 p.m. CT.
ESPN Predicts Auburn Tigers NCAA Tournament Fate
Story by Scott KennedyThe Auburn Tigers claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament despite dropping three of their last-four games. The committee rewarded the Tigers' entire body of work across a historically difficult schedule rather than being swayed by recency bias.
That said, there are some concerns that Auburn will be able to turn the intensity back to full throttle after taking their foot off the gas when they clinched the SEC Championship (and No. 1 overall seed) with two games to spare in the regular season.
ESPN's Jeff Borzello had the monumental task of predicting every game in the tournament, including the First Four games which begin on Tuesday.
He has Auburn winning the South Region, but falling to the red-hot Florida Gators 85-82 in the Final Four. Ironically, he points to a past Gators team as reason to believe this version of the Auburn Tigers can win it all.
"There could be parallels to draw with the 2007 Florida team that rolled through the country for 3½ months, then lost three of its final four regular-season games -- that squad went on to dominate the postseason and win its second straight national championship," wrote Borzello on ESPN+.
A key phrase in Borzello's analysis is "second straight." The Gators had the experience of already having won an NCAA Tournament, while Auburn, and Bruce Pearl, have the added pressure of never having won the big trophy.
"I like Florida over Auburn," wrote Borzello. "The Gators beat the Tigers on the road back in early February and have the bigs to deal with Broome one-on-one and make it tough for him to beat them with tough 2s around the rim all night. Florida can beat you in multiple ways, and the Gators have improved their depth over the course of the season after dealing with injuries during conference play
Borzello has Florida beating Duke in the final. The Gators are playing their best basketball right now and may find Auburn to be their toughest test in the tournament. Duke is undoubtedly a great team with their sparkling 31-3 record, but their ACC Tournament win over No. 13 Louisville was their first game against a ranked opponent (at the time) since their win over Auburn in the beginning of December.
Auburn heads back to Rupp Arena in Lexington, scene of their SEC championship celebration earlier this month. The Tigers will take on the winner of Alabama State vs. Saint Francis on Thursday at 1:50 p.m. CT.
