2/1/23 Auburn Articles

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Where Auburn's resume, NCAA Tournament projections stand entering February

Updated: Jan. 31, 2023, 9:04 a.m.|Published: Jan. 31, 2023, 9:04 a.m.

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After breaking a program record and gaining hold of the nation’s longest home winning streak, Auburn experienced a humbling week on the hardwood.

Bruce Pearl’s team went 0-2 last week, with a 16-point home loss against Texas A&M—snapping the Tigers’ 28-game winning streak at Neville Arena—and followed it up with a three-point road loss against West Virginia in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. It marked the first time since late in the 2020-21 season that Auburn lost back-to-back games, and it came as the program embarked on a 12-game stretch to close out the regular season that Pearl described as “probably the toughest” of his career.

Read more Auburn basketball: Auburn clinging to spot in AP poll after back-to-back losses

Can Auburn make most of ‘incredible opportunity’ to bolster tournament resume?

The biggest recurring issue for Auburn basketball in each of its losses this season

Despite the back-to-back losses, Auburn remained ranked in the AP poll on Monday, slipping to No. 25 in the latest rankings and extending its program-record streak of consecutive weeks ranked in the poll to 32. Even with the loss to West Virginia, in which Auburn rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit but ultimately fell short in a tough road environment, Pearl believed his team “made some progress” in some regards.

The Tigers will have a chance to show that progress as they try to bounce back this week, though the road ahead does not get much easier. Auburn will host Georgia — which beat the Tigers in Athens, Ga., earlier this month — on Wednesday to kick off the final full month of the season before traveling to take on No. 2 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend. That will be followed by a road trip to face the same Texas A&M team that defeated Auburn last week, and then a home showdown with fourth-ranked Alabama.

It’s gut-check time for Pearl’s team as it enters the final month of the season.

For the rest of the season, AL.com will take a weekly snapshot of Auburn’s NCAA Tournament resume, with a look at the team’s record by quadrant, as well as the latest projections for the Tigers in the field of 68. Here’s where things stand with about six weeks until the start of the NCAA Tournament:

Auburn’s season at a glance:

Overall record: 16-5

SEC record: 6-2 (fourth in the league)

AP poll rank: 25th (program-record 32 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 25)

KenPom: 29th (61st in adjusted offensive efficiency; 19th in adjusted defensive efficiency)

NET ranking: 31st

Home record: 10-1

Road record: 4-3

Neutral-site record: 2-1

Quadrant 1 record: 2-3

Quadrant 2 record: 5-2

Quadrant 3 record: 5-0

Quadrant 4 record: 4-0

Best resume win: Jan. 7 vs. Arkansas, 72-59, at Neville Arena (Quadrant 1 win)

Worst resume loss: Jan. 3 at Georgia, 76-64 (Quadrant 2 loss)

Strength of record: 21st

NET Strength of schedule: 68th

The week ahead: vs. Georgia (Quad 3 game) at Neville Arena on Wednesday at 6 p.m., at No. 2 Tennessee (Quad 1 game) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Latest NCAA Tournament projections (as of Jan. 31)

-- Bracket Matrix, which currently weighs the brackets of 81 experts from across the country, has Auburn projected as the top No. 7 seed in the field, with the Tigers appearing on all 81 brackets.

 

-- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, in his latest projections released Monday, has Auburn as a No. 8 seed in the South Regional. The projection has Auburn facing ninth-seeded USC in the first round -- in a rematch of the teams’ December matchup in Los Angeles, which the Trojans won -- in Columbus, Ohio. It also features a potential second-round matchup with top-seeded Purdue, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.

 

-- CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, in his Monday morning bracket projections, has Auburn as a No. 9 seed in the East Regional, with the Tigers taking on eighth-seeded NC State in the opening round in Des Moines, Iowa. That projection also features a potential second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Kansas State, which is currently ranked seventh in the AP poll.

-- Bracket WAG’s Shelby Mast’s Monday night update projects Auburn as a No. 6 seed in the East Regional. In this bracket, Auburn would take on the winner of the First Four game between Arizona State and Iowa.

-- RealTimeRPI.com’s Tuesday morning projection has Auburn as a No. 4 seed in the East Regional, with the Tigers taking on 13th-seeded Sam Houston State in the opening round. It also features a potential second-round matchup with Miami, which would be a rematch of last year’s Round of 32 game that ended Auburn’s season.

-- Bart Torvik’s T-Rank projection update Tuesday morning has Auburn as the third No. 8 seed in the field, with the Tigers projected to have a 92.4 percent chance of earning an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[aubiefifty 16,760]

Where Auburn's resume, NCAA Tournament projections stand entering February

Updated: Jan. 31, 2023, 9:04 a.m.|Published: Jan. 31, 2023, 9:04 a.m.

5–6 minutes

---

After breaking a program record and gaining hold of the nation’s longest home winning streak, Auburn experienced a humbling week on the hardwood.

Bruce Pearl’s team went 0-2 last week, with a 16-point home loss against Texas A&M—snapping the Tigers’ 28-game winning streak at Neville Arena—and followed it up with a three-point road loss against West Virginia in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. It marked the first time since late in the 2020-21 season that Auburn lost back-to-back games, and it came as the program embarked on a 12-game stretch to close out the regular season that Pearl described as “probably the toughest” of his career.

Read more Auburn basketball: Auburn clinging to spot in AP poll after back-to-back losses

Can Auburn make most of ‘incredible opportunity’ to bolster tournament resume?

The biggest recurring issue for Auburn basketball in each of its losses this season

Despite the back-to-back losses, Auburn remained ranked in the AP poll on Monday, slipping to No. 25 in the latest rankings and extending its program-record streak of consecutive weeks ranked in the poll to 32. Even with the loss to West Virginia, in which Auburn rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit but ultimately fell short in a tough road environment, Pearl believed his team “made some progress” in some regards.

The Tigers will have a chance to show that progress as they try to bounce back this week, though the road ahead does not get much easier. Auburn will host Georgia — which beat the Tigers in Athens, Ga., earlier this month — on Wednesday to kick off the final full month of the season before traveling to take on No. 2 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend. That will be followed by a road trip to face the same Texas A&M team that defeated Auburn last week, and then a home showdown with fourth-ranked Alabama.

It’s gut-check time for Pearl’s team as it enters the final month of the season.

For the rest of the season, AL.com will take a weekly snapshot of Auburn’s NCAA Tournament resume, with a look at the team’s record by quadrant, as well as the latest projections for the Tigers in the field of 68. Here’s where things stand with about six weeks until the start of the NCAA Tournament:

Auburn’s season at a glance:

Overall record: 16-5

SEC record: 6-2 (fourth in the league)

AP poll rank: 25th (program-record 32 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 25)

KenPom: 29th (61st in adjusted offensive efficiency; 19th in adjusted defensive efficiency)

NET ranking: 31st

Home record: 10-1

Road record: 4-3

Neutral-site record: 2-1

Quadrant 1 record: 2-3

Quadrant 2 record: 5-2

Quadrant 3 record: 5-0

Quadrant 4 record: 4-0

Best resume win: Jan. 7 vs. Arkansas, 72-59, at Neville Arena (Quadrant 1 win)

Worst resume loss: Jan. 3 at Georgia, 76-64 (Quadrant 2 loss)

Strength of record: 21st

NET Strength of schedule: 68th

The week ahead: vs. Georgia (Quad 3 game) at Neville Arena on Wednesday at 6 p.m., at No. 2 Tennessee (Quad 1 game) on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Latest NCAA Tournament projections (as of Jan. 31)

-- Bracket Matrix, which currently weighs the brackets of 81 experts from across the country, has Auburn projected as the top No. 7 seed in the field, with the Tigers appearing on all 81 brackets.

 

-- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, in his latest projections released Monday, has Auburn as a No. 8 seed in the South Regional. The projection has Auburn facing ninth-seeded USC in the first round -- in a rematch of the teams’ December matchup in Los Angeles, which the Trojans won -- in Columbus, Ohio. It also features a potential second-round matchup with top-seeded Purdue, the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.

 

-- CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, in his Monday morning bracket projections, has Auburn as a No. 9 seed in the East Regional, with the Tigers taking on eighth-seeded NC State in the opening round in Des Moines, Iowa. That projection also features a potential second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Kansas State, which is currently ranked seventh in the AP poll.

-- Bracket WAG’s Shelby Mast’s Monday night update projects Auburn as a No. 6 seed in the East Regional. In this bracket, Auburn would take on the winner of the First Four game between Arizona State and Iowa.

-- RealTimeRPI.com’s Tuesday morning projection has Auburn as a No. 4 seed in the East Regional, with the Tigers taking on 13th-seeded Sam Houston State in the opening round. It also features a potential second-round matchup with Miami, which would be a rematch of last year’s Round of 32 game that ended Auburn’s season.

-- Bart Torvik’s T-Rank projection update Tuesday morning has Auburn as the third No. 8 seed in the field, with the Tigers projected to have a 92.4 percent chance of earning an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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