AU 2 Seed vs Jax State

[toddc 13,194]

Auburn No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament; Tigers to face Jax State

ByMARK MURPHY 12 minutes ago

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2 Minute Drill: Questions for Auburn football as spring practice nears

 

 

 

 

 

AUBURN, Alabama–Auburn will go into the NCAA Basketball Tournament as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional. The Tigers will open the event on Friday vs. No. 15 seed Jacksonville State in a game that will be played in Greenville, S.C.

Jacksonville State is 21-10 and is the regular season champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Gamecocks received the bid because conference tournament champion Bellarmine was not eligible to compete in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers are 13-0 all-time vs. Jacksonville State with the most recent matchup a 78-54 victory at Auburn on Nov. 19, 2013 in Auburn.

The Tigers are one of six SEC teams that made the tournament. Texas A&M, which reached the league tournament finals, Texas A&M (23-12).

The Tigers will be making their 11th overall NCAA Tournament appearance and third with Bruce Pearl as head coach.

Pearl’s current team finished the regular season with a 27-4 overall record and a 15-3 league mark before losing its first game in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, a 67-62 setback at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Friday vs. Texas A&M. Auburn struggled with its shooting vs. the Aggies, particularly from three-point range, which Pearl noted will be a blueprint for NCAA Tournament opponents on how to defend his Tigers.

"If you look at our percentages, our numbers in the league, defensively and rebounding and blocked shots and steals and pretty good in field goal percentage and assist-turnover ratio, we have great numbers," the coach said. "Our three point field goal percentage is very low." The Tigers have made 320-812 threes for a 32 percent success rate.

The Aggies gambled if they concentrated their defense around the basket at the expense of giving the Tigers good looks at three-point shots that would be to their advantage and the strategy worked as the Tigers made just 9-36 three-pointers. "We'll see more of that," Pearl predicted.

In Auburn’s previous trip to the NCAA Tournament the Tigers advanced to the Final Four as a fifth-seed. Playing at Salt Lake City the Tigers nearly were upset in their opening game by New Mexico State before prevailing 78-77.

In round two the Tigers had a much easier win, knocking off No. 4 seed Kansas 89-75 after building a 51-25 halftime lead.

That victory over the Jayhawks advanced the Tigers to the Sweet 16 in Kansas City, Mo., where they handled No. 3 seed North Carolina by a score of 97-80. However, the win was costly due to a season-ending injury to forward Chuma Okeke, who scored 20 points and pulled in 11 rebounds in 20 minutes vs. the Tar Heels.

To earn the program’s first trip to the Final Four the Tigers had to go to overtime to subdue No. 7 Kentucky, winning 77-71 with guards Jared Harper (26 points) and Bryce Brown (24 points) powering Auburn to victory.

In the semi-finals of the Final Four at Minneapolis the season ended with an agonizing 63-62 loss to eventual champion Virginia, which got the benefit of a controversal late officiating call plus a non-call to get past the Tigers.

 

Head coach Bruce Pearl is in his eighth season at Auburn. (Photo: Adam Sparks / Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)

 

In the other NCAA Tournament appearance under Pearl the Tigers were the No. 4 seed at San Diego where they struggled to get past No. 13 seed College of Charleston before advancing with a 62-58 victory.

In the next round the Tigers got off to a horrible start and trailed No. 5 seed Clemson 43-19 at halftime prior to falling 84-53. That was the most lopsided NCAA Tournament loss for an Auburn team, which is 17-10 overall in the event with trips in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1999, 2000, 2003 before the previous two with Pearl in charge of the program.

Auburn’s Previous NCAA Tournament Seedings:

1984–No. 5 seed, first round loss to Richmond

1985–No. 11 seed, advanced to Sweet 16 with wins over Purdue and Kansas before losing to North Carolina

1986–No. 8 seed, advanced to Elite Eight with wins over Arizona, St. John’s and UNLV before losing to eventual champion Louisville

1987–No. 8 seed, advanced to second round with a win over San Diego before losing to Indiana

1988–No. 8 seed, advanced to second round with a win over Bradley before losing to Oklahoma

1999–No. 1 seed, advanced to Sweet 16 with wins over Winthrop and Oklahoma State before losing to Ohio State

2000–No. 7 seed, defeated Creighton before losing to Iowa State in round of 32

2003–No. 10 seed, defeated St. Joe’s and Wake Forest before losing to eventual national champion Syracuse in Sweet 16

2018–No. 4 seed, defeated College of Charleston before losing to Clemson in round of 32

2019–No. 5 seed, defeated New Mexico State, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky before losing to Virginia in semi-finals of Final Four.

(More to come.)

[GTNupe11 2,033]

LFG! We're in good shape... Gonzaga got EFFED! Sheesh, I wouldn't want to be in that their bracket. 

[au302 2,669]

Selection show guys made it sound like they're not your typical 15 seed. Find a way to get past them and see if the team gains that spark 

[aubearcat 2,137]

Good bracket placement 

[woodford 3,655]

One game at a time. Let’s go. A lot of work to do. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

We can do this!!!! That's a good region for us and hopefully our bad game is behind us and we can run this to a Final Four!!! WDE

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,666]

No matter how this goes, it can’t be worse than that 2018 run. That Clemson game is the biggest whooping I’ve seen any good Auburn athletics team have 

[GreenTiger 1,006]

I live in Greenville!!! We are only 2 hours from ATL. Should be a good AU turnout. Was hoping for them to get picked to play here

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,297]

What time on Friday is the first game? I can't find the time slot listed. I'm only 2-3 hours from there, would be a fun trip to make

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

17 minutes ago, WDE_OxPx_2010 said:

What time on Friday is the first game? I can't find the time slot listed. I'm only 2-3 hours from there, would be a fun trip to make

Times prob won't be announced till Mon or Tues

[slyinsocal 831]

Not the worse, but definitely not a cake walk. On the other hand, Kentucky, Kansas, and UCLA can literally sleep walk to the sweet 16. Villanova might break a sweat.

I have no idea what the feeling of the team is right now. One thing I do know. We badly need some consistent double figure scoring from people not named Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler. Our guards need to somehow find their confidence again. And fast. I've said many times, I'm not a Princeton or Virginia offense lover by any means. I love the wide open attack. However, if you want to be a well rounded TEAM, once in a blue moon, when things aren't going well, you need a set play or two that involves ALL 5 GUYS moving and screening for one another at the same time. Get....them.....all.....moving. It's too late to introduce something so bold, structured, and fundamental. I truly believe the players would buy in if you sell it like adding a trick play to the tool box for when things aren't going well. As for rotations? Honestly, I'm not opposed to starting JW over Flanigan, or switching up the guards. Flip flop starting roles. Either Green over Jasper, or Green over KD. Shake up and stir the drink a little. Except for end of half situations, the 3 guard line up is a hard no go. No ball handling depth and foul trouble concerns.

Back to the dance. Santa Claus and Christmas never ends for Big Ten basketball. Does it? Getting NINE freaking bids is the biggest pile of BS. Michigan and their electrifying 17-14 at large record. Do records matter anymore? Pretty tough non-con yes, but NINE double digit losses, including Minnesota, at home by 10? AND they actually managed to avoid a play in? LMAO! Indiana? Crappy non-con. Losing conference record (9-11) and 4-8 down the stretch. The bottom feeders in the Big Ten really tasted good for the 9 that got in. Didn't they? AND....no #1 seed! Not even close to sniffing one. It's a sham and a mockery for committee members to sit there with a straight face defending the indefensible.

As for Texas A&M? Red Hot team, yes. On the surface you're lulled into the belief they got screwed. Decent non-con, VERY close home loss to Kentucky in a game they should have won. But it's pretty damn hard to overcome a 1-9 stretch, including an 8 game losing streak. And you absolutely cannot lose at home to both South Carolina AND Missouri. That killed them. If they win both, maybe even one, they're in.

Lastly, I'd give anything to have Saint Mary's or San Francisco as my potential 2nd round opponent. The West Coast Conference is so pathetically weak in talent and athleticism. They kept building up San Fran as a team who could compete with Gonzaga. Then look like kids playing against adults as Gonzaga runs through them like a hot knife through butter. No resistance. Were it not for Saint Mary's slow ball, shot clock burning offense, and just plain being physical, Gonzaga never breaks a sweat.

Cheers!

[tigeraddikt 1,608]

1 hour ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

No matter how this goes, it can’t be worse than that 2018 run. That Clemson game is the biggest whooping I’ve seen any good Auburn athletics team have 

Yeah our mojo broke with McLemore’s leg unfortunately that season. College of Charleston was one of only a small number of teams that we could have beaten in that 1st round.

[thewhiz7 273]

I want go to but I don't know if we are session 1 or session 2 on Friday. Anyone know?

[SLAG-91 1,483]

21 minutes ago, thewhiz7 said:

I want go to but I don't know if we are session 1 or session 2 on Friday. Anyone know?

Session 1, first game. 12:40 EDT tipoff. 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

2 hours ago, aubearcat said:

Good bracket placement 

Very favorable bracket. I was surprised. We just have to get past the 1st game. I don't think it will be easy(hoping it will be). 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

2 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

LFG! We're in good shape... Gonzaga got EFFED! Sheesh, I wouldn't want to be in that their bracket. 

They sure did! That's a tough bracket. It's like the committee is saying...prove you're #1. I'm hard on them but if they come out of that bracket, much respect because it's several good and athletic teams in that bracket. 

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

P

[aubearcat 2,137]

20 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

Very favorable bracket. I was surprised. We just have to get past the 1st game. I don't think it will be easy(hoping it will be). 

From what I’ve read, it’s supposed to be the easiest path to the Elite 8. AUburn should be able to out talent JSU pretty handily. JSU backed it’s way in as a regular season champ and the aq wasn’t allowed into the tournament because of a transition year. 

[aubearcat 2,137]

Tennessee and A&M got hosed. 

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

New season . New mood . Everything is in front of them. Live the dream. Win it all boys 

[au302 2,669]

3 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

No matter how this goes, it can’t be worse than that 2018 run. That Clemson game is the biggest whooping I’ve seen any good Auburn athletics team have 

Unless we lose to Jacksonville State. We shouldn't, but my Auburn fan self is already envisioning the impending heart failure as we're in a battle with them on Friday afternoon. 

[GTNupe11 2,033]

1 hour ago, au302 said:

Unless we lose to Jacksonville State. We shouldn't, but my Auburn fan self is already envisioning the impending heart failure as we're in a battle with them on Friday afternoon. 

Well remember we almost lost to New Mexico State back in 2019. Disastrous. Lol. JABA.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

7 hours ago, aubearcat said:

Tennessee and A&M got hosed. 

You can say that again. Some sites were saying Tennessee could maybe backdoor into a #1 seed. I figured a #2 seed at worst. So shocked they got a #3. They're going to be tough. I feel bad for Texas A&M. Went 23-12 and are really hot of late and they were left out. Sucks. Alabama getting a #6 seed shocked everyone. 19-13 record, 9-9 in SEC play. Beat Gonzaga and Baylor but had bad losses and alot of losses. I just don't get it. 

[woodford 3,655]

10 hours ago, aubearcat said:

Tennessee and A&M got hosed. 

Seeds don’t matter to elite teams. I’ve seen so many people cry about UT. They’re a helluva ball club so their seed shouldn’t matter. 

[gravejd 3,270]

This should be a team we can handle. They are very small and shoot a lot of 3s for a very high percentage. We'll need our guards to over play the 3 and be ok giving up driving lanes assuming our bigs can clean up anything that gets close. Kessler, Jabari, Jaylin, and Cardwell should all be able to get whatever they want in the paint. Just hope we come out ready to take advantage of the matchup. If we get in a 3 point shooting contest with this team (and i don't doubt our guys to try this) we'll lose.