Auburn @ Miss St and SEC tourney implications

[AUdmd07 2]

Big game tonight for the Tigers. Whoever wins this one will be in the driver's seat to finish 2nd in the West and get a first round bye in Tampa.

and are 1 and 2 respectively in the SEC for 3 point attempts so this one should be entertaining.

Right now it appears that we could finish anywhere between 2nd and 5th in the west, though 5th is highly unlikely since that would require to win a road game. And with the combination of 1 Ole Miss loss and 1 Auburn win this week we will finish above them in the 3rd slot. So more or less it is us and MSU fighting for the 2 seed and the bye.

Quick food for thought: Do you think it helps our NCAA tourney chances to get a first round bye in the SEC tourney for being 2nd in the West?

SEC tourney bracket for reference

Scenario 1: If we play on the first day as the West 3 seed, then we will get (East #6) who we already beat soundly on their court. Not that it's a guaranteed win, but as close as you get to it. Then on day two, we'd match up against the East #2 seed, which will be one of the following: USC, UT, UF, and UK. We lost to three of those four teams and beat the 4th on a last second shot on a busted play. Needless to say, it will be tough to get out of day two with those matchups but at least we will have picked up a win the day before to improve our win total.

Scenario 2: If we sit out the first day as the West 2, we will face the winner of Arkansas and the East 3 seed (which would be one of the 4 teams I mentioned above). Assuming Arkansas loses that game, it will be a tough matchup despite our opponent having played the day before. We may exit the tourney without having won one game, which means for sure NIT bound at best.

I guess all of the above depends on us finishing at least 2-1 (which is a big if) this week and being 20-11 overall (9-7 SEC). Also, I am not sure our resume is good enough to warrant a NCAA bid, but an Auburn homer like myself can always hope for one regardless.

[dyehardaufan 0]

Right now our resume isnt close to get into the NCAA Tournament. We really have alot of work to do. Right now we are sitting with an RPI of 87 which is way to low. When you look at our pre-conference schedule the losses to Mercer and Northern Iowa will hurt us combined with no quality non-conference wins and some bad SEC losses in a very down year in the conference.

IMO we have 2 ways to make the NCAA tournament:

1. Win the SEC Tournament

2. We have to win our final 3 SEC reg season games and win our 1st tournament game. I think if we do this we can get a NCAA tournament bid.

If we lose to Miss State or Bama there is no chance we get in(Even with a LSU win) unless we run the SEC tournament. So basically the next 4 games are Must-Wins.

[AUdmd07 2]

Yeah, I agree that we can ill - afford another loss. However, a win over LSU will boost our RPI to where 22 wins would give us a serious argument for an NCAA tourney slot. 23 wins (winning out then 2 wins in the tourney) and we would get an at large bid - but that would be difficult to do.

It would be good for us if Northern Iowa wins the Missouri Valley Conference (which they are currently tied for the lead in).

[TidePride50 3]

though 5th is highly unlikely since that would require to win a road game.

Well, is up 81-53 late in the 2nd at .

Looks like we may get that road win after all.

UPDATE:

90-69 Final! Three in a row and one on the road!

[SouthLink02 8]

Hate to break it to you all but we are repeating what we did last year

Yup, it's a lock

[AUslug 1]

Hate to break it to you all but we are repeating what we did last year

Yup, it's a lock

Someone posting drunk again?