AUSportTalk 4 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Here are some points of emphasis on the Auburn Tigers (21-10, 10-6 SEC) for the 2009 NCAA Tournament for you to please consider: * Auburn is one of only four teams in the country from BCS conferences that have won at least 8 of its last 9 games. North Carolina has won 12 of its last 13, Pittsburgh 10 of its last 11 and Washington 8 of its last 9. Louisville has won 7 of its last 8 and plays at West Virginia Saturday at 8 pm Central. * Auburn has won 8 of its last 9 games down the stretch with six of the eight wins in the streak having come by double digits. Three of the wins came on the road along with a 69-53 victory over SEC Champion and 11th-ranked LSU in the regular season finale on Mar. 7. Auburn held LSU to a season low 53 points. The only loss in the stretch came at LSU when Auburn had a 3-pointer to tie it with a minute to play. The Tigers started the stretch with a victory over Tennessee on Feb. 7. * Auburn is the ONLY SEC team to defeat both SEC Division Champions in SEC Champion LSU and Eastern Division Champion Tennessee. * Auburn has 8 double digit SEC wins in 16 league games this year, marking the most of any team in the SEC and tied for the 6th most double digit league wins in the nation with Syracuse, Villanova, Michigan State, North Carolina and Missouri. In fact, 3 of the 5 teams ahead of Auburn play 18 league games while the SEC only plays 16. * Auburn was without a healthy Rasheem Barrett until late December. Barrett, who is 16th on Auburn's all-time scoring list, is averaging 11.9 ppg in SEC play. He missed three non-conference games with a pulled groin, including the loss to Mercer Nov. 19. In fact, the senior was never fully recovered until SEC play started. Barrett also only played 11 minutes in the loss to Northern Iowa and 16 minutes in the loss to Dayton. Barrett is averaging 26.7 minutes in SEC play. Barrett only averaged 2.7 points in Auburn's first six games of the season as the Tigers were 3-3. * Auburn is 5-5 on the road this year, going 4-4 in SEC play and winning at Virginia and losing at Xavier 81-74 with an unhealthy Rasheem Barrett. * Auburn is 2-4 vs. the RPI Top 50 and is 5-9 vs. the RPI Top 100, going 5-1 in its last six games vs. the RPI Top 100. * Auburn's Korvotney Barber is the only player in the SEC to average a double-double in league play with 12.8 points and 11.3 rebounds. * The SEC West is 17-17 against the SEC East this year in head-to-head competition with two West vs. East games remaining Sunday. * LSU Head Coach Trent Johnson After Auburn*s 69-53 Victory over LSU on Mar. 7, 2009: *We*ve had a lot of respect for Auburn all year long. I don*t think there is anybody in our league, maybe not anybody in the country that has played as good of basketball as they have in the last 45 days to two months. Everybody talks about Kentucky and Florida and some other teams in this league being bubble teams and all that, and you don*t ever hear Auburn*s name in the mix. I*ve been through my share of teams and been in my share of postseason experiences. That*s an NCAA tournament caliber team. They*ve given us as tough of a matchup as anybody has given us all year long.* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausbest14 0 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 An outsider may say that is just coach-talk to enhance a fellow-conference team's NCAA chances, but, couple that with Stansbury saying AU and LSU are the two best teams in the league, and it's saying something. The coaches, probably more than anyone, know the teams that really have what it takes to compete in the Big Dance...We may have won today's game by 30 if we had hit more threes, but, more important, we found ways to score and win without them...As Joe Dean, Jr. said, that is the mark of a good team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgentOrange 36 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Those are great points! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUSportTalk 4 Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Here are some more points to think about: * Since Feb. 6, Auburn has had the biggest jump in RPI among the BCS Conference teams with a 50 point increase from 114 to 64 on Sunday. Here is a listing of the next closest teams who have made the biggest RPI moves since Feb. 6: Auburn +50 (114 to 64) Georgia +33 (221 to 188) Oregon State +19 (162 to 143) LSU +15 (52 to 37) Washington +13 (25 to 12) * Auburn is the ONLY SEC team to defeat both SEC Division Champions in SEC Champion LSU and Eastern Division Champion Tennessee. The Tigers' 10 SEC wins are tied for the second most wins in the league. * The SEC West is 18-17 against the SEC East this year in head-to-head competition with one West vs. East game remaining Sunday. * Bobby Knight of ESPN during SportsCenter on March 7, 2009: "I think that Auburn*s win over the Southeastern Conference Championship team LSU today will probably give them as much improvement in the (NCAA) Tournament and their position as any team that played today." * Jimmy Dykes of ESPN during Auburn's 77-73 win at Alabama on March 3, 2009: "Auburn is one of the top two or three toughest teams I*ve seen this year. I*m not saying they are one of the best, but just as far as toughness, they play with undersized guys and how hard they play with a short bench. They only go eight deep and they have made tough play after tough play after tough play, not only in this game but all season long in the SEC." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson-Sullivan 0 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Great, great points! We deserve to go dancin' guys!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Tiger 0 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Absolutely, these guys have worked very hard and deserve it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollToomers1345162763 0 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 very good points! thanks for posting! its time for our tigers to dance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bow9den 0 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 LSU Head Coach Trent Johnson deserves a golf clap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn4ever 1,266 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 What was the final score in tonights game? Last I checked we were down by 2 with like 9 seconds left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUSportTalk 4 Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Baylor 74 Auburn 72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.