![When Auburn basketball finishes up its foreign trip this coming Sunday and Monday in the Holy Land, Fly War Eagle wants to see these 2 starting lineups[Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.] Mandatory Credit: Tuscaloosa News](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/aa4322f8174c5f32db2449661dc370cb5d57aa6d363aef373adfb728269e4be4.jpg "When Auburn basketball finishes up its foreign trip this coming Sunday and Monday in the Holy Land, Fly War Eagle wants to see these 2 starting lineups[Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.] Mandatory Credit: Tuscaloosa News")
What month is it again? Oh yeah, April. So the 2022 NCAA Tournament is an entire 11 months away, but that means nothing to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who is already predicting the field for March Madness next year when Auburn basketball will finally be able to participate. Lunardi claims that next year’s tournament is set to be as outrageous as this year’s, with Gonzaga and UCLA rematching in the championship game.
Lunardi somehow thinks that Alabama is going to be a No. 1 seed and Auburn is going to be a No. 8 seed. But the craziest part? Lunardi has No. 8 Auburn playing No. 9 Virginia in the first round of the tournament in San Francisco. Virginia.
It’s almost like Joe Lunardi woke up and chose violence against the Auburn basketball community. For Auburn to beat Virginia in the first round of March Madness would be a combination of revenge and poetic justice for a wronged team and their scorned fans.
Auburn Twitter responded in a fury to the release of the way-too-early bracketology, sharing their opinions on a rematch between the teams from the 2019 Final Four game:
Lunardi has us as an 8 seed, lower than 4 other SEC teams. Something tells me he’s going to be pretty far off on this one.. https://t.co/LLDDwYhd6R
— Kyle (@AllAubarn) April 20, 2021
Woah, crazy. They gave Auburn a round one bye in this bracket: https://t.co/dbPI925sRK pic.twitter.com/kBoONz32Fe
— Jay Phillips (@aubawn) April 20, 2021
Alabama winning the sec and a #1 seed..... come on Joe https://t.co/2cyRq2oAvk
— AUBURN SUPERFAN #2 (@MichaelFloyd_AU) April 20, 2021
Auburn in with an 8 seed and a round one rematch with Virginia. Yes, please. https://t.co/BebGw5Ieef
— Creed Jordan 🥃 (@Its_Me_AU_Creed) April 20, 2021
Should Auburn get a rematch with Virginia? Will Auburn basketball really be worse than four other SEC teams next season, even with a 5-star signee, multiple returners, and talented transfers? It’s too soon to say. Really. But if ESPN wants us to get hyped up about the 2019 Final Four game where Virginia double dribbled, we’re happy to do that for them.