Auburn basketball continues to solidify its ranking as the top team in the country, representing the SEC in style with the widest margin of victory for the SEC against the Oklahoma Sooners in the SEC/Big 12 challenge.
Now at 20-1–a win threshold only AU and college hoops ally Murray State can claim to own–the Tigers are a trendy Final Four pick and could perhaps end up as the overall top seed in the field come Selection Sunday.
Could Auburn basketball close out the season flawlessly? 247Sports’ Nathan King thinks there will be one road bump on the way.
King believes Tennessee will be the one team to knock off the Tigers in his latest 2021-22 rest-of-season projection. Given the wild atmosphere with former coach Bruce Pearl present at the Thompson-Boling Arena, it’s not wildly far-fetched to think that could be the team’s one pitfall in SEC play.
I recently listed Tennessee as one of the toughest remaining games on the schedule for the Tigers on the hardwood:
"While the Volunteers have been silenced by the likes of Alabama, Texas Tech, and Kentucky, they are still one of the SEC’s deepest teams. Given that the matchup will be played with a checkered baseline, this figures to be a major final hurdle to clear for Bruce Pearl in his own stomping grounds in 2021-22."
College basketball–and college sports in general–tends to see major upsets in emotional settings like the one the Tigers will be walking into in Knoxville on February 26th.
If Auburn basketball is going down this year, it may as well be before March. Tennessee could win that battle, but Auburn would win the war if Bruce Pearl won his first NCAA Championship at the Division I level–remember, he won at the Division II level with 2021-22 exhibition opponent Southern Indiana–on the Plains.