Auburn got the best draw of March Madness of any No. 1 seed. It may not be particularly close.
The perks of being the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed.
Selection Sunday delivered good news for the Tigers' chances of a Final Four run. Michigan State is AU's No. 2 seed in the South region, a steep drop-off from St. John's (West), Tennessee (Midwest), and Alabama (East). The Tigers lost to Tennessee and Alabama, though both games were lacking the high stakes of the earlier season wins in Tuscaloosa and against the Vols at the Neville Arena.
Yes, Yale is on Auburn's path to the Final Four. That was a stroke of storytelling genius on the selection committee's part.
Several teams the Tigers beat from the conference, like Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and from out of conference, like Iowa State are also in AU's way.
Louisville, Michigan, Creighton, and Marquette are the other Power Conference teams in the Tigers' bracket.
Auburn's first game will be against the winner of Alabama State and St. Francis (PA).
Bruce Pearl likes his chances ahead of March Madness.
"It allows us to be able to say our goal is to win the national championship. It allows us to say if we don't win the national championship, we'll be disappointed," Pearl said.
"We're very pleased to have been recognized as this year's No. 1 overall seed. We sort of feel like that makes us the regular-season national champion."
It's go time for the Tigers. This March is the most pressure-filled yet, but has the potential to be the one on the Plains.