It's hard for Auburn fans not to be bitter about being left out of the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers had the toughest schedule in the country with wins over Florida, St. John's and Arkansas and, eventually, the hope was that the challenging slate would outweigh their 3-9 finish to the season and 17-16 overall record. That didn't happen and, inevitably, it was SMU, Texas, N.C. State and Miam, Ohio that were the last four in.
NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee chair Keith Gill tells @MattNorlander why Auburn did not make the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/PiYuK3Zpyw
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 15, 2026
"The first four out was very close. Auburn, obviously they had a really strong stretch of schedule, they had some really good wins. That win at Florida is a great win," NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Chair Keith Gill said. "But when you look at that winning percentage, .515 and the 16 losses...when the committee took all that into consideration, they thought they just hadn't done enough to make it inside the field."
Committee gives SMU nod over Auburn because of quality of wins
If Gill just leaves the explanation there, it's probably fair. Auburn was 17-16 and, regardless of schedule quality, that's not an impressive record. The Tigers had some bad losses down the stretch, including a home loss to Ole Miss that might not have been as bad as it looked at the time, but it was still going to be a demerit against them.
But he goes on to explain that SMU's quality of wins over North Carolina, Louisville and Texas A&M were what gave them the nod. Those are certainly fine wins. North Carolina is probably a 3 or 4 seed if Caleb Wilson is healthy, but Florida is a No. 1 seed, St. John's won the Big East and beat UConn twice and Arkansas just won the SEC.
It's frustrating because not only did Auburn have better wins, but SMU closed the season losing five of six and weren't anywhere close to as good of a team without injured guard B.J. Edwards. Gill said he believes Edwards will return and SMU will be much better with him back on the floor. But what if he doesn't play Wednesday? Then the Mustangs are the same team that lost by 20 to Stanford and 13 to Florida State.
Maybe Auburn played too close to fire, got burned and were rightfully left out, but saying SMU had a better quality of wins is a complete farce. And that should frustrate everyone in the Plains.