Most realistic upset Auburn could hope for in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament

Auburn drew a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, but they also drew a spot in what I think is the tough region in March Madness. This Auburn team is great, they can shoot the ball well from all spots on the court and can shut teams down on defense.

This Bruce-Pearl-led team has a great chance to make it to just their second-ever Final Four and possibly their first-ever men's basketball National Championship. However, they have some heavy hitters they would have to go through first unless another team nocks these foes out.

The two teams that I think are the biggest threat to Auburn's title run are 1-seed UConn and 2-seed Iowa State. Both teams showed in their conference tournaments that they are hot and they are running forward with a head full of steam. If Auburn can avoid one or both of these teams, I think the Tigers are the team to come out of the East Region.

So if I had to pick one of those two teams for Auburn to hopefully avoid it would be UConn. The Huskies are similar to the Tigers, they can score from anywhere and they have a defense that can shut you down from tipoff. So, the best way to beat them is to no have to play them at all.

If UConn and Auburn meet, it would be in the Sweet Sixteen, a lot earlier than either team would want to go home. So the Huskies would have to lose in the second round where they would face the winner of Northwestern versus Florida Atlantic. I think Northwestern is going to knock out last year's Cinderella team because the Owls are not the same team they were last year.

So we are going to go hypothetical here and say it will be UConn against Northwestern in the second round. The Tigers want Northwestern to knock out UConn because that Northwestern matchup would be much more favorable for Auburn than UConn.

In a matchup between Auburn and Northwestern, I am taking Auburn all the way. Northwestern's defense is not good enough to stop this high-scoring Tigers offense. Plus this defense allows an average of 68 points this season to opponents while the Wildcats score an average of 73.7 points on the season.

So as Auburn fans I would cheer for Northwestern or Florida Atlantic in the second round because they would be the Tiger's last hope in not having to play UConn.