Auburn basketball has been unrealistically good this season. They're like 2014-15 Kentucky, but the Tigers got their first loss out of the way early -- and it was against a two-loss current No. 2 Duke team with a once-in-a-generation talent, Cooper Flagg.
AU has to lose in SEC play, right? This is a historic season for the conference. SEC hoops is surpassing SEC football as we speak. A team cannot possibly run the table in a conference this good. Right?
Well, USA Today's Eddie Timanus spoke of this Saturday's Florida matchup at Neville Arena as one that could represent the first slowdown for Auburn during the 2024-25 regular season.
"The Tigers could absorb a loss or two in the coming month and still be comfortably placed at the head of an NCAA regional. But the fact that they haven’t taken any ‘L’s yet in the nation’s deepest conference means they’ll probably be a popular pick to cut down the nets even if that happens. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however, as there will be a lot of physically taxing games ahead starting with this one. The Gators, very much in the mix for a top seed, as well, could solidify that case by taking down No. 1 on the road. Florida hopes to regain the services of Walter Clayton Jr., who sat out the win against Vanderbilt earlier this week with a bad ankle. Regardless, handling Auburn’s constant ball pressure that generates 7.5 steals a game will be a major priority for the Gators. Tigers big man Johni Broome, meanwhile, is back to putting up double doubles after missing a couple of games. He’s hard to stop near the rim, but Florida’s Alex Condon will do his best," Timanus wrote.
Having five players in double-figures, with another sitting at 9.6 points per game, is unsustainable in most systems, but the Tigers play with a comforting ease every game. It's hard to imagine any shooting slippage from any one player right now. Not even freshman wunderkind Tahaad Pettiford, who has shot 109 three-pointers in 199 attempts overall.
Duds happen, though. And some team sometime soon will muck things up enough to force a bad game out of Bruce Pearl's squad.
Or, Auburn is going to finish the job in one of the greatest seasons in American sports.