The Auburn basketball team is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. This comes despite Auburn losing to Tennessee on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals. Still, the Tigers finished the year with a 28-5 record with the only losses coming against Duke, Florida, Texas A&M, Alabama and Tennessee.
Auburn is a trendy Final Four pick, and for good reason. Johni Broome is one of the best players in college basketball as he is averaging 18.9 points with 10.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game on a 51-percent clip from the field. The former Morehead State player is in his third season with Auburn, and he is a tough player to stop.
Still, why there are high hopes for this Auburn basketball team in March Madness, there are some reasons why they could be on upset alert.
Auburn’s first-round exit in 2024 is still fresh
In the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Auburn entered as a No. 4 seed. However, the Tigers were stunned in the Round of 64 as No. 13 Yale got the 78-76 win. It was a frustrating result for Auburn, even though Broome had 24 points with 13 rebounds.
Auburn shot 50 percent from the field and outrebounded Yale 35-30 in that game, yet the Bulldogs from the Ivy League moved on.
“Give Yale credit for making those plays,” Bruce Pearl said after the loss in 2024. “This has nothing to do with us not taking them seriously. nothing. They outplayed us in many categories. They made shots. They guarded us.”
The most difficult Round of 32 matchup
Auburn got the top overall seed, which is usually good news. This time, it came with some controversy. Auburn faces No. 16 Alabama State in the Round of 64 on Friday. But, the Round of 32 will come against one of Creighton or Louisville, which is the 8-9 battle in the South Region.
Louisville has been in the top 25 for quite some time and has 11 wins since February 1. The two losses since February 1 have come against Georgia Tech on the road and against Duke in the ACC tournament title game.
Creighton has four losses in the past month, although two of those have come against St. John’s and one against UConn. Still, Auburn would potentially face Louisville (or Creighton) in a Round of 32 matchup in Lexington, Kentucky.
That is a tough matchup all around whether it’s Creighton or Louisville, especially being in Kentucky.
Auburn has a knack for early exits
Here’s the thing: Auburn has not gotten past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 when the Tigers went to the Final Four. In 2022, Auburn was a No. 2 seed and lost to No. 10 seed Miami (FL).
In 2023, Auburn was a No. 9 and fell to No. 1 Houston in the Round of 32 (that’s justifiable). And, of course, Auburn fell in the first round a year ago. Nonetheless, there is a concerning trend for AUburn as of late.
Can this year’s Tigers team buck that trend and advance to the Sweet 16, and maybe further? Only time will tell.
The post Why Auburn basketball is on upset alert in 2025 NCAA Tournament appeared first on ClutchPoints.
