Best in the SEC? Auburn basketball might be the top team in the country
AUBURN — Who said Auburn isn't a basketball school?
The Tigers were always supposed to be good this season. They had the talent. They had the program's highest-rated recruit. They were picked by SEC media to finish fifth in a pretty deep league.
But this is getting real. Forget the SEC: Auburn is a top-five team in the country, almost undeniably. It's playing like a top-one team.
Even when it's executing far below its standard, no deficit seems insurmountable for this group. There were double-digit comebacks against South Florida and Saint Louis. The Tigers' only loss came in double overtime after a 15-point rally against UConn. And the latest was a 14-point comeback for an 80-71 win at Ole Miss on Saturday, completing a 2-0 week on the road and positioning Auburn for potentially its first No. 1 ranking in program history.
Four voter points separated the Tigers from that accolade. Instead at No. 2, they have more space to prove themselves worthy this oh-so-important week.
"We've been managing the target a little bit for the last week or so because we've kind of put ourselves in position all of a sudden where we started climbing the rankings a little bit. We had to deal with it tonight," eighth-year coach Bruce Pearl said after that Ole Miss win. "Look, we're going to get beat, and when we get beat it's not because we rested on our laurels."
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Who could have expected Auburn (16-1, 5-0 SEC) to be in this spot before the season? Not even Pearl, who fielded a Final Four team three years ago. In a recent appearance on Jeff Goodman's podcast, Pearl confessed his own doubts stemming from backcourt uncertainty: "I would say that if you're going to pick Auburn in the preseason, you've got to pick us fifth — maybe sixth. Something like that."
Pearl would also be the first to tell you how much of the season remains. It's always worth the reminder that college basketball is the most fickle of sports, far more so than, say, college football. Alabama enters a season with the most talented roster? It's pretty much a lock for the College Football Playoff, the sport's final four.
That will never be the case in hoops, even as Auburn's talent, depth and coaching separates itself from the pack in mid-January. The NCAA Tournament is designed for the proletariat to overthrow the blueblood bourgeois.
But man, what a ride it's been so far. Jabari Smith is a top NBA prospect, and Auburn doesn't even need to over-rely on him. North Carolina transfer Walker Kessler is the SEC's best defensive center and one of the country's most improved all-around players. Those guards have proven any doubters wrong. Zep Jasper is a quietly efficient two-way point guard, K.D. Johnson has endeared himself to the fanbase by being not-so-quiet, and Wendell Green Jr. is one of the nation's most exciting sixth men.
All three are newcomers out of the transfer portal. Perhaps that's what made everyone so cautious to over-hype Auburn in November. The assimilation process of an overhauled roster is always unpredictable. Four of Auburn's starters are new. The fifth, junior wing Allen Flanigan, missed the first two months with an Achilles injury.
But this team has meshed beyond imagination. Defensively, it's No. 1 in the country in blocks per game and No. 13 in steals per game. Offensively, it's No. 22 in scoring.
As thrilling as it was for Auburn to infiltrate Tuscaloosa and beat the Crimson Tide earlier this week, the defining statement of the season so far has to be the first eight minutes of SEC play. Will Wade's LSU Tigers entered Auburn Arena undefeated. They must have left scarred for life after Auburn whupped them with an 18-1 start.
The other clear SEC title contender is an approaching litmus test. Auburn Arena will be under the national spotlight Saturday (12 p.m., CBS) when Kentucky (14-3, 4-1) visits. The Wildcats made their own statement this past Saturday with a 107-79 win over ranked Tennessee.
And Auburn will be under a national microscope, as it hopes to back up the fans' loud disgust at being so wronged, so under-ranked at No. 2. Gonzaga wears the crown for now. It is 5-2 in NET Quad 1 and 2 games. Auburn is 8-1 in such games.
More motivational material for Pearl. More fuel for Auburn Arena when Kentucky comes.
"It is historic, and it does matter," Pearl said of the top spot. "It does mean something. That'll be a proud moment for Auburn, period. Our university and our athletic department."
Who knows if these Tigers will remain in that conversation by the end of March. That makes it all the more important for fans to enjoy it now: As of mid-January, yes, there's a sound argument that Auburn has the best team in college basketball.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Best in the SEC? Auburn basketball might be top team in the country
