The season may already be slipping away for the Auburn Tigers men’s basketball. There is always hope for next year, though, and the football side of things could soon be on the rise. With Alex Golesh leading the program and quarterback Byrum Brown arriving alongside several former South Florida Bulls football receivers from Tampa, the gridiron program could be back to winning games as early as this fall.
But for the basketball team coached by Steven Pearl, the outlook appears far less certain. According to David Cobb of CBS Sports, Auburn’s only realistic path into the tournament now depends on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament selection committee leaving out several bubble teams. Programs such as the VCU Rams men’s basketball, San Diego State Aztecs men’s basketball, New Mexico Lobos men’s basketball, and Saint Louis Billikens men’s basketball are all in the mix, making Auburn’s chances increasingly uncertain.
Cobb labeled Auburn as one of the biggest “losers” in his bracketology projections. He noted that VCU’s recent surge could be enough to push the Rams into an at-large bid ahead of Auburn, which sits at 17–16 after a 72–62 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball in the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals. With the Tigers’ season now in the hands of the selection committee, their fate largely depends on how other conferences shake out.
In Cobb’s view, Auburn needs both the Atlantic 10 Conference and the Mountain West Conference to send only one team each to the tournament field. Following their defeat to Tennessee, the Tigers have little left to do but wait and hope that results elsewhere fall in their favor.
Despite the uncertainty, Auburn still has a case to be considered. The Tigers played one of the toughest schedules in the nation and secured impressive wins, including a road victory over the Florida Gators men’s basketball in Gainesville, a neutral-court win against the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball, and home victories inside Neville Arena against the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball and the Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball. Those victories arguably stack up favorably against the résumés of several mid-major contenders.
Still, if Auburn were to sneak into the tournament with a record barely above .500 while several mid-majors were left out, it would almost certainly spark controversy across the sport. Critics would likely point fingers at Bruce Pearl and his staff, arguing that smaller programs deserved the opportunity more.
Part of what makes the excitement of March Madness so special is the chance for underdogs to shock the college basketball world. Unlike the College Football Playoff, where smaller programs rarely get a realistic shot, the NCAA Tournament often allows lesser-known teams to prove themselves on the biggest stage. Schools such as the Cincinnati Bearcats football, Boise State Broncos football, Tulane Green Wave football, and James Madison Dukes football have shown flashes of that possibility in college football, though a true breakthrough remains elusive.
Now the question is whether Auburn will be viewed as a worthy underdog itself—or whether its season will officially come to an end when the tournament field is announced.