ESPN’s Joe Lunardi makes a bold but strangely reasonable comment about Auburn ahead of matchup with Tennessee

The Tigers are hoping to sneak their way into the NCAA Tournament, and they have a big opportunity on Tennessee — which they might not need.

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
Add as preferred source on Google
Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I’ve been shaking my head about the Auburn Tigers and their NCAA Tournament chances for several weeks now. The Tigers just picked up win number 17 to improve to 17-15 on the season, beating Mississippi State 79-61 in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Next up for the Tigers is a huge opportunity, as they square off against the Tennessee Vols on Thursday afternoon in the second round. Now, one might think this is a must win for a team that is just barely above .500. But not according to ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi.

Per AL.com reporter Michael Casagrande, Lunardi said on Wednesday night on the SEC Network that the Tigers don’t even have to win against the Vols in order to make the tournament “if everything goes right”.

Lunardi also put out his most recent bracketology update on Thursday morning, saying the following about Auburn: “It’s not just a question of Auburn winning or losing; somebody has to catch them for the last at-large spot (pending bit thieves elsewhere).”

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says that Auburn might not have to win against Tennessee to get in, and it might not be crazy

I’ve been saying for weeks that it’s insane to even consider the Tigers, who lost 8 of their last 10 regular season games. If the Tigers lose to Tennessee, they’d fall to 17-16. A basically .500 team that doesn’t win their conference tournament has no business sniffing the NCAA Tournament.

But, on the other hand, I also expected literally anybody on the bubble to make not even a great case, but just at least a halfway okay one to secure one of those spots. And boy, how that hasn’t happened. Indiana lost to Northwestern early in the Big Ten tourney. Cal and Stanford both lost in their opening ACC game. SMU lost to Louisville after a late-season slide. And suddenly Texas can’t beat anyone, losing yesterday to Ole Miss in the tourney.

The metrics, for whatever wisdom — or lack thereof — they provide, also love the Tigers, with them having a NET ranking of 38, well above a number of other supposed bubble teams. So, perhaps the Tigers are in better shape than they should be given the circumstances, and therefore Lunardi’s not totally out to lunch here.

If Tennessee takes Auburn to the woodshed (something the Vols haven’t done often against non-bottom-dwelling SEC teams this year), would that perhaps dissuade the committee and instead use eye test and recent play (and perhaps some common sense) to override the metrics?

We’ll find out soon enough if the Nate Ament-led Vols can put a final dent in the Tigers’ NCAA hopes when the two schools meet at 3 pm ET on Thursday in Nashville.

Related Articles