There's 13 seconds to go in the game. Georgia leads Auburn 67- 63 on their home court. Auburn guard Earnest Ross drives the lane and makes a layup. After the bucket closes the gap to two, Ross steals the in-bounds pass at midcourt and drives in for the tying lay up with 10 seconds left on the clock. Georgia gets the ball back, drives the length of the court, and Gerald Robinson misses a layup at the buzzer.
That was how regulation play ended the last time Auburn (11-19) and Georgia (20-10) met .... in a tie. After being behind most of the game, Auburn came back to force the taller, more talented dogs into overtime .
Georgia finally won but if the Tigers had got the ball back with five more seconds left, they may have won the game in regulation. After all Ross had scored four points in just three seconds, to send the game into overtime.
Now the two old rivals will meet again at 1:00 pm Thursday in the first game of the SEC Tournament. Many analyst are not giving Auburn much of a chance to pull the upset.
However, the way Auburn has played the last few games, one would be well advised before betting against Barbee's Tigers.
In fact I am of the opinion they could run the gamut. Some may think that could only be a dream. Nevertheless a Georgia team, with only four SEC regular season wins, did it in 2008; and were crowned SEC Tournament Champions.
Sonny Smith's Tigers were the eighth seeded team in 1985 and won four games in four days to become the first team to accomplish the feat. Arkansas did it in 2000 and Mississippi State did it in 2009.
Even though it may be highly improbable, it is entirely possible. And the thing that is on their side is the knowledge that they can play with the best in the SEC.
In January the Tigers gave first place Florida all it could handle losing only by five.
And in the last month Auburn has pushed Georgia into overtime, came from 19 down to defeat Miss. State, lost at the buzzer to West Division Champion Alabama, came from behind to lose in the last five seconds to Arkansas, and had the program's second biggest come from behind victory (20 points) over Ole Miss.
So although Florida is the odds on favorite to win the SEC, with Kentucky and Alabama being the next two favorites of the talking heads - I'm picking a dark horse ...
I'm picking Auburn.