If you were around this weekend, you got to see the tantalizing reveal from the actual NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. They released their top 16 seeds and placed them into the four regions, and Auburn was a readily-present attendee in that discussion. The Tigers went 1-1 last week, falling by a point at home to Texas A&M, but that didn’t seem to matter much when the Committee locked the doors and put pen to paper.
Auburn was a bit higher than I think we all thought they’d be.
Is this what the 2018 Sweet 16 will look like? #BracketPreviewhttps://t.co/PxBQXWxUP0 pic.twitter.com/Rdru8SJez5
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 11, 2018
Yes, we’ve seen that Auburn’s projected as a 2-seed pretty much across the board, but the highest 2-seed? Uh, yeah. That means if Auburn can finish with wins over Kentucky, Alabama, and Florida, and a solid run in the SEC Tournament, they may in line for a 1-seed barring a few losses from one of the top four seeds.
If the tournament started today, the 2 seeds would be Auburn, Kansas, Duke and Cincinnati. #BracketPreview pic.twitter.com/W1xhnH1plW
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) February 11, 2018
Here’s Jerry Palm’s full bracket from CBS. In it, you can see that Auburn would face off against 15-seed Bucknell to open, and would then take on the winner of the 7-10 game between Seton Hall and TCU.
Joe Lunardi mentioned during the week last week that Auburn’s loss to the Aggies would probably drop the Tigers off the 2-seed line and down a spot. With nearly everyone in the top ten losing last week, including each of the top three teams in the country, he had to back away from that statement and has Auburn pretty steady.
We're just a month away from Selection Sunday.
— ESPN (@espn) February 12, 2018
Here's @ESPNLunardi's latest field of 68: https://t.co/enDt2QUnCl pic.twitter.com/eeHaf3kL8g
Lunardi’s got Auburn facing off against Florida Gulf Coast in his opening round in Nashville, with a possible Round of 32 matchup between either Arizona State or Texas.
And then there’s the mothership, with SB Nation posting Auburn in the same Midwest Region as CBS did, only against Wagner in the 2-15 meeting. Up next, it’s either Seton Hall or Virginia Tech.
But HEY. HEY. Don’t get complacent. There are still three weeks of basketball games left to play before the SEC Tournament. Auburn’s still in line for a regular season conference title for the first time in nearly twenty years, but they’ve got to notch a few more wins to lock it in. Up next it’s Kentucky. Now, this ain’t your Anthony Davis Wildcat bunch, but they’re still just as talented as any team in the league. Make sure Auburn Arena is rocking tomorrow night and it puts the Tigers a huge step toward that elusive championship.