Auburn's Worst Fears Realized Following Bracket Reveal

For the first time since 2020, the Auburn Tigers will be absent from the NCAA Tournament season. They missed a chance to follow up their run to the Final Four under first-year head coach Steven Pearl.

For the first time since 2020, the have missed the NCAA Tournament, being left out of the field of play after a disappointing season under first-year head coach . 

Auburn, which has a 17-16 (7-11 SEC record), somehow only missed the tournament by a narrow margin, despite the college basketball world saying that Auburn should not even be considered for the NCAA Tournament. 

Auburn head coach Steven Pearl made a case for the Tigers to make the tournament every time they lost, but to no avail. 

“We deserve to be in the tournament,” Pearl said following the loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.  “Our guys have some of the best wins in college basketball. It’s a team that can win games in the tournament. I think they’ve done enough ultimately to have their name called on Selection Sunday.”

The ‘last four in’ teams that were chosen over Auburn were Missouri, Miami (Ohio), SMU, and Texas. Notably, Auburn has a win over the Texas Longhorns, but the Longhorns have two more victories under their belt than Auburn. 

Oklahoma also made a late surge to surpass Auburn in the first, ‘first four out’ spot. The Sooners defeated South Carolina, Texas A&M, and had a narrow loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks in the SEC Tournament. 

Auburn has had a very tough season, losing to opponents that they should not have lost to, and losing games in which they had a lead late but imploded at the end. When it was all said and done, Auburn lost nine of its last 12 games. 

Auburn had a chance to make a case plenty of times this season, but failed to capitalize. In their last glimmer of hope, Auburn would’ve likely secured a ‘last four in’ spot if they had defeated the Tennessee Volunteers in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Instead, the Tigers gave up a 31-11 closing run to the Vols to make it a 10-point loss, and shattered their hopes for the tournament. 

Last season, the Tigers had the best season in program history. Boasting a 32-6 record, and having by far the best overall resumé to make the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, making it to the Final Four. At the time, this was noted as the new standard for Auburn basketball. 

Unfortunately, that standard quickly imploded this season with Auburn taking 16 losses this season, which is more than the previous two seasons for Auburn basketball combined. 

Notably, stepped down as head coach for the Tigers the literal day before official practice was set to begin, changing the landscape of the season before it even began. Immediately following Bruce Pearl's stepping down, Steven Pearl was named the new head coach with a five-year contract. 

Now, the Tigers’ season is officially over. Auburn becomes the first team since 2024 to make it to the Final Four, and then miss the NCAA Tournament completely the following season (NC State). Auburn now goes back to the drawing board and will likely have a mass exodus of players leaving the program once the transfer portal opens. Notably, Keyshawn Hall and KeShawn Murphy are both seniors, with no more eligibility remaining. It is to be determined what Auburn guard Tahaad Pettiford will do, but he will have time to think about that decision. 

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