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Jay Wright Makes Bold NCAA Tournament Prediction

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Grant Bricker | Last updated Mar 16, 2025 7:57 PM ET

Jay Wright has been around college basketball for quite some time, as a head coach with Hofstra (1994-2001) and Villanova (2001-2022).

After Selection Sunday, Wright looked through the bracket and made an interesting prediction for which teams would make the Final Four.

He picked the Auburn Tigers, St. John's Red Storm, Duke Blue Devils and Houston Cougars to make the Final Four on CBS Sports.

Auburn is the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed and is in the South Region. The Tigers await the winner of the play-in game between Alabama State and St. Francis (PA), who face off on Tuesday.

Pearl is taking Auburn to its sixth NCAA Tournament since he became the head coach in the 2014-2015 season.

"I like Auburn coming out of the South," Wright said. "I like the Johnnies sneaking out of the West to get to the Final Four. Obviously, Duke in the east. Houston in the Midwest."

Pearl holds Auburn's first Final Four appearance in program history, having taken the Tigers there during the 2018-2019 season. Auburn lost to No. 1 seed Viriginia 63-62 that season, who went on to win the national championship over Texas Tech in overtime.

It has been a struggle for Pearl to reach the Final Four since that season. In the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons, he reached the 2nd Round. In the 2023-2024 season, he lost in the 1st Round to No. 13 seed Yale.

Auburn has plenty of offensive firepower to make a deep run in March Madness. The Tigers are led in scoring by forward Johni Broome (18.9 ppg), guard Chad Baker-Mazara (12.6 ppg) and guard Miles Kelly (11.5 ppg).

The team also averages the 10th-most points in the country, with 83.8 points per game.

Auburn faces the winner of Alabama State-St. Francis (PA) on Thursday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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