AUFlyer

Auburn has the 7th toughest schedule remaining in the country and the only team outside the Big12 in the top ten for that...Schedule is going to get harder for sure but they are playing the type of ball that will give them a chance to move up in seeding(or fall if the totally lay an egg). If Auburn goes 13-5 in conference with a win @WVU they have a nice shot at #4 or #3 seed depending on the wins...I think AUB loses @UT, @Bama, @UK. They need to pick up at least 1 home win against either UT or Bama and sweep TA&M. If they do that it's 13-5. The finishing stretch of @UK, @Bama, vs UT doesn't get much tougher than that.

Bama @ OU, Texas @ UT, are the only 2 I feel confident about for the SEC predicting a winner. UK is playing real well and gets a 3 game losing streak Kansas at home. That's a good chance of picking up a big win. UF @ KSU, ARK @ Baylor, and Ole Miss @ OK St look to be the toughest games for the SEC to pull out a win. I am going to say 5-5 with a bigger edge for the Big12 to go 6-4.

Neither do I….I would go Bama, Tennessee, Auburn/UGA, and then the rest. A&M has played some good ball recently, but man is the SEC inconsistent right now. Auburn can play some really, really ugly basketball for some long stretches. I still don’t think there is a go-to scorer on this team. Green when he takes care of the ball and distributes well is the biggest key to success for this team.

Home court advantage in college hoops is worth about 3.5 pts(more for some teams). Gators ended up winning by 7 at home. Seems like the odds makers had it pretty close. I would say these 2 teams are pretty even on a neutral floor.

Every home SEC team won yesterday. You win 5 of your 9 conference road games and go 7-2 at home you are 12-6 and in the top half of the league for sure. Conference champs figure out a way to win on the road. Last year the top 3 SEC teams in reg season only lost road games, Aub 3, UK and UT 4 each.

If the UT game was officiated by PAC12 refs then I would agree with Volman. In Auburn’s loss to USC they called an extremely tight game. A lot of stuff that would be play-on in the SEC was whistle blown. My UCLA friend said that was one of the things he is looking forward to with the BIG10 move. But whatever, Auburn played bad, too many TOs to win that game. It was a bad week for the SEC in the mini SEC vs PAC12 challenge…UK, UT, Auburn all lost

USC was good enough to take Tennessee to OT on a neutral floor so they are pretty good….but I am not saying those 2 teams are better than Memphis, I’m just saying it is another good test for Auburn pre-conference. And the NET rankings are a joke right now, ESPN BPI rankings are much more accurate this time of year….

"Auburn gets its last meaningful pre-conference test, with an undefeated record on the line." Hardly...Auburn plays @USC 12/18 then @WASH on 12/21. Playing 2 back to back Power5 teams on the road(West Coast mind you) will prove to be just as difficult if not more difficult then Memphis in ATL.

Pearl is FAR from the dirtiest basketball coach around...Should he have had better control over his program and Pearson being involved in the FBI bribery scandal? Absolutely. But his infractions at UT are so paltry compared to things done at other programs. If he would have just self disclosed his BBQ and contact with junior in high school recruit he would probably still be coaching there. The guy is a great coach no doubting that, and the players who play for him love him, no doubting that either. You name almost ANY university out there and I bet you can dig up some scandal involving their athletics program. Even the Service Academies have had their problems.

I agree...its PrimeTime on the Plains. I like Cadillac and the admirable job he has done to close out the season, and to the players that really rallied around him. But being a coach for 3 games is alot different than running a program like Auburn for 365. One day Cadillac could be ready but I think he just needs a little more experience before taking the big job. There is no slam dunk coach out there waiting to be hired so why not take a chance with Deion? I think he has a potential higher ceiling then both Freeze or Kiffin but also a lower floor, but that's the position Auburn is in as a program. Take a shot with Deion and see how it goes, and yes he won't back down to the boosters nor should he. Donate the money yes and thank you, but don't get it twisted they an't coaches and know very little about coaching in the SEC.

Really??? UT trying to hire Greg Schiano and the fans holding a protest?? Kiffin leaving the program high and dry for USC?? Bobby Petrino and Jessica Dorrell cruising around on motorcycles and crashing, Mike Price going to strip clubs...I mean the short term memory loss is strong in the SEC but come on....Auburn hasn't had a scandal with any of our coaches that we know about just a bad hire in Harsin....and yeah some boosters getting in the way I agree but if the next guy wins you won't here anything from them.

Jimmy Rane, Raymond Harbert, and Bobby Lowder are the “Big 3” that everyone always talk about but rarely mention by name for some reason.

Recent so-called "dumpster fires" in the SEC....Bama 1997-2006: Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, Mike Shula...UT 2009-2020: Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, Butch Jones, Jeremy Pruitt...Arkansas 2007-2019: Bobby Petrino, John L Smith, Bret Bielema, Chad Morris...UF 2011-2021: Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen(these coaches did actually ok compared to the rest on the list)...Texas A&M 2003-Present: Dennis Franchione, Mike Sherman, Kevin Sumlin, Jim Fisher*(TBD on him I guess)....Ole Miss 2005-2019: Ed Orgeron, Huston Nutt, Hugh Freeze(did well, but ya know), Matt Luke...Im sure there are other SEC schools, but my point is every program is considered a dumpster fire until they find "the guy"...Auburn needs to find the right guy and they will be just fine. And for those who say Auburn is a Kstate or Wisconsin, whatever, they are a Top15 program ALL TIME based on many different calculations from many different sites...of course not right now but that comparison others made is just flat out wrong and the stats prove it.

This is the truth....does a 3star turning into a starter and contributing make for a great story or a walk-on for that matter, yes. But at the end of the day, like you said, talent wins national titles. In the CFP area I dont think there has been a team outside of Top12 roster talent win or play for a national title. I think maybe Oregon playing and losing to OSU in the first year, 2014, had a roster rated outside the Top12. That's it.

Just so that we don’t let a silly think like facts get in the way… Alabama since Gene Stallings in 1990 has had 6 HC Auburn since Terry Bowden in 1993 has had 5 HC This is not counting interim HCs. People forget that before Saban, Alabama was as big a mess as Auburn, rolling through DuBose, Franchione, Price, and Shula in the span of 9 years…it just takes 1 great HC hire to turn a program around…although in this day and age a coach staying at a school longer than 5 years is almost nonexistent even if somewhat successful.

Even with the UT loss, I think them A&M and Arkansas have best shots at advancing….Auburn has the toughest series with the the tough travel across the country…the Mississippi World Series is going to be the most fun series to watch.

What do you suggest for the Auburn 10pm eastern start? 5hr energy drink at like 7pm followed by whiskey neat and a cigar at first pitch is what I am thinking…..it’s just as bad as trying to stay up for Monday Night football, at least it’s a Saturday night….

Auburn dude throws a bullet for the final out to preserve a 1 run lead on the road and its only #4...wow

Michigan was preseason #6!! it's not like this was some no-name Cinderella team, they have major college talent and played slightly better than UT tonight. The NCAA basketball tournament IMHO is the toughest national title of the big 3 college sports to win. I still think UT is easly one of the best 16 teams in the country but the bracket said otherwise...Barnes is still a great coach and UT would be crazy to think anything different. I wish the SEC would have done better because these perceptions carryover to the next season as much as people like to say they dont...Good luck to ARK and AUB, hopefully they can make deep runs and keep the SEC flag flying.

I read your comment and an image of Freddie in dodger blue came to my head and I immediately got sick to my stomach….any other team but the freaking Dodgers!!…it will make it that much sweeter when we beat them AGAIN in October!! Still haven’t decided if I can bring myself to go to the games in late June vs them….

Auburn and Alabama don’t even play each other this year in softball? How is that even possible?! Is there any other sport where this also happens? Crazy.

they were the number 1 2seed so they conceivable should have the easiest 2seed path...I will agree though that it is the easiest for sure on paper...if Auburn doesn't shoot themselves out of the game they SHOULD get to the Elite8 based on matchups and talent...but it's the tourny so who knows...

The best thing Auburn has going for them besides the weakest region(and Auburn was 2.1 so they should have the easiest path for a 2) is that they are potentially playing teams all for the first time....I expect all the SEC teams to do well bc of this...if the guards can just play DECENT not even great they make it to the Elite8...go 3-25 from the 3 and they could be bounced early...Kessler will be a problem for the first 3 teams Auburn could play....the biggest misses where A&M being left out and UT not getting a 2 seed...

I can't really comment on any other team in an educated way other than Auburn....Auburn's problem has been their halfcourt sets and taking care of the ball. When they were wining 18,19 games in a row they took care of the ball for the most part and were running a good half court offense. Now if you get back on defense and force them into a half court offense it's been terrible. The unforced TOs have got to stop, all these teams play tough defense so TOs are going to happen but it can't be the cross-court heave into the stands they've been doing...I think the Top 4 are a clear cut above the rest and the SEC records prove this...ARK is playing lights out. I will say this talk about AU peaking too early is nonsense...Auburn lost some of their toughest road games which were clumped together just like every other team in the SEC has throughout the year. UT lost @Bama, @UK, @LSU, @Ark ARK lost @MissSt, @A&M, @Bama UK lost @LSU, @AUB, @UT, @ARK road woes?? everyone has road woes!

Could be the highest level baseball we see this year….might get even more popular….sad.

Want to get rid of a coach? Auburn fans say, "hold my beer, watch this..."

Penny seems to be a little more chill for the time being...I know he got testie with some reporters earlier but what coach doesn't? I think these guys who just jumped into high level coaching from NBA/playing careers are realizing its not as easy as they thought it might be. I'm sure they didn't think it would be easy, and the 2 of them can clearly recruit but that's like 1/2 the game in college. That's just like my opinion, man...the dude.

I am all for coaches not having to be best friends with each other and for the handshake line to be a little cold/chippy but come on, throwing a punch as a coach is not a good look. Throwing a punch as a PLAYER is rarely a good look, although if I was that Duke player that got undercut on that dunk I would have for sure been throwing some haymakers!

Good win Gators...Castleton is one of the few bigs this year to give Kessler trouble this year, and he has done it TWICE. Auburn couldn't get a shot of before the closing seconds of the first half and then in a potential game winning scenario the exact same thing happened at the end at the game. I have been saying for the last week that Auburns half court offense has to get better and this game just proved this tenfold. Road games are tough no doubt but a team this talented should be able to go in and win that game. If I were Bruce I would be having a long tough talk with my guards about distribution of the ball and careless turnovers with the whole team..If Auburn doesn't just flat out throw the ball into the STANDS 4 times less they have a good chance of winning this game. Luckily they have time to fix it but they are not trending in the right direction right now. UK, UT, and Arkansas are better favorites for the SEC tourny right now in my eyes. I love this team but if they don't fix some things it could be a quick exit in both SEC and NCAAs...

geographically speaking Bham is one of the most centrally located locations to all SEC schools. College Station, Columbia, MO and Gainesville are going to be the furthest from almost any location centrally picked...other options being Nashville(great), Memphis(terrible, but nice AAA stadium)...not sure what you could do other than having 3 sites you rotate between.