Auburn not only won his first top two showdown with Alabama in his longtime rivalry, but also received extra love from the NCAA.
The first ever No. 1-1 and no Auburn and Alabama historic day. 2 Clash between the two schools The NCAA Tournament Select Committee has shown the extra love between the Tigers and the Crimson Tide.
The SEC dominated the top 16 beyond Auburn and Alabama as the committee selected six teams from the entire conference. Auburn, Alabama and Florida all received the number one species in their respective regions, Tennessee and Texas A&M received the No. 2 seeds, and Kentucky received the third seeds.
“It’s equally impressive because it’s unusual to have five of the top six teams from one conference.”
Duke had only one non-SEC No. 1 seed, while Purdue and Houston had two other No. 2 seeds. Meanwhile, the remaining three seeds were sent to Wisconsin, Iowa and Arizona. The number four species was sent to Kansas, Michigan and St. John’s. There is still much more to change in the rest of the conference games and tournaments across the country before the selection on Sunday, March 16th.
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When it comes to SEC talent, Auburn and Alabama know the toughness of the SEC very well to get into the game on Saturday. The Tigers beat conference play-ranked teams in Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Ole Miss alone. Similarly, Tide won in Kentucky, Texas A&M, Mississippi, Georgia, Ole Miss and Oklahoma as the team ranked as SEC ranked prior to Saturday’s showdown.
Auburn finished work on the road in a packed home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Tigers senior forward Johnny Bloom led with 19 points, with three teammates scoring in double digits from the bench.
“We were very prepared. The coach did a great job with the game plan,” Pearl said. “The kids were executed early. If you’re going to win the road, you have to play early.”
“We played early. As you can imagine, Alabama is back, but the place never heard Coleman so loudly,” Pearl added.
Auburn plunged into a 9-0 lead behind two broom 3-pointers, but the tide was stuck on the rest of the road. The tide did it with breaking points and paint points, surpassing the Tigers 59–39 in those regions. Despite the abundant transition points, there were only 11 turnovers and four steels between the two teams.
“It was a really clean game, but I was happy about it,” Pearl pointed out. “Nate (oats) told his team about it because that’s how the first team in the country should act. That’s how they should compete. That’s how they’ll play. The way. I was really happy with it.”
Despite the committee’s name Auburn and Alabama as the top two seeds and the fanfare for the first and second place matchups, Oats were not comforted after being defeated at home. OATS took note of the rematch at Auburn on March 8th.
“There’s better leadership this year. Oats later told reporters. “We’ve got full control of our destiny to at least gain ties with the league, as the league is moving forward at least. Because Auburn is a game ahead of us now and we got Auburn in their place. So, on Monday we see what maturity and leadership we have. I’ll do that.”
