Auburn's SEC championship run highlights biggest strength in NCAA Tournament

Auburn won the SEC Tournament on Sunday with an 86-67 win over the Florida Gators. The victory earned the Tigers their first conference tournament title since 2019 and secured a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Wait. A 4-seed? Surely that’s a misprint. Auburn was a No. 3 seed in Joe Lunardi’s bracket projection on Sunday morning… and then it won an SEC title with a dominant performance against Florida. As a 4-seed, the Tigers could face either San Diego State or UAB in the second round, potentially UConn in the Sweet 16, and then Big 12 champion Iowa State or Big Ten champ Illinois in the Elite Eight.

The Huskies earned the top overall seed in the field. And UConn’s corner of the bracket features 4 of the 6 high-major conference tournament champions.

Still, Auburn will be a popular pick.

The Tigers opened as an 11.5-point favorite over Yale in the opening round (per FanDuel). The number was fluctuating in the hours following the bracket reveal, but Auburn was anywhere from +1500 to +1800 to win the national championship at most online sportsbook apps.

During its run to the SEC title, Auburn’s depth shined. In the NCAA Tournament, that depth could prove to be massive.

In Sunday’s win over Florida, 10 players were on the court for at least 15 minutes. Ten players played at least 10 minutes in the 73-66 win over Mississippi State on Saturday. And 10 players saw at least 13 minutes in the quarterfinal win over South Carolina on Friday.

Auburn has a strong starting unit. Auburn also has a bench unit coach Bruce Pearl can throw into the thick of it without compromising his gameplan or jeopardizing a win. Auburn won’t be playing 3 games in 3 days, but when things are coming fast and furious in the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament, being able to go deep into a bench is a massive advantage.

“You can’t ask kids to play as hard as we play them and play them all game long,” Pearl said after Sunday’s win. “We talk about that in recruiting. Sure, there are still challenges. There are challenges during the course of the day about ‘get me the ball.’ … It’s give-and-take and it’s open. They understand where they’re at. They understand why they’re there. They do understand what their roles need to be.”

On Sunday, Auburn raced out to an 8-point halftime lead on Florida. The Gators scored 14 points in the first 3 minutes of the second half to cut the lead all the way down to 1. But Auburn composed itself and stretched its lead back out to 11 over the next 4 minutes thanks to cold-blooded shooting from Tre Donaldson.

Auburn never looked back. Playing its fourth game in as many days, Florida looked like it ran out of gas.

“I feel like at that point, when they made their run, we had fresh new guys come in,” said guard Chad Baker-Mazara. “I feel like the guys who came in just turned it up a whole different notch. We executed, stayed calm, stayed composed.”

Auburn had one more mini-run in it later in the game, too, with Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell powering a 12-2 run that ballooned the lead up to 21 points.

“You heard the guys talking about the willingness to share it. A lot of guys want to play 35, they want all the shots. That’s fine. That’s fine. But it doesn’t always translate to winning and it doesn’t translate to having a great locker room,” said Pearl. “I guess it’s very much the sum of our parts.”

Pearl talked about thanking Denver Jones for his patience, about how Donaldson and Aden Holloway would probably want to play 30-plus minutes a night, and about how Baker-Mazara could start but is willing to come off the bench. This Tigers squad seems to almost revel in the fact they are a championship team above all else.

“Every game isn’t going to be the same way. That’s why this team is so good, because we can adapt,” said Broome. “If y’all want to have a shootout, we can have a shootout. If your guys want to rough it up a little bit, play more physical, we can do that, too.”

Added Baker-Mazar: “I feel like when you have a 10-man team — really 11 — we all bring different types of things to the table. … We dictate the game for us. We just come out there and just listen to the coaches and just execute their plan.”

The leader of the group only plays 24.8 minutes a game. Ten players have averaged at least 13.6 minutes a game over the course of the entire season. Nine players have seen the floor in all 33 games. The type of depth Pearl has built is rare and dangerous in the tournament.

It’ll let one of the best defenses in basketball stay relentless for a full 40 minutes. It’ll make Auburn one of the least enjoyable teams to plan for.

The Tigers are now 7-1 in neutral-site games played this season. Of their 26 wins, 25 of them have featured double-digit margins. They have an SEC championship trophy making its way back to campus, top-10 marks in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies (per KenPom), and a strong chance at making it to the program’s first Final Four since the 2018-19 season.