ESPN’s Joe Lunardi shares Auburn bracketology update ahead of Alabama showdown
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Auburn is on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and the Tigers’ outlook improved before Saturday night’s tipoff. A Saturday evening update from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Auburn as the last team of the Last Four In.
“With five other bubble teams losing, Auburn goes into Tuscaloosa tonight suddenly as LAST TEAM IN,” Lunardi writes in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The ESPN bracketologist had more to say.
“Incredibly, any of these five teams could have been ahead of Auburn with a Saturday win (Indiana, Virginia Tech, New Mexico, Cincinnati and California),” Lunardi added.
Auburn has struggled down the closing stretch of the season and is in danger of finishing just outside the field of 68. The Tigers followed up their big win at Florida by defeating Texas at home, but then went on a 5-game losing skid. AU managed a home win over Kentucky, but dropped back-to-back games to Oklahoma and Ole Miss.
Steven Pearl’s team managed to get back in the win column by defeating LSU 88-74 last time out, but finds itself needing a win against a much tougher opponent. Lunardi described Saturday night as a must-win game for Auburn, having “backed itself into a corner.”
At prediction market Kalshi, Alabama is strongly favored to win the Iron Bowl of Basketball. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET, with the game airing on ESPN.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
