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Joe Lunardi calls Auburn a ‘runaway’ favorite to be No. 1 overall seed
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Joe Lunardi updated his bracketology projection on Friday morning ahead of the final weekend of the college basketball regular season.
Lunardi decided to tackle the No. 1 overall seed debate in his latest update. Both Auburn and Duke have a claim to that title after running through the regular season with records of 27-3 to this point in the year. However, Lunardi says Auburn is a “runaway” favorite to land the No. 1 overall seed.
Here’s some analysis from Lunardi on Auburn’s season to date:
Even with the defeat, and a closing home date with Alabama that could go either way, Auburn will enter Champ Week as the runaway No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. At 27-3, against the nation’s top-ranked schedule, the Tigers are 24 games above .500. This is a staggering accomplishment, especially when you consider 60% of their games have come against Q1 competition. They’re 15-3 in those games, 6-2 on the road. Their only losses are against teams ranked Nos. 1, 4 and 20 in the NET. Theirs is arguably the greatest regular season since Kentucky arrived at the 2015 Final Four 38-0. We know those Wildcats didn’t quite reach the finish line, and maybe Auburn won’t, either. But what we have witnessed to date should not be forgotten.
Adding to the suspense slightly is Duke’s head-to-head win over Auburn way back on Dec. 4. The Blue Devils are also ahead of Auburn is predictive metrics such as KenPom and BartTorvik entering Champ Week, but the résumés don’t stack up in Duke’s favor. Duke is 6-3 vs. Quad 1 competition while Auburn has gone a staggering 15-3 in such contests.
With Selection Sunday just over a week away, Auburn appears to have a significant lead for the No. 1 overall seed. Auburn is also a slightly-bigger favorite to win it all entering the weekend. Per BetMGM, Auburn is +325 to win it all while Duke is not far behind at +350.
Auburn will close out the regular season on Saturday against Alabama.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
