ESPN's preseason bracketology places Auburn basketball in South Regional

USA Today

2 days ago

Is Auburn in a position to repeat last season's success in the NCAA Tournament?
A heat wave is currently occupying Auburn, leaving fans wishing for cooler days and action on the hardwood.
The Tigers are about three months away from tipping off the 2025-26 season, but preseason projections are scratching the itch of fans everywhere. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has contributed to the preseason chatter by releasing his early "Bracketology" following a wild offseason that featured strong transfer portal movement, recruiting efforts, and stars entering the NBA draft. Early on, at least, Lunardi does not project Auburn to repeat last season's success where they grabbed the No. 1 overall seed. However, the NCAA Tournament guru expects Auburn to have a great season in which they take the No. 4 seed in the South Region, the same region in which the Tigers began their postseason run last season.
The early projection places Auburn in a bracket that features plenty of teams they will see during the season. Auburn will face Purdue, the South's projected No. 1 seed, in Indianapolis this season. The Tigers will also see Arizona (No. 3) and Oregon (No. 7) in non-conference play, while battling No. 8 Missouri and No. 10 Vanderbilt in SEC action. Auburn will also face Memphis in an exhibition game in October. The Memphis Tigers are the No. 11 seed in the early forecast from ESPN's Lunardi.
Projections of any kind this early are almost destined to be wrong by season's end. However, the field that Lunardi projects for Auburn will be a great litmus test to determine just how strong the team will be this season.
Auburn will enter the season with low expectations following the departures of key players such as Johni Broome, Denver Jones, Miles Kelly, and Dylan Cardwell to graduation, and the transfer of Chad Baker-Mazara to USC. Tahaad Pettiford will get the chance to take over the Tigers' starting point guard role, and will have a great supporting cast that features Mississippi State transfer Keshawn Murphy, UCF transfer Keyshawn Murphy, JUCO talent Abdul Bashir, and International player Filip Jovic. While the potential is there for Auburn to keep its momentum from last season's Final Four run, there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding the team and they will need to play at a high level early to solidify their status as a high-seed caliber squad.
Lunardi projects the other Final Four teams from last season, Florida, Houston, and Duke, to occupy the No. 1 seeds of the three remaining regionals. Other teams of note include Alabama (No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region), Tennessee (No. 3 in the Midwest Regional), and Arkansas (No. 4 in the East Regional). The SEC is slated to produce 14 NCAA Tournament teams in Lunardi's preseason projection, which is the most among all conferences.
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