Auburn Tigers Face Some Concerns Ahead of NCAA Tournament

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00:00Mark Zinno is in the South Region. That's where we begin.

00:03Also in the South Region, the number one overall seed in the

00:06entirety of the field of 68. That would be the Auburn Tigers,

00:10the outright regular season champs in the SEC. But entering

00:13the Big Dan Zinno on a slight slide, they have dropped three

00:17of their last four games causing just a little bit of concern

00:20perhaps for Bruce Pearl's team and their outlook the remainder

00:23of this season. But Auburn still booked as a minus 105 favorite

00:27to win the South Region. Let's start big picture first. Are you

00:30concerned by the Tigers recent form of play?

00:34I mean, concerned isn't really the right word. I have my

00:37skepticism about them being able to make the Final Four. I mean,

00:40that's ultimately what it boils down to. We've seen them trip up

00:44before. We've seen them be this caliber of team before and not

00:48figure out how to get through four games in March to get to

00:51the NCAA Tournament Final Four. And that's really what it boils

00:54down to is how much do you really trust them? I don't think

00:58it's a great time for them to be playing some of their most

01:00average basketball that they've played all year long. But you

01:04know, you take a look at this team, you know how good the

01:06athletes are, you know what they do on both ends of the floor.

01:08They certainly profile like a team that could win a national

01:11championship for them. Now it's about going out and executing

01:13and making sure you get it done.

01:16Yeah, I'm not worried all that much about Auburn. Like a tough

01:19competition, you're gonna lose some of those games, they're

01:21healthy at the right time. So I'm giving expectations and high

01:23expectations to Auburn. But as we look at this bracket overall,

01:26Mark, like, let's have some fun with this stuff. Is there a team

01:29that you have your eye on that could make a run that maybe some

01:32people aren't looking to make a run? I'm not saying that they're

01:34going to win the national championship, but just in this

01:37bracket alone, maybe pick up at least two games.

01:41Well, look, I think UC San Diego is the team that everybody is

01:44looking at here to upset Michigan in the first round.

01:46Forget the 512. Like, can we just stop with 512 and the

01:49seeds? Let's look at the darn game for what it's worth. Right?

01:52UC San Diego is a really good shooting team. They are

01:57absolutely one of the dagger three pointer teams that we've

02:01seen throughout the entire year. They're built to be able to make

02:04a run because they can shoot better than 80% of the teams in

02:08the tournament. I mean, that's ultimately what it boils down to

02:10they play fast, they get up and down, and they score. And that's

02:13something that really helps you in the NCAA tournament. Oh, by

02:16the way, they're not terrible on the defensive end. But this is

02:18also a Michigan team right now that played four games in four

02:21days, probably shouldn't have won the big 10 tournament. I

02:24mean, it took Wisconsin shooting 22% for an entire game for them

02:29to win that game. So, you know, I think they're probably a

02:32little bit overvalued as a five seed and overseeded because they

02:35won the big 10 when they really probably shouldn't have weren't

02:37good enough to and I think UC San Diego can win one. And look

02:41if Yale sneaks past A&M, this is a UC San Diego team that could

02:45be in a sweet 16.

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