Tennessee Could Make This A Very Exciting SEC Semifinal

Tennessee vs. Auburn, 1:00 ET

It was a good enough day in college basketball yesterday, but it was a bit strange one. I went 2-1, but the game that I felt most confident in - Clemson over Louisville - was the game that I ended up losing. I suppose I can say something dorky like "That's March Madness for ya." but the reality is that sometimes, I'm just wrong. Still, I won't complain about a winning day. Hopefully, I don't have any false confidence in this game between Tennessee and Auburn. 

If you have watched the SEC this year, you'll know this was the best basketball conference in the country. There were only two losing records (overall) in the SEC this year - LSU and South Carolina. Every other team finished at least four games above .500. Now, to be fair, outside of the SEC, there probably were a lot of cupcake matchups for a lot of teams. However, it shouldn't diminish the good work of the squads in this conference. Tennessee, the currently 8th ranked team in the nation, has slid up and down the top-10 rankings all season long. They come into this game with a 26-6 record, and all six of their losses against conference opponents. They lost to Florida, Vanderbilt, and Auburn all on the road. Then they dropped two games to Kentucky, both road and home, and their final loss was on the road against Ole Miss. They do have some impressive victories on their schedule though with wins over Mississippi State, Arkansas, Florida, Baylor, Alabama, and Texas A&M. They only had to beat Texas yesterday to get to this game, but they handled the Longhorns without much difficulty. 

Jan 11, 2025; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl directs his team against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Auburn was the #1 ranked team in the country for the majority of the season. They held onto the spot essentially from somewhere around December until the last week of the year where they stumbled a little bit. In that last week, they lost to Texas A&M on the road, then they dropped a game to Alabama at home in overtime. That's two of their four losses. The other ones came against Duke early in the season in a road matchup, and then against Florida when they hosted the Gators. Everything else for Auburn was a pretty easy victory. Before the conference tournament, they only had four wins by fewer than 10 points. That could pose problems in the tournament because there are bound to be some tight matchups. Yesterday was no exception as Auburn was taken toe-to-toe with Ole Miss. The Rebels ended up losing by just five points. 

In this one we can look at the first matchup between the two opponents. They played back in January and were able to only have a 53-51 victory. That is a bit concerning for Auburn as they hosted Tennessee. This game is also in Nashville, so essentially this is an edge for the Volunteers. I'm not saying they will for sure win this game, but I do think they can keep it close. You're able to grab 5.5 points here today, and I think you should. I wouldn't be shocked to see Tennessee pull off the upset. I also think this game will go under the 140.5 total, but I don't feel as confidently about that. 

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