Longtime college basketball analyst Seth Davis has been on the Auburn Tigers bandwagon for some time. Auburn reached No. 1 in the AP Poll this week, but Davis, who launched HoopsHQ in October, has been voting the Tigers in the top spot for weeks.
He made an appearance with Bleacher Report this week to discuss all matters college basketball, and he explained why he thinks Auburn is, and has been, the best team in the country.
“As far as the No. 1 team in the SEC, obviously not going out on a limb here,” Davis said with a grin, “Auburn is the best team in the league, and I think the best team in the country. I voted Auburn, and not to toot my own horn, I’m wrong a lot, I rely on the metrics for this; I’ve been voting Auburn No. 1 all along.”
Auburn was No. 2 in the country when they went to Cameron Indoor Arena and lost to then No. 9 Duke 84-78 on December 4th. Auburn held on to the No. 2 spot the following week, and it seemed a lot of voters thought like Davis.
“Even after they lost to Duke, I didn’t feel they needed to be penalized for that,” said Davis. “They still had by far the most-good wins of any team in the country. So once Kansas lost (December 4th), I put Auburn at No. 1, and I left them there even after they lose to Duke and Tennessee was undefeated.
“To my eyes, they looked like the better team. They had better wins and better metrics, so that’s why I went with them.”
Auburn has justified the lofty ranking from Davis and the votes in the AP/Coaches Poll. They haven’t lost since. Davis realizes that Auburn may be a bit more vulnerable until Johni Broome returns from his ankle injury.
“It’s interesting right now of course about Auburn, is they’re playing without Johni Broome,” Davis continued. “He has that injured ankle. It was very fortunate that they did an MRI and no damage, no surgery. So it’s just a question of when he’s coming back Obviously you want to take a little bit of time bringing him back. They are playing at Georgia on Saturday. I would be very, very surprised if Broome plays in that game. He could surprise us, we don’t know.”
Davis points to the following week against No. 6 Tennessee as a key game, but even then, he understands that rushing Broome back for a regular season game isn’t necessary.
“The big one is the week after, and they have no mid-week game during that point,” said Davis. “The big one is Saturday, January 25th at Tennessee. Does Broome play in that game. He (Pearl) doesn’t want to rush him back. It feels like it’s a big game, but who cares really? It’s not going to impact (NCAA seeding).”
Davis kind of said the quiet part out loud. Auburn at Tennessee makes for good theater, but they could meet up three times this season, and Saturday’s clash will easily be the least important of them all.
However, it’s Auburn’s play the last-two games that has convinced Davis that Bruce Pearl is the coach of the year, and the Tigers are the best overall team in the land.
“The point is without Broome, now he got hurt early in the second half in their game at South Carolina,” said Davis. “They pulled that out; South Carolina has a great team, but Mississippi State is a very good team, and they are ranked. So they go into Auburn Arena thinking ‘maybe we can get these guys, because they’re without their big stud.’ How ’bout Auburn wins by 22.
“I mean that’s just amazing. That’s why I have Bruce Pearl as my national coach of the year.”
Of all the postseason awards, National Coach of the Year is truly in the eye of the beholder.
Behold my midseason top 10 list on Hoops HQ. Who you got? @hhqsports https://t.co/uKlpwuTnCG
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) January 15, 2025
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