2025 SEC Tournament: Previewing Auburn basketball’s title defense in Nashville

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AUBURN — For likely the final time this season, Bruce Pearl fielded questions from within Neville Arena on Wednesday. That doesn’t mean Auburn basketball’s season is over, though.

Far from it.

The Tigers travel to Nashville, Tennessee, this week for the SEC Tournament as its top overall seed, beginning play Friday (Noon CT, ESPN) against the winner of Thursday’s contest between 8-seed Ole Miss and 9-seed Arkansas.

“We’ve won two SEC Tournament championships in Nashville over the last four or five years,” Pearl said. “That’s not going to get it done for us this year.”

Of the 16 teams playing this week, 14 of them are Quad 1 opponents on Bridgestone Arena’s neutral court. And while the Tigers already have the best NCAA Tournament résumé in college basketball, it doesn’t mean they’re indifferent about another piece of hardware.

“We played in Maui already, and we won Maui,” SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome said. “We kind of know how it feels to play three games in three days. Right now, it’s win or go home. I’m not trying to go home, and my team’s not, either. We’re coming to bring it.”

Here’s a rundown of Auburn’s week in Nashville, including the cases for and against it winning the whole thing for a second time in two seasons.

Why Auburn basketball could win the 2025 SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 17: Confetti covers the logo of the Auburn Tigers after their win against the Florida Gators in the championship game of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 17, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

This spiel almost feels like a waste of words, as Auburn handled one of the toughest schedules in the sport and lost fewer than five games. It secured 10 wins over ranked opponents, as well as 15 Quad 1 victories, which hasn’t been done by a team in the regular season since the NET’s inception.

But a more fruitful case for Auburn cutting down nets in Nashville is what it has done in these circumstances. One could look at…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/2025-sec-tournament-previewing-auburn-090934409.html

Author : The Montgomery Advertiser

Publish date : 2025-03-13 09:09:00

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