Auburn Comes Up Short In NCAA Tournament Bid
by Jay Coulter on Mar 15, 2009 8:24 PM CDT
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Lebo's team faces UT-Martin Wednesday.
In the end it was not enough. Winning nine of their final 11 games was not enough to impress an NCAA Selection Committee that showed little respect for Auburn or the SEC. Never mind that the committee chairman was the SEC's own Mike Slive. Instead Auburn will face UT-Martin Wednesday night at Beard-Eaves Coliseum in the first round of the NIT Tournament.
Not since 1996 has the conference sent fewer than five teams to the Big Dance. Slive's hard work this weekend netted only three SEC teams - and poorly seeded ones at that. If only Slive could have been as passionate about Auburn as ESPN's Bob Knight was Sunday night on the network's selection show. Allies do come from unlikely places sometimes.
A lot of people will point to Miss State's upset win over Tennessee in the tournament championship as the reason for Auburn's bubble bursting. But looking at the seeds of the three teams from the conference that did make it, you quickly realize Auburn was probably out regardless of the outcome.
Regular season SEC Champion LSU grabbed only an eight seed, Tennessee a nine seed and tournament champion Miss State a number 13 seed. Looking at those numbers, it's pretty apparent Auburn had its work cut out for them after Saturday's semifinal loss to the Volunteers regardless of what happened on Sunday.
"Our kids are disappointed," said Auburn Coach Jeff Lebo. I told them I didn't want it to diminish the year that they had. "There's not a whole lot you can say to them. They were disappointed. They were hurt.''
Lebo knew his Tigers were in trouble when it was announced that Tennessee was a nine seed. "The kids didn't know it but I knew we'd be in trouble at that point," said Lebo. "I told them that it is very, very difficult to get into this tournament. A lot of things to get in this tournament you can't control. That's the tough thing to explain to your kids.''
The Auburn players now must turn their attention to the NIT Tournament, something a month ago they would have jumped at, but now must find a way to get up for. "We're disappointed we're not playing in the NCAAs, but these kids have been unbelievable," Lebo continued. "Twenty-two wins are the third most in school history. We'll discuss it (the NIT). The kids haven't played in postseason since I've been here. Hopefully, they'll be excited. We'll try as coaches to get that out of our system as quick as we can.''
The silver lining in all of this is that Auburn gets a number one seed in the NIT and a chance to play once more in front of the home crowd. They'll have to contend with UT-Martin's Lester Hudson, who was named a Mid-Major All-American this season. The Skyhawks bring a 22-9 record into Wednesday's contest. Tickets should be available from the University beginning tomorrow. Tip-off is set for 7 pm CT.
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I think that we wouldn't have gotten in even if we had beat Tennessee
If they were only a 9-seed, then beating them wouldn’t have been that impressive to the committee. They had an RPI of 18 and were still awarded a 9-seed. Our RPI in the 50s-60s would have netted like a 50-seed or so. Bummer, but I’m looking forward to winning the NIT.
[Stands and applauds Jeff Lebo, Korvotney Barber, Rasheem Barrett, Quantez Robertson, and the rest of this year’s team.]
Thanks for making it fun, fellas!
The artist formerly known as...
Mr Redbird @ Viva El Birdos
PowerOfDixieland @ Track Em Tigers, other SEC blogs
NIT
I encourage anyone who can make it to Beard-Eaves-Memorial on Wednesday night to do so. It’s spring break so there won’t be a large student crowd, so we need as many people there as possible. Nothing could make Auburn look worse than to lose in the 1st round of the NIT after trying to make a case to be in the NCAAs. WAR EAGLE and BEAT ut-martin!
What do an Auburn fan and a bammer have in common? (Neither of them ever attended that school in tuscaloosa).
If we would have beatin Tennessee and then lost to the bulldogs I think they still wouldn’t have given us a spot. Had Tennessee beatin Msu then maybe we would’ve been in instead of Arizona. Either way it’ll get me to watch more basketball because the N.I.T. has some meaning now. How great will a N.I.T championship look for us going forward. I’m a dye hard college basketball fan but it’s vary hard to root for my two teams, Colorado and Auburn. But it’s always fun to see one of them do well cause it’s rare.
1990 National Champions- Colorado Buffalo's
1913,1957,1983,1993,2004 National Champs- Auburn Tigers
What the?
"I told them that it is very, very difficult to get into this tournament. A lot of things to get in this tournament you can’t control. That’s the tough thing to explain to your kids.’’
Wow, so now it’s “out of our control” to get into a 64/65 team tournament? Yeah, getting rid of the BCS in football in favor of a tournament will get rid of all the controversy.
Anyway, congrats on a great year guys. It was fun watching y’all play at the end of the year.
I gotta give props to Bruce Pearl
In his post game interview after the game with Auburn he went out of his way to promote the Tigers. Talking about how they deserved to be in the tournement. Nothing came if it, but it is nice to see other SEC folks looking out for fellow teams. Big ups to Pearl, just wish they could’ve pulled out a W in the champiuonship.
"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum
Yea, I saw that...
He also played us up BEFORE the game, too. Class act!
by War Eagle Atlanta on Mar 16, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions
The national perception.....
of the SEC being down cost the our Tigers in the end……despite there not being a hotter team in the SEC and not many in the country we were still snubbed. We needed several locks to win their Conference Tourney and it just didn’t happen. Auburn gave it a great shot and I for one am proud of them.
Jonno, there will be controversy as always, with any method of determining a NC in football. But I for one would much rather have the controversy about the few teams struggling to make it rather than the top teams who 99.999999% of the time are the ones who will win it all. We at AU, and I imagine I speak for a great deal of fans and Alumni, were not thinking that we could get in and win it all (although thats always possible). No we like most were just hoping first to make the field and second to make a good showing by getting a win or maybe even 2. A couple of wins in the NCAA as you know can do a program a lot of good towards becoming a year in year out contender. An NCAA bid would have improved our name and recruiting ability instantly……you can’t deny that.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
I really...
can’t believe the sorry-ass seeds the SEC got. Hope they all get on a roll.
Any TET regulars thinking about going down to the game Wednesday night? If we get enough of us, you can lure me down from Atlanta.
by War Eagle Atlanta on Mar 16, 2009 10:12 AM CDT reply actions
Lebo makes excuses again...
It isn’t in our control? Well damn, I thought if Auburn played better at the beginning of the season, we would’ve made it. Damn Lebo, whine and whine some more.
You're not gonna get alot of pitchforks and torches.....
to add to your’s at the moment considering how well Lebo and the team pulled together and made a great run the last half of the season. I for one am very proud of the performance and effort……and think that Lebo not only did a great job with the team but has bought himself at least one more year if not a couple.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
He better hope it's a couple
We lose three major contributors to graduation, while the rest of the league loses hardly anyone. The SEC was young this season, and we were senior-laden. Vot will be hard to replace.
The artist formerly known as...
Mr Redbird @ Viva El Birdos
PowerOfDixieland @ Track Em Tigers, other SEC blogs
by jd is legend on Mar 16, 2009 1:55 PM CDT up reply actions
Losing Barber....
is the hardest to replace, he will need another Juco player to step in and get meaningful minutes in the paint unless Knox can become more dominant crashing the boards or we can lure a freshman pure power foward that is ready to play (IMHO it will probably have to be the JUCO route as I just don’t see Knox being able and before I have that much faith in the HS recruiting I will have to see it). With that being said having Waller, Hargrove, and Sullivan coming back as well as Reed should provide a solid foundation to build a team….but I agree that Lebo had better do some great recruiting to stay off the hotseat.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
I know we won't rid ourselves of Lebo...
I mean the team did get hot right at the end of the year and that makes Lebo come out a hero. Still, the best we did was the NIT and out of Lebo’s five years. Keep in mind, the SEC was really really down this year. On top of that, we scheduled way too many cupcakes earlier in the non-conference part of the season. The only thing you can do is win every weak non-conference game, and we did not. Recruits don’t come to a guy that just doesn’t accept a bad season. Don’t tell me that Mizzou’s facilities are that much better than ours. For that matter, Memphis doesn’t have great facilities it just is a basketball school. Get out and recruit Lebo, and then I’ll stop calling for your head. Until then, I want you out!
Memphis has incredible facilities....
some of the best in the country and paid for by Fed Ex. Mizzou has better facilities than AU. and of the “cupcakes” that were on our schedule (while I don’t disagree that we should schedule better OOC) you should note that Xavier, Northern Iowa, Dayton, and Alabama State are all dancing. I will freely admit that the SEC had a dismal OOC record this season overall but I still maintain that the SEC was deserving to have at least 4 if not 5 teams in the NCAA and I think this will bare itself out in the way that Mississippi State (can you say swept) represents itself in the tournament as well as UT and LSU… Teams that AU defeated. AU and South Carolina were jobbed by not getting in. AU wasn’t just hot at the end of the year…they were red hot for the last 3rd of the season (name a hotter team)…..you cannot convince me that Arizona was more deserving of a bid than AU. While I myself still have reservations that Lebo will get it done in the long run he has for the time being earned the right to stay…..my best advice is stop wasting your time and energy calling for his head because right now you won’t get heard over the accolades and pats on the back that our coach and our team are getting and deservedly so.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
Regardless of your architectural review of the facility......
it is considered by the basketball world to be one of the finest. Having roughly 150 suites and amenitys aplenty as well as being the home of an NBA club as well, it is certainly something that pops a kids eyes open when he takes a recruiting tour. It may not suit your taste or your criteria for a top notch facility but the $250 million, less than 5 year old facility is one of the best in the country.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
Lebo's earned the right to stay a while
We’re just not the basketball Mecca we’d like to be. We may one day be sorrowful that Lebo leaves us to return to his ACC roots…
by War Eagle Atlanta on Mar 16, 2009 5:04 PM CDT reply actions
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