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Bracket Brad isn’t without random thoughts and opinions. Whether discussing team trends or other perspectives, he’ll occasionally spout his bracketology-related reactions on The Gaming Juice.
Catastrophic California fires, Gulf Coast snowfall and, on Monday morning, an extremely rare 3.8-magnitude earthquake in New England.
Mother Nature is definitely unleashing her unpredictable wrath on the country.
College basketball is experiencing its own earth-rattling events.
[ Bracket Big Board: Brad Evans' latest NCAA Tournament projections ]
Indiana and Arkansas, two brand-name programs that doled out extravagant NIL sums this past offseason, are carving CBI-worthy paths. Their underperformance is quite surprising.
Auburn’s almost unimaginable scope of quality wins is most shocking, however.
Rocking the Richter Scale (you might want to brace yourself), the Tigers are 11-1 in Quadrant 1 clashes. Seismic. And it’s only late January.
Putting that into perspective, Kansas in 2023 had the most Quad 1 pre-NCAA Tournament wins (17) in the NET rankings’ seven-year existence. That record is in peril.
Given the SEC’s incredible strength, Auburn, as it stands now, has eight more Quad 1 opportunities. And that doesn’t include additional marquee meetups in the conference tournament.
In other words, Bruce Pearl’s bunch has significant potential to string together arguably the greatest single-season resume ever.
With Wooden Award candidate Johni Broome back from a gnarly ankle injury, it’s not inconceivable the Tigers achieve college basketball history. According to BartTorvik, they’re the fourth-best performing team this month, ranking No. 11 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 10 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Because of its incredible balance and cohesiveness, Auburn is projected to win every single remaining SEC regular-season matchup. Also, KenPom gives the Tigers a 67% or greater chance to emerge victorious in their most questionable affairs at Kentucky and at Texas A&M.
It’s equally bananas that, if an almost worst-case scenario were to unfold and Auburn dropped another four to five games, it would still have a convincing argument to earn the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed. The already secured Quad 1 victories and the toughest slate played so far (No. 1 in strength of schedule) will jump off the computer screens of the selection committee.
Remember: As the tournament governing body always preaches, it’s all about a school’s “full body of work.” It’s no wonder TeamRankings gives Auburn a 96.5% chance to earn the top overall seed.
Fly high, War Eagle. You have a chance to accomplish the previously unthinkable.