Joe Lunardi: No. 1 Overall Seed In NCAA Tournament Is Basically Locked Up
When it comes to the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, Joe Lunardi believes there’s one obvious pick.
Sitting at 25-2 (13-1), the ESPN bracketologist believes the Auburn Tiger’s resume makes them a near lock to be the No. 1 seed this March, thanks in part to massive wins over Florida and Alabama — both considered to be in the running to lead their regions come next month.
“Auburn has lapped the field a couple of times in terms of resume metrics. Those 1-seeds you see at the top there are not necessarily created equal,” Lunardi told the SEC Network on Monday. “I think Auburn has at least a two-loss cushion over everybody else.”
Lunardi made note of Auburn’s impressive conference record in what’s easily been the strongest league in college hoops this season.
“This just doesn’t happen,” he explained. “And I know they’ve won a lot of close games, and they survived a bit of an injury to their star. And you know, maybe the pendulum swings and they drop a couple here down the stretch — but there’s not a lot of evidence to suggest that’s going to happen.”
“I mean, they’ve lost to Florida, another number one seed, and they lost that Duke [game]. Period. They beat an outstanding Maui field, and they’ve answered the bell in every other league game. I think it’s going to take a lot to knock Auburn off that perch of the very top number one seed.”
It’s probably going to take that next tier of teams to win out and secure a championship in their respective conference tournaments in order to unseat Bruce Pearl’s Tigers. But the way Auburn’s been playing that isn’t very likely.
Auburn closes out the season with four SEC games including three ranked matchups vs. No. 17 Kentucky, No. 12 Texas A&M and the No. 6 Crimson Tide.
