Assessing why Auburn could be on upset alert against Yale, or not

Auburn just made a run straight through the SEC Tournament to win the title on Selection Sunday. But does that mean a tired Tiger team will show up in the NCAA Tournament this weekend?

4th-seeded Auburn will face Ivy League champion and 13-seed Yale, who won with a wide-open layup at the buzzer against Brown on Sunday as well to advance to the Big Dance. But Andy Staples wonders if the Tigers won’t limp into Friday’s game still a little tired from a wild week in Nashville.

He brought that concern up to On3’s James Fletcher on a live On3 YouTube show, who actually defended Bruce Pearl’s club as being sort of immune to that lingering fatigue thanks to some incredible depth 1-5.

“For this Auburn team, the real difference is their depth,” Fletcher told Staples. “This is a team that brings guys off the bench that played big minutes that have big scoring production, so I think they’re at a little bit less of a risk to get caught in these early games where they have to go out there and put it all on the floor against a mid-major.”

Obviously, this is March, and every single first round game ought to be on the upset radar, so it’s still very possible Auburn falls victim. However, Fletcher sees them as less susceptible than others when it comes to that first round matchup.

“Maybe Yale gets hot from 3, maybe their offense gets clicking. But what this Auburn team can do is play in a variety of ways. They’ve got so many guys they can bring off the bench to keep guys fresh that I think they’re going to be able to survive this, despite playing into Sunday.”

Of course, the Bulldogs played Sunday as well, so any fatigue concerns with Auburn would have to bleed into Yale as well. “Remember, Yale had to plat Sunday as well, so it’s not like one team comes in with more rest than another,” added Fletcher.

At the end of the day, with Auburn’s athleticism and depth, plus the fact that they don’t even have a rest disadvantage vs. Yale means that Fletcher is quite confident in a Tiger victory on Friday.

“So I think Auburn, pretty comfortable here, given the way that they played in the SEC Tournament. And like I said, they’ve got more depth to deal with a mid-major where they can just basically platoon swap if they want to and keep fresh faces out there.”