ESPN College GameDay crew assess Auburn's chances to make the NCAA Tournament

Auburn missing the NCAA Tournament would have seemed unfathomable a month ago. But fast forward to the first weekend in March and the Tigers are smack dab in the middle of the bubble and need to do some more work before Selection Sunday in order to secure an at-large bid should they lose in the SEC Tournament.

On Saturday morning’s edition of College GameDay on ESPN, the crew assessed where they believe the Tigers stand ahead of their last regular season matchup against Tennessee.

“I think it’s gonna be really close, but I think Auburn is going to wind up making the cut, but barely,” said Jay Bilas. “They’re 3-8 in their last 11, but the difference is they’ve been all close games where they could have won it, and that’s one of the things in the selection process that’s difficult because we’re dealing with teams that have lost games at the end of the line. What was the quality of the performance in some of these games? We don’t really rate that. We probably should. I think they’re barely going to make it, but they’re on the line.”

Seth Greenberg pointed to that same trait, the inability to close games, as the reason he believes the Tigers will not ultimately make the field.

“I think they’re out. I think they gotta make a run in the SEC Tournament. They’re not playing well, they’ve struggled scoring. To me, not closing out games is a flaw in your team. Giving up leads is a flaw in your team. I think this has been a hard team for Bruce Pearl in terms of their inability to finish games. They’re out.”

Lastly, LaPhonso Ellis piggy-backed off Greenberg, noting that he thinks the poor play late in games will bite them again in their next few games to ultimately force them to miss the tourney.

“I think they need a couple more wins to really be taken seriously with it,” said Ellis. “And their inability to close games, I just don’t see it happening in the SEC Tournament.”

Two-thirds of the College GameDay crew is skeptical Auburn can get their act together and make the field, while Bilas believes they’re hanging on by a thread. Luckily, it won’t matter what these guys think because Auburn’s task is simple: go win games in the next week or so and leave no doubt whether they should be included or not.

High-stakes matchups on the way for Bruce Pearl’s club.