ESPN College GameDay crew names Auburn as 'overvalued' team ahead of SEC, NCAA Tournament

The ESPN College GameDay crew aren’t exactly confident in the Auburn Tigers as we approach the NCAA Tournament.

While naming teams that are currently overvalued by the Selection Committee, both Andraya Carter and Jay Williams revealed Auburn was their pick for essentially an overrated team at the moment.

“Auburn is my overvalued team, in that you may think that they’re going to get a win, but they can also get knocked out early,” Carter said. “Some of their losses are in the 50s and the 60s. It kind of goes with their scoring. I worry about their guard play. Their third leading scorer comes off the bench, so Auburn’s a team that I think may be a little overvalued.”

Of course, Williams was in agreement with Carter, elaborating on why he believes some of Auburn’s guard play leaves much to be desired.

“I’m with you. Auburn is my pick too,” Williams added. “I think Auburn’s talented with the way they play defense. I think that guard play you made mention of, [Aden] Holloway, Tre Donaldson. Having somebody to make the game easier. Holloway especially, I think just as a freshman, relies too much on his jump shot. That midrange area is somewhere they’ve struggled. So I’m going to agree with you on Auburn.”

We’ll see if Auburn can prove the ESPN College GameDay crew wrong. The Tigers will finish their regular season campaign on Saturday with a clash against the Georgia Bulldogs.

Paul Finebaum praises Bruce Pearl, what he has done for Auburn basketball program

Moreover, Bruce Pearl took over Auburn‘s basketball team at a time where success was hard to come by. Now, the Tigers have one of the strongest programs in the country with arguably the best home court advantage in the NCAA.

SEC analyst Paul Finebaum has watched Pearl turn the program around, and explained how Pearl has led the Tigers’ to new heights in his decade with the team. 

“The program has had waves of success. Sonny Smith in the 80s, Cliff Ellis. But Auburn was never consistent and something always went wrong,” Finebaum recently told Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy. “When they went after Bruce Pearl, and it’s been I think about exactly 10 years, They made a statement and it was controversial. Bruce Pearl was out of the game. It was serving out a show cause, the school needed to go to the commissioner for permission. And even then everyone wasn’t sure. 

“But they not only took a chance and were quickly rewarded, but then they made sure he stayed. Because after a couple of years, Bruce Pearl could have gone to a lot of places but the school doubled down, they built a new arena and they made a statement. I think that’s why Auburn has one of the most consistent basketball programs and one of the best in the country right now.”

Time will tell if Auburn is truly overvalued, or if Bruce Pearl can take the Tigers to new heights in 2024.