Auburn Basketball Steamrolls through the Beginning of SEC Play

After yesterday's 23-point victory over Ole Miss, Auburn is now 5-0 to start SEC play. There isn't a team in the country hotter than the Auburn Tigers right now. All sixteen wins have been by double-digit margins, and we are +95 in our SEC games. You couldn't ask to be in a much better spot at this point in the season.

Things are about to get real though. Auburn will be put to the test on the road this week with games at Alabama and at Mississippi State. Every victory has value, but winning these two would put Auburn in a tier by themselves at the top of the SEC. The week ahead offers a huge opportunity for this team to make a huge leap.

I want to talk about some surprises to this point in the season...

-I'll start with the level of competition in the SEC so far. I expected a couple more teams to compete in the "upper tier" of the conference. As of right now, tier 1 appears to be Auburn, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and I'd even stick Alabama in tier 1b. I am shocked by the struggles of Arkansas and Texas A&M to this point, as I thought that these two teams would compete for the SEC title this year. A&M returned most of their production from last year, and Arkansas boasted a very solid transfer class. Both teams have struggled offensively to start the year. Before the season, I figured we would probably lose to both teams to begin conference play, but as you all know, we won both by double digits. There seems to be a pretty large gap between the first tier and other teams in the SEC.

-I have been pleasantly surprised by the leap that Jaylin Williams and Dylan Cardwell have taken. Williams has emerged as Auburn's best player in my opinion, and Cardwell is now providing valuable minutes off the bench every game. Both of these vets have been a huge part of Auburn's success up to this point in the season. I love to see guys that have stuck with Auburn for their entire careers succeed.

-Auburn's transfers have filled every void in this roster to perfection. I wouldn't necessarily call this a surprise, but the level of play that our transfers are playing at is certainly higher than I expected. We needed shooters, we got CBM and Denver Jones who can fill it up. We needed athletic defenders, we got Chaney Johnson who is getting more comfortable with every minute he gets. These additions have helped us get back to the top of the SEC.

-I've been a bit surprised that Holloway hasn't contributed more up to this point. After the season opener against Baylor, I thought that Holloway would be our leading scorer in just about every game. He has struggled from the field since, but I don't expect these struggles to last. He is young, and experience will help alleviate some of these struggles.

-I am not at all surprised by the production from Tre Donaldson. I said at the beginning of the year that I expected him to make a leap, and he has emerged as one of the better guards in the SEC. I love what he provides for this team.

Wednesday against Alabama is going to be very telling. We will learn whether Auburn has arrived as one of the top teams in the country or if we still have some progress to make. I fully expect Alabama's best game, and it is going to take Auburn's best game to come out with a win. We are playing very good basketball right now, so I believe it is very possible that we pick up a win in Tuscaloosa. It is important that we connect to shooters and limit the second-chance opportunities. Alabama will live and die by the three-pointer, so if we can force them off the line, we should be in good shape. Huge opportunity for this team.