Auburn's Season Comes to a Disappointing End

Earlier this season, I posed the possibility that this Auburn team could be "the one." About a week ago, I was feeling very confident that this team could make another deep run in March. We were fresh off an SEC Championship and were playing our best basketball of the season. Winning championships in March is very difficult no matter how good your team is, but I thought that Auburn's chances this year were as good as ever. Unfortunately, Yale put my hopes to rest much quicker than I had expected, and now us Auburn fans have been left wondering "how in the world did we end up back at home so quickly?"

Before I get into the how, let me say this. Don't allow the early exit from the NCAA Tournament to distract you from great things that Bruce Pearl and this team have accomplished. This team not only won 27 games, they have added another SEC Championship banner to the rafters in Neville arena. If you base your judgement of a team solely on their success in March, you are going to end up disappointed far more often than not.

I will follow that up by saying this. It is perfectly reasonable to be upset with the outcome of this tournament. I have seen a narrative going around this week that Auburn has underperformed on the biggest stages here recently, and I unfortunately agree. Whether it's been Omaha or our own regional in baseball, whether it's been playing our best opponents and biggest rivals in football, or whether it's been in the NCAA tournament these past few years, Auburn sports have failed to come out on top when the lights are the brightest. I am not at all implying that it is "championship or bust" in every sport. However, when you have the opportunity to win or to shut the door on an opponent on big stages, that makes the disappointment of a loss exponentially worse. For example, last year in the tournament against Houston, Auburn had a great lead heading into halftime in what was basically a home game in Birmingham. They gave it away with poor free throw shooting and a lack of execution. Auburn had Alabama and Georgia, our two biggest rivals and CFB powerhouses, both on the ropes this past football season. They gave up late leads, including a 4th and 31 heave against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Auburn baseball hosted a regional last year and was once again eyeing Omaha. They got swept by two inferior teams on their own field. Auburn's athletic programs have done some great things in recent years, but it's time to stop acting like it's okay to fail to shut the door on the biggest stages. Auburn has too many resources and too much support in every aspect to accept mediocrity. It's time to shut the door in the Iron Bowl. It's time to make it to Omaha and win a few games. It's time to make it past the first weekend again in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. It's time to take the next step in every sport.

Anyways, back to basketball. Why did we lose to Yale? Here's why...

-Losing Chad-Baker Mazara so early was a devastating blow for Auburn. He's a key part of our offense, and he has absolutely been a guy that we've leaned on in crunch time this year. I'm a believer that we would have won that game had he not been ejected, but I'm also not a fan of hypotheticals. Even without him, we had plenty of opportunities to shut the door and win that game, but our guys didn't step up in the clutch. As far as my beliefs on whether or not he should have been ejected - I don't think his elbow warranted a flagrant two/ejection. HOWEVER, I saw a great quote on twitter where someone said "If you have a bad reputation for a certain thing, you forfeit your benefit of the doubt" (charlie5 on X). I couldn't have said it any better myself Charlie5. I hope this encourages CBM to control his emotions in the future, ESPECIALLY on the biggest stages where emotions are high.

-FREE. THROWS. They killed us against Houston last year, and they killed us again this year. I get it, shooting a free throw in a high-pressure situation like that is incredibly difficult. I've done it myself a few times, and don't be mistaken, it is not at all easy. But when your highest percentage shooters step to the line to either take the lead or tie it late in the game, you have to be able to depend on them. You cannot leave points on the table late in games. Denver Jones had an opportunity to put us up 1 -- he misses the front end of a 1-and-1. Tre Donaldson has the opportunity to tie it with less that ten seconds remaining -- he misses both. Just a gut-wrenching way to lose a ballgame.

-I've loved Auburn's depth this entire season. I've loved Bruce Pearl's rotations. However, when the game and your season is on the line, you need to have your best players in. Simple as that. When there are under eight minutes remaining in a season-defining matchup, you have to have your best players on the court. After all, what good does a well-rested player do if he's on the couch since we lost the game. I'm not sure of the exact lineup, but I'm pretty sure Bruce rolled out a lineup of Aden Holloway, KD Johnson, Chris Moore, Chaney Johnson, and Dylan Cardwell with about seven minutes remaining. I turned to my family and said the words, "this might be the worst offensive lineup we have." And what do you know, Auburn turns the ball over on four straight possessions. Johni Broome has to be on the floor with under eight minutes remaining. Jaylin Williams has to be on the floor with under eight minutes remaining. Denver Jones has to be on the floor with under eight minutes remaining. I am not a coach, and maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think you can have these guys on the bench late in a game with your season on the line.

-I've got to give credit to John Poulakidas, number four for Yale who scored what I think was a career-high 28 points against us. I loved what he said post-game, giving praise to God and acting in a humble manner. But good grief man, can you have a career game against someone else please? Especially if you're going to turn around and shoot 2-9 the very next game. He was hitting incredibly improbable shots against us. Even if it was a 20-foot fadeaway jumper with Dylan Cardwell in his face, he was knocking it down. I thought we guarded him about as well as we could have. Just gotta give him props at that point.

Those are the four main reasons we lost in my opinion. They beat us fair and square. No way around it. This one will sting all the way into next season, and I hope it stings for the coaching staff and the players as well. Maybe this will be the motivation we need to have some success in the tournament in upcoming seasons. I can promise you this -- Auburn will most certainly not overlook any opponents in the future... in any sport. We've been on the wrong end of an upset in every major sport in the past year. It was New Mexico State in football. It was Yale in basketball. It was Penn in our baseball regional. Just a lot of really ugly losses us fans have had to endure in the past year.

Brighter days are ahead Auburn fans. I think we've weathered the worst of the storm. All we can do is continue supporting and showing up.