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The Auburn Tigers have been one of the most impressive teams in college basketball this season. Bruce Pearl and the Tigers took home the title at the Maui Invitational on Wednesday with a dominant 90-76 win over Memphis in the title game.
This win capped off an epic week for Auburn. It overcame a 16-point deficit to come back and defeat No. 5 Iowa State in the quarterfinals before controlling No. 12 North Carolina in the semifinals on Tuesday night. Despite playing less than 24 hours later against a red-hot Memphis team in the championship game, Auburn jumped all over Penny Hardaway's club and dominated from start to finish.
After the title game concluded, Pearl reflected on his team's performance through a gauntlet of a tournament with Andy Katz of NCAA Media.
“Our kids were so excited to play,” Pearl said. “I just like the way the guys cheer for each other, the way the guys trust each other. We beat a great Iowa State team. That team right there, they've got a chance to win [the Big 12]. And we beat some historic programs in North Carolina and Memphis.”
Auburn prepared for the Maui Invitational by knocking off another top 1o team when it beat Houston last week. As it stands, the Tigers have a very good case to move up to either No. 1 or No. 2 in the AP poll on Monday due to the quality of their wins early in the season.
Auburn and Kansas in their own tier early in the season
There's probably too much season left to be even writing this right now, but Auburn and Kansas are pretty clearly the top two teams in college basketball at this moment. Those two teams belong at the top of the AP poll when the new ranking comes out on Monday.
Kansas has been in the top spot since the season started, and it has backed up that nomination with impressive wins over North Carolina and Duke. The return of guys like Hunter Dickinson and DaJuan Harris combined with the additions of Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen and others make them an obvious choice as one of the top teams in the nation.
On the other hand, Auburn has been a bit of a surprise so far this season. Bruce Pearl's club started the season just outside the top 10 in the country, but a quartet of very impressive wins has them clamoring for the top spot in the polls. Big man Johni Broome is the early favorite for National Player of the Year honors after a monster week that saw him prove his worth as a true inside-out scoring threat, a monster on the glass and a significant deterrent around the rim.
Things don't get any easier for Auburn, as it will head to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on Duke in a true road game next Wednesday. However, Pearl and company have proven that they are a title contender regardless of the result of that game.
