Of the four potential matches in the men’s NCAA’s national championship games, two are re-matching are regular seasonal competitions: Auburn-Duke and Auburn-Houston.
Larger credit to Auburn for playing the schedule it did, searched Cougars in Houston and beat Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis in Maui Invitational. A trip to Duke was planned for Tigers the week after Maui as part of the SEC/ACC challenge.
If your preference is to avoid renovations in favor of a mating that we have not seen yet, I will not blame you. But after that competition in early December, I think the most interesting title match would be Auburn-cloth, round 2.
Duke defeated Auburn 84-78 that night in Durham, and until February 8, it was the only spot on Auburn’s record when it built a rumor as the best team in the country.
If you missed that game, the exhibition A is for why relaxed sports fans should start looking at college basketball long before the third week in March.
Auburn played an incredible game for Cameron Crazies, ended with more 3 points, rebounds and assists than Duke. The tigers led during most of the first 13 minutes before Duke constantly climbed in the lead and held them in the remote.
In an extremely well -played game where the team combined for only 12 sales, Duke Auburn forced seven straight shots along the route. And Cooper flag, in only his eighth college game, got the best of Auburn star Johni Broome in the Battle of Player of the Year candidates.
Flag finished with 22 points, 11 returns, four assists, three steals, two blocks and zero, while Broome had a 20-point, 12-Rebound night but fouled out. As CBS Sports noted at that time, Auburn tried six different defenders on flag – and the beginner Phenom made a bucket on all of them.
That is why a rematch can be so fascinating. Bruce Pearl probably doesn’t get enough credit for his coaching. How can he try to cover the flag this time? Duke is full of 3-point markers ready to shoot if you try to double a man.
In return, can Duke’s strict defense contain Broome, Chad Baker-Mazara, Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford? The individual matches at both ends are watery.
“It was a heck in two hours right there,” laughed Duke coach Jon Scheyer after hitting Auburn. “I thought it was a basketball match in great time. We felt like getting in, Auburn is as good as anyone. I think they showed that tonight, their shot, their physics, their depth.”
Auburn must first get past Florida in the semi-finals-left a new match after the streets won the only meeting during the SEC game, 90-81. It will be a fantastic clock in its own right, when Florida pressed into the conversation with Blue Devils and Tigers for the best teams in the country by winning the SEC championship.
But I hope Duke and Auburn drive it back. An electric national title game can wait for Monday night.
