No. 1 Auburn @ No.2 Alabama or….

…No.1 Alabama versus No.2 Auburn, whether you’re following the AP Poll, which has the Tigers at No.1, or the

the ESPN Coaches Poll, which places the Crimson Tide atop the national rankings. Regardless, this is a

major clash of the Titans in college basketball with massive implications nationally and for the NCAA

Tournament purposes, for now, and for the No.1 in the SEC standings. And it’s the Iron Bowl. So does it get

any better than this? The Iron Bowl football game is usually the sports event of the year in

Alabama, and nationally. But this year, it’s the basketball teams that are commanding the attention both in this

state and throughout the country. The Tigers are 22-2 overall and 10-1 in the SEC. The Crimson Tide is 21-3

and 10-1. Both teams are prolific.

Auburn will be led by their massive trio of 6’11” players, who weigh anywhere from 230 to 250 in the great

Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson, respectively. Broome is averaging 18 points and almost 11

boards per game, and is the heart and soul of this basketball team. Joe Rexrode of The Athletic wrote a very

nice story on Johni, which elaborated on his not being recruited much at all in high school and playing a

couple of years at Morehead State before Bruce Pearl and Auburn discovered him. He’s taken off for the

Tigers and looks to be a possible first round pick in the NBA draft in June. Johni said the beauty of the NIL is it

kept him in school, and he’s not playing for a G League team in Maine right now as Bruce Pearl commented to

Rexrode in the story. So, it’s a massive front wall for the Tigers. Johnson dominated the Vanderbilt

Commodores on Tuesday Night, finishing with 20 points and 5 boards. Broome posted 17 and 7, and the

Tigers’ great guard Denver Jones finished with 21 points, which included 5-of-7 from trifecta country.

Miles Kelly is a superb guard as is Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara. It’s a loaded, deep team that has

a real shot at winning it all. It’s potentially Bruce’s best team in his tenure, which started in 2014-15,

though his 2019 team that reached the Final Four only to lose on a non call on a Virginia walking in the Final

Four, is right there, too.

The Crimson Tide counters with its own stellar cast of players. Grant Nelson and Mark Sears are the leaders,

and, because of NIL, decided to stay and try to win a national championship this year for their Crimson

Tide, much like Broome is trying to accomplish at Auburn. Sears averages almost 18 per game and close to 5

assists. Nelson adds 12.7 and 8.1 rebounds. But there is plenty of help. Chris Youngblood is a transfer from

South Floria, and, before that, Kennesaw State and is a terrific leader as well. Youngblood averages 9. 7 per

game. Jarin Stevenson, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, N.C. averages 5.5 , but showed his massive ability

Tuesday Night with a 22 point effort @ Texas, in a 103-80 Tide victory.

Aden Holloway, the transfer from Auburn, is averaging 11.8 and is shooting 41 percent from trifecta. Labaron

Philon averages 10.4. And Clifford Omoruyi gives the Tide good size underneath at 6’11”, 250. He averages

7 points and 6 caroms. Mouhamed Dioubate is a physical, aggressive player at 6’7″, 215, who averages

6.6 and 5.4. He’s electric and highly athletic.

No.1 Auburn (22-2, 10-1 SEC) @ No.2 Alabama (21-3, 10-1)

Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, 15,383

3 PM CT

ESPN, Dan, Jay, Jess

Crimson Tide by 1 1/2

Over/Under 172 1/2

Final Analysis and Decision

These are two outstanding basketball teams with two of the best coaches that have ever coached in this

conference, and likely, the best two coaches in the country. There are extremely high aspirations for both

these squads. It’s SEC Championship, Final Four and national championship ambitions in Auburn and in

Tuscaloosa. I can’t tell which team is better. Auburn may have the most talented team in the country barely

But the Tide is right behind them. It just depends on where this game is played .

It’s in Tuscaloosa today. It’ll be at Auburn’s Neville Coliseum, the Jungle, Saturday, March 8th at 1 PM to close

out the SEC regular season, so that’ll be tough for the visitor as well.

But i’ll take the Crimson Tide at Coleman in a hard fought, intensely hard played contest. The

talented Tide just outlasts the juggenaut Auburn Tigers and claims the No.1 spot in the country in both of next

week’s polls and the No.1 overall seed in Joey “Brackets” Lunaurdi’s Bracketology, the premiere NCAA

Tournament Predictions’ Bracket. But Auburn is not going anywhere. If these two teams meet on a neutral

floor in the SEC Championship Game in mid March or the NCAA Tournament in late March or early April, all

bets are off on who’ll win. But you gotta try to predict’em, and I’ll give it everything I’ve got then to pick a

winner between these two electrically talented teams.

First off is this classic today in T-town.

Alabama 88, Auburn 86