Auburn vs. Alabama: Thrilling Matchup After Tough Losses

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00:00And I think Auburn, Alabama, you know, you could have argued at one point, maybe,

00:05ooh, does the loss take a little bit of the shine off? I think it increases the interest,

00:12that you have Auburn coming off of just their second loss of SEC play, third only on the season,

00:19and Alabama now on a two-game losing streak here. Alabama entered the game against Tennessee,

00:26where an outright victory would have likely projected them for the one line. They lose at

00:31the buzzer, it happens, that's brutal. To then follow it up losing at home to Florida, though,

00:37I do think has shifted Bama away from this conversation, probably unless they win out,

00:43which means we'd need to start today against the Auburn Tigers, who will be looking to, you know,

00:49get locked in, focused, ready, and roll on their home floor. How do you start this breakdown for

00:55this big game? Well, you bring it up, right? You know, the fact that Bama lost two tough games.

00:58They lost by four points per game. How they lost on a buzzer beater to Tennessee, we talked about

01:03it last week, that a lower scoring game, we believe that Alabama could be in. They played

01:08exactly the way they had to against a very solid defense. They lost that matchup, and then to

01:13follow it up with a disappointing high scoring loss to Florida, two teams that not only will

01:20they meet potentially in the SEC Conference Championships tournament, or more importantly,

01:25the NCAA tournament. So you want to step up against better competition. And when you look at

01:30the loss to Auburn, we talked about how dominant they were prior to that loss against A&M. You

01:35would broke it down great and said, you thought that if they got through Kentucky, they could

01:39struggle against Texas A&M. Prior to the A&M game, they had won six straight by 14.3 points per game.

01:46That gauntlet of the schedule jig catch up to them because they came out flat. They fell behind

01:5112-2, never looked back, and they trailed from start to finish against the Aggies. This is a

01:56very difficult game. Contrast in styles. Bama has won three of the last five road games. I know

02:02they've been inconsistent. Chris Youngblood, he hit seven of 11 against Miss State. Last two games,

02:08he's 0-4 from three. They have an identity problem right now. I think they get back on track. I don't

02:13know if they win Bama, but I'm inclined to take the points. I think we have basically a two-half

02:19game right down to the final two minutes. Give me the points with Bama. So I was back and forth,

02:24Joe, on if I wanted to take an Alabama team total or take Alabama like you, catching those seven

02:29and a half, maybe eight and a half still out there in the market. And I went to the team total. So

02:34let me start kind of with the side. Just because Auburn is off of a loss does not mean that they

02:38are going to be a lock to cover. They are 2-0 against the number off of a loss. Small sample

02:44size. One of those games was against Richmond. The other against Vanderbilt on the road,

02:49laying eight and a half. They won by 12. They did trail in the second half of that game.

02:53Give them credit for extending. That's exactly what you expect from a top team. It is a small

02:58sample size. But I don't know if I trust an Alabama defense to hold off Auburn coming off of

03:05a pretty underwhelming offensive effort that they had against Texas A&M, especially with

03:10Jani Broome, likely going to be on his P's and Q's. Let's you know, one of the things that'll

03:17be within today's slate, and I don't think we're going to bring it up for every single game.

03:21A lot of senior nights out there, right? A lot of guys know that they're going into

03:26their final game in their respective building. Jani Broome has made a home at the jungle.

03:31And this isn't going to be the last go for him in this building. So I don't want to get in front

03:35of that. But I'll take Alabama to score all the points in the world, because that's what they do.

03:42Joe, this team awful loss six games that they've played so far off a loss, having lost seven games,

03:47they average 97.3 points per game, which is incredible. Now, it's not against bad teams,

03:56admittedly, is against some of the fastest teams in the country, Illinois, North Carolina,

04:01twice Kentucky, a lot of pace there, but still quality opponents. And I'm only seeing 85 and a

04:08half for a team total. That's why I'm going to back Alabama here. I think the Crimson Tides

04:13offense win or lose answers the bell, because that's what they've done all season.

04:17And even when they lost earlier in the year, a couple of weeks ago to Auburn,

04:21they still got to 85, right? That was a very inconsistent first half for them.

04:25They didn't shoot very well, slow start, slow start, and they still put up 85 at the end of

04:31the day. So I think it's a very good look. And to your point about Auburn, they've won 20 of the

04:36last 22 games. You know, I mean, expecting this team to have a UNLV old school type of run where

04:42they just run through the regular season to the tournament is unrealistic, especially in today's

04:48game with the travel, the logistics, how kids are today to win 20 of the last 22 is a dominant

04:54performance. I agree with you about Broom. I think he has a big day today, whether that means,

04:59you know, points and rebounds. I'm still looking in terms of the secondary options for Bama. I'm

05:04not looking at Sears. I'm going back to Grant Nelson. I know I was on him last week. He only

05:09had seven points. He did break out with 10 shot 40% from the floor. I took him 15 plus plus 285.

05:16I couldn't get a number on FanDuel for Youngblood for threes. If I could find one, I'm going to

05:22take him today because two lackluster performances on the road. I think he has a big day today.

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