Auburn to play the 'toughest non-conference schedule we've ever had'

[aubiefifty 18,113]

 

al.com

 

Pearl: Auburn to play the 'toughest non-conference schedule we've ever had' in 2024-25

Updated: May. 20, 2024, 5:49 p.m.|Published: May. 20, 2024, 1:50 p.m.

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Bruce Pearl gives offseason updates on Auburn Basketball during his charity golf event Monday

Auburn’s men’s basketball team won’t be playing an easy slate of games next season, head coach Bruce Pearl told reporters in a brief availability from Alexander City’s Willow Point Golf & Country Club, where Pearl was hosting his Fore The Children Golf Classic on Monday.

Responding to a question about incoming freshmen Jahki Howard and Tahaad Pettiford, Pearl hinted at the Tigers playing a tough non-conference schedule during the 2024-25 season.

“The jump from high school to college basketball is enormous, and especially enormous when we’re gonna play a non-conference schedule... we’re gonna have the toughest non-conference schedule that we’ve ever had,” Pearl said.

On April 4, 2023, it was announced that the Tigers would be returning to Hawaii in 2024 to compete in the 2024 Maui Jim Maui Invitational, which is set to take place on Nov. 25-27.

There in Maui, Auburn is expected to be joined by Colorado, Dayton, Iowa State, Memphis, Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn, which will be coming off its second national championship-winning season in back-to-back years.

While it’s unclear which of the seven teams Auburn will be paired with come November, the likelihood the Tigers see a team coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance is high as Memphis stands as the only program in the invitational’s eight-team field that missed out on a tournament bid in 2024.

Pearl added that while some of Auburn’s non-conference games have been released, there are others that are still in the works.

“When we get those contracts signed, we’ll get that to you,” Pearl said.

The Tigers’ remaining non-conference matchups will help construct a 2024-25 schedule that will feature 18 SEC games, formatted as follows:

Home & Away: Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia

Home: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma, Mississippi State

Away: Kentucky, LSU, Vanderbilt, Texas, Texas A&M, South Carolina

Dates for Auburn’s SEC games haven’t been released.

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[arktiger1975 643]

I just hope all the teams that we play in our of conference play meet or exceed what they are projected to do during the season this year. Teams like USC, Indiana, and Notre Dame looked great on paper when they were scheduled, but flopped this past year. That really hurt us as far as NCAA tournament seeding.

[AUSCalum87 453]

The rumors I have read for the potential nonconference games are:

Maui Invitational (confirmed of course, just wanted to add this)

Purdue (Birmingham)

at Houston

NC State (Atlanta)

ACC/SEC Challenge (possibly Duke)

 

Those are the games that have been rumored and are close to being confirmed. If these come to fruition, I love it. It helps with the NCAA tournament and allows our players to be prepared in February/March to go against the best teams.

Edited May 21 by AUSCalum87

[AU_Canoe 240]

4 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

The rumors I have read for the potential nonconference games are:

Maui Invitational (confirmed of course, just wanted to add this)

Purdue (Birmingham)

at Houston

NC State (Atlanta)

ACC/SEC Challenge (possibly Duke)

 

Those are the games that have been rumored and are close to being confirmed. If these come to fruition, I love it. It helps with the NCAA tournament and allows our players to be prepared in February/March to go against the best teams.

That is a respectable gauntlet of legacy heavyweights. 

[AUSCalum87 453]

1 minute ago, AU_Canoe said:

That is a respectable gauntlet of legacy heavyweights. 

Yea, I mean, I would think Auburn will probably play at the very 1 NCAA tourney team at the Maui Invitational. Then if we played Houston, Purdue, NC State and possibly at Duke, yea, nonconference strength of schedule will really help us come seeding time for the NCAA tournament. Also, I view these high marquee games as a no lose situation. You lose, you get experience against top teams and doesn’t hurt your rank. You win, you get confidence for your team about beating big time teams.

[arktiger1975 643]

4 hours ago, AUSCalum87 said:

The rumors I have read for the potential nonconference games are:

Maui Invitational (confirmed of course, just wanted to add this)

Purdue (Birmingham)

at Houston

NC State (Atlanta)

ACC/SEC Challenge (possibly Duke)

 

Those are the games that have been rumored and are close to being confirmed. If these come to fruition, I love it. It helps with the NCAA tournament and allows our players to be prepared in February/March to go against the best teams.

That would be a pretty darn stout schedule. Probably the toughest out of conference schedule in the country, at least on paper. I love it too!

[AUSCalum87 453]

1 minute ago, arktiger1975 said:

That would be a pretty darn stout schedule. Probably the toughest out of conference schedule in the country, at least on paper. I love it too!

I honestly never understood why we haven’t in the past scheduled much tougher out of conference games. I have read that Pearl has stated he has tried to do home and home series with big time programs but they don’t want to come to Auburn. Now, how much of that is true l, I don’t know. But yea, if we play Purdue, at Houston, at Duke and NC State, you can’t argue that Auburn didn’t try to challenge ourselves in the nonconference.

[arktiger1975 643]

11 minutes ago, AUSCalum87 said:

I honestly never understood why we haven’t in the past scheduled much tougher out of conference games. I have read that Pearl has stated he has tried to do home and home series with big time programs but they don’t want to come to Auburn. Now, how much of that is true l, I don’t know. But yea, if we play Purdue, at Houston, at Duke and NC State, you can’t argue that Auburn didn’t try to challenge ourselves in the nonconference.

Didn't we go to Maui and play Xavier, Duke (with Zion and Co), and Arizona during our Final Four year? I think we had a couple of more tough non conference games that year too. It just may have helped us get to the Final Four. And look at bama this past year. While they certainly got an extremely favorable and weak region, no one can argue that the fact that they played a similar type non conference schedule. So there is a lot of evidence from the recent past that shows playing the tough teams helps you when it counts the most.

Edited May 21 by arktiger1975

[AUSCalum87 453]

Just now, arktiger1975 said:

Didn't we go to Maui and play Xavier, Duke (with Zion and Co), and Arizona during our Final Four year? I think we had a couple of more tough non conference games that year too. It just may have helped us get to the Final Four. And look at bama this past year. While they certainly got an extremely favorable and weak region, no one can argue that the fact that they played a similar type non conference schedule. So there is a lot of evidence from the last that shows playing the tough teams helps you when it counts the most.

Yes, we went to Maui during our Final 4 run, and I think we also had a couple of nonconference road games as well against power 5 teams. We need to get back to doing that. I believe there is a direct correlation between nonconference schedule and how teams’ success in the NCAA tournament. I hate to bring them up because I despise them, but UAT for the past 3 years have had a very tough nonconference schedule and I think it really prepares them for the NCAA tournament, and it’s why they have been more successful than us, in my opinion in the NCAA tournament. 
Basketball is a huge mental sport, whereas, even if you lose, playing a big time program allows yourself to self evaluate as well as understand what you need to improve on the next time you play a team like Auburn hasn’t really challenged themselves in the nonconference games these past few years and I believe that’s one of the main factors for our early exits. The moment becomes too big and they don’t know how to respond to adversity, whereas if you have already played teams out of conference who are legit contenders, you have more confidence of knowing what to expect.

[TigerOne 1,189]

That app state loss hurt Auburn more than anyone wants to admit.

it was like an anchor for a month

[AUSCalum87 453]

11 minutes ago, TigerOne said:

That app state loss hurt Auburn more than anyone wants to admit.

it was like an anchor for a month

That was a no win situation. However, Auburn did get some respect by people who understand and follow basketball closely. You will never see someone like Kansas play a true road game at a mid major because it’s a no win situation. But you have to respect us just for doing that for App St., and turned out they were really good. There were warning signs throughout the year though with Auburn, how Auburn really had no great wins and struggled with quality teams throughout the year. It’s why I’m hoping these rumors are true that we are playing these teams and a very tough nonconference schedule, so that we won’t be shell shocked when we do play quality opponents come March.

[AURex 2,214]

 

I guess there is a tradeoff. If you play really top teams during the pre-conference and lose them all, yes, that becomes an albatross around your neck ----- KINDA, MAYBE! Bama played and lost to a several top teams, yet pulled out a good finishing point. And, welp, NCAC ....... The idea is to play some good teams in pre-season, then bust azzzzz and demonstrate you are much better than those tams yu lost to. Yep! Okay! WDE!