Auburn's NIT Win Evidence They Were Snubbed From NCAA Tournament

Following a victory in the NIT Championship, a question lingers for the Auburn Tigers in the college basketball world. Were the Tigers snubbed out of the NCAA Tournament?

Auburn had a solid showing in the NIT Tournament. Along with two double-digit wins, they only trailed by a combined eight minutes of game time in the first four games of the tournament, with the majority of that time being in Auburn’s first game against South Alabama.

“The guys on my roster are here to play basketball and compete,” Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said after accepting the NIT invitation. “I’m not going to take my ball and go home because we didn’t make the Tournament… I see it as an unbelievable opportunity for our guys to go out there and compete on a stage.”

The team seemed to have flipped a switch once they were left out of the NCAA Tournament, looking like a completely different squad. The Tigers were 7-11 overall in conference play and played arguably the hardest schedule in the entire country. A schedule that included two of the four final four teams: Michigan and Arizona.

Auburn was among the first four out teams on Selection Sunday, which also included the Oklahoma Sooners, San Diego State Aztecs and the Indiana Hoosiers. Of those four teams, Auburn and Oklahoma accepted bids for postseason play.

Of the last four teams in, Auburn beat two of them: Texas and UNC. Miami (OH) has one of the easiest schedules in the sport, and they were bounced in the first round. Texas was the only school that made it beyond the play-in game or in the first round of the tournament.

Although Steven Pearl and Auburn initially had complaints about missing the tournament, they put it behind them quickly and accepted an NIT bid. They, laced up their shoes with the goal of proving they should have been part of March Madness. Having a win in the NIT lends them a case for having been a tournament-calber team.

“Our goal was to play in the NCAA Tournament, but that didn’t happen this year,” Pearl said. “I’m of the mindset of, like, let’s just go play, let’s go hoop and, you know, have some fun with it.”

The truth is, we'll never truly know. Auburn didn’t make the tournament, and that’s that. However, the NIT Championship run made one thing clear: They can compete on the big stage, and there is a case to be made.

The Tigers controlled what they could, turning disappointment into a statement. Instead of folding, Auburn responded with a title. That what-if won’t go away, but they can use this to take some momentum into next season.

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