Selection Committee Chair Reveals Why Auburn Missed NCAA Tournament

The Auburn Tigers have missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, as they will not be dancing in Steven Pearl’s inaugural season on the Plains.

Auburn finished the 2025-26 campaign at 17-16 overall and 7-11 in the SEC, and they have sat firmly on the bubble the last couple of months heading into Selection Sunday.

However, despite a hefty non-conference strength of schedule and multiple extremely impressive wins over the course of the year, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee ultimately decided the Tigers didn’t do enough to make the Big Dance.

Selection Committee Chair Keith Gill spoke on the bubble teams that did and didn’t make the field of 68 in CBS’s Selection Show broadcast, and he explained specifically why Auburn failed to earn a bid.

“The first four out was very close. You mention Auburn,” Gill said on the broadcast. “Obviously, they had a really strong strength of schedule. They had some really good wins – that win at Florida is a great win.”

“But when you look at that winning percentage – 51.5% – you know, the 16 losses. When the committee took that all into consideration, they thought they just hadn’t done enough to make it inside the field.”

Auburn entered Sunday with a glimmer of hope, as it was listed as one of the first four teams in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s tournament projection. Lundardi’s bubble teams that competed with the Tigers for the final at-large bids mainly included Missouri, Texas, SMU, Santa Clara, and Miami (OH).

But despite Auburn’s edge in numerous metrics, including wins above bubble (WAB), NET ranking, and head-to-head, the selection committee ultimately chose Texas, NC State, Miami (OH) and SMU over the Tigers. Auburn and Oklahoma landed as the first two teams out.

No team has ever earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with 16 losses or more, and that trend remained true on Sunday. The Tigers boasted one of the toughest schedules in the nation, but poor performances down the homestretch of the season proved too costly to the committee.

Auburn faced three of the four 1-seeds – Michigan, Florida, and Arizona – and, as Gill mentioned, defeated the Gators in Gainesville for the first time since 1996. The Tigers also played Purdue, Houston and St. John’s in their historically tough non-conference slate, and managed to beat the Johnnies, the now-Big East Champions, in November.

However, Auburn lost nine of its last 12 games, and it certainly had opportunities to secure a tourament bid many times late in the year. The Tigers fell to Mississippi State, Oklahoma, and Ole Miss at home, which likely knocked the Tigers out of the field.

Some believed that they would’ve clinched their spot in the Dance with a win over Tennessee in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday, but a second-half collapse and late 20-0 Volunteer run put the Tigers’ tournament hopes in even further jeopardy in what turned out to be their final game of the season.

It is unknown whether Auburn will accept an NIT bid if it were to receive an invite, but nonetheless, it was certainly an underwhelming year No. 1 for Pearl and company.

The Tigers need to get to work in the transfer portal as soon as possible with a strong sense of urgency, because if next year produces similar results, Pearl could potentially face tremendous pressure regarding his future at Auburn.