NCAA Basketball: Reevaluating preseason top 25 power rankings of 2022-23 season

15. Auburn (21-13, 9-seed, Round of 32)

Last season, Auburn boasted one of the best frontcourts in the nation, but saw both Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler head to the NBA. Bruce Pearl didn’t panic, adding pieces in the offseason to replenish their frontcourt, including former Morehead State star Johni Broome. What Auburn needed to do this season was to lean more heavily on a backcourt that was mostly intact, hoping their step forward could elevate this program back into an SEC contender.

The Tigers got off to an 8-0 start and sat 16-3 in late January, though their nonconference play wasn’t the most convincing argument of their success. Their run through the SEC was far more difficult and unsteady, with the Tigers failing to win consecutive games again all season long, dropping winnable games against Alabama and Tennessee, and completely falling apart against Kentucky late in the season. Though they fell early in the SEC Tournament, the Tigers still earned a 9-seed in the Big Dance and didn’t go home without a fight.

After knocking out a hot-shooting Iowa squad in the first round, the Tigers gave 1-seed Houston all they could handle in the first half, taking a 10-point halftime lead before falling apart late and dropping that second-round game. The ending to their season was certainly disappointing, especially with how they hung with Houston for most of that game. They got the great play they were hoping for out of veterans like Jaylin Williams and Allen Flanigan; we’ll see how some of those younger rotation pieces factors in next season.