AUBURN | If you watched Friday's one and done appearance in the SEC Tournament, you might think Auburn was the worst 3-point shooting team in the country.
Granted, the Tigers shot horribly for most of the 67-62 loss to Texas A&M, finishing 9 of 36 from beyond the arc.
It would be fair to say if the SEC Champions, which will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 27-5 record, have an Achilles heel, it would be their long-range shooting.
But it’s also true that Auburn finished the regular season shooting .323 from the 3-point line, which ranked sixth in the SEC. Not 10th, not 12, not 14th, but sixth. That’s the top half of the league.
The Aggies came into the SEC Tournament just above AU shooting .326 from beyond the arc, only to go on a three-game hot streak shooting .521 from 3-point range in wins over Florida, Auburn and Arkansas.
Then in a 65-50 loss to Tennessee in the championship game, TAMU struggled mightily making just 4 of 19 (.211) 3-pointers.
Basketball is a game of streaks. Teams get hot and go on winning streaks as Auburn did in 2019 and teams go on runs in games, good and bad, every week.
Auburn has shot worse than the .250 from 3-point range this season six times and is 5-1 in those games: a win at USF, win at Missouri, win at Alabama, win at Georgia, win over Texas A&M and loss at Tennessee.
The reason AU has been able to overcome those poor shooting efforts is its defense. It was the first thing Bruce Pearl mentioned when it comes to what he wants to see from his team once March Madness gets underway.
Rebounding and offensive execution were next.
This Auburn team can make a run and it doesn’t have to shoot the ball extremely well from outside to do it. It would help, certainly, but it’s the defense that carried them throughout this season and it’s the defense that will make the biggest difference in March.
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I’m not sure Auburn could have gotten a better draw for a No. 2 seed.
It starts in Greenville, S.C., which should have a partisan Auburn crowd for both games. Jacksonville State has 10 losses and its only game against a Power 5 opponent was a 65-59 loss at Alabama in December.
USC is traveling across the country having lost three of its last four games while Miami’s 10 losses include UCF and Alabama by 32, which AU has a 3-0 record against.
A potential matchup against Wisconsin or LSU in the Sweet 16 certainly won’t scare Auburn. AU beat LSU this season and the Badgers are on a two-game losing streak including getting knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Big 10 Tournament, much like Auburn.
If the Tigers advance to a matchup agains No. 1 seed Kansas, they’ll have plenty of confidence knowing the same Kentucky team they beat by nine points went into Lawrence and beat the Jayhawks 80-62 six weeks ago.
I’m not guaranteeing a win against any of those teams, but none of them appear unbeatable by any means. Neither is Auburn, of course, as evidenced by Friday's loss to a Texas A&M team that couldn’t quite get into the tournament.
It’s March Madness. There’ll be plenty of twists and turns, but Auburn’s got a shot. They’re set up for a run if they can step up their play.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 27 years to the release of an album, which included a hit song based partly on a relationship with an MTV VJ. On March 14, 1995, the Goo Goo Dolls release their fifth studio album, A Boy Named Goo, which includes their first hit song, Name. The song, written by guitarist/lead singer Johnny Rzeźnik, chronicles growing up and dealing with past mistakes. One of those was the married Rzeźnik’s flirtatious, but reportedly not sexual, relationship with MTV VJ Kennedy. The song includes the line, “And I won't tell 'em your name,” which refers to Kennedy not publicly revealing her full name — Lisa Kennedy Montgomery. He did end up revealing her name in the song credits, however, by dedicating it to Lisa Montgomery. Name peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 100 and paved the way for a couple of more huge hits in 1998’s Iris, which was released on the City of Angels soundtrack and spent 18 weeks at No. 1, and Slide, which was on their sixth studio album, Dizzy Up the Girl.
The Goo Goo Dolls were formed in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1986 when long-time friends, Robby Takac (bass) and George Tutuska (drums) saw Rzeźnik playing in another band. They chose their name from an ad in a True Detective magazine for a toy called a Goo Goo Doll. They started out as a punk band, building up a small following and playing at the famous CBGB. Tutuska was replaced by Mike Malinin in 1995 and he stayed through 2013. Rzeźnik and Takac remain in the band, which is currently working on its 14th studio album. Goo Goo Dolls have sold 15 million records and been nominated for four Grammy Awards. Kennedy was the host of Alternative Nation on MTV from 1992-97. She has since written two books, hosted several game shows and reality T.V. shows, and currently hosts her own show on Fox Business Network.
