BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | Being ranked No. 1 in mid-January may not mean a whole lot to some programs, but I think it would be a special moment for Auburn whether it happens later today or at some point this season.
Bruce Pearl talks a lot about making history and being the first-ever Tiger team ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll would certainly be a historical accomplishment for Pearl, his staff and players.
It’ll be Auburn or Gonzaga in the top spot and when you stack up the two team’s accomplishments so far this season, it’s the Tigers that come out on top.
Auburn (16-1) has one fewer loss than Gonzaga (14-2) and the one common opponent, Alabama, beat the Zags and lost to AU at home. According to KenPom, AU has played the nation’s 18th toughest schedule while GU has played the 182nd.
The Tigers also have the best record in the NCAA in Quad 1 and 2 games at 8-1. GU is 5-2. The Zags do surprisingly hold an edge in the NCAA NET rankings at No. 1 while AU somehow fell from No. 4 to No. 5.
Regardless, the odds are it will be Gonzaga because pollsters often just move teams up after wins and down after losses and GU began the week No. 2 while AU was No. 4.
Some coaches would try to treat a No. 1 ranking like rat poison but Pearl will embrace it if/when it happens. He knows this team has some growing to do and dealing with higher expectations is a part of it.
It’s still eight weeks until Selection Sunday and Auburn has a lot of basketball to play between now and then. A No. 1 ranking is achievable. So is a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
But for now, the main goals have to remain making daily and weekly improvements and winning only the fifth SEC regular season championship in school history.
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Offseason attrition is just part of college football now with the transfer portal and NIL. And it’s not surprising that Auburn would experience more than average attrition after the first year of the Bryan Harsin regime.
All that said, the last few weeks have been pretty wild.
Having key seniors and graduates returning along the defensive line, edge, linebacker, offensive line and wide receiver is certainly a sign that there’s a buy-in to what Harsin is implementing at Auburn.
Even with the transfers out on the defensive line, Auburn should be able to line up a talented and deep group. The numbers will be a little thin at wide receiver and edge this spring with help expected to come later this summer from the signing class and potentially from the portal too.
There’s still plenty of work to be done. AU desperately needs to strengthen its offensive line and wide receiver group specifically. The o-line is particularly difficult with AU returning eight veteran linemen with starting experience but still needing an injection of talent.
The Tigers will have to keep evaluating wideouts over the next few months as they search for more consistency and explosive ability at the position.
It’s OK to be concerned about the present situation at both those positions but there’s also a lot of time left for this staff to address them so I wouldn’t press the portal panic button just yet.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 26 years to the day the Jamaican police shot at a seaplane suspected of transporting drugs only to find out it contained one of the world’s richest musicians, a Hall of Fame musician and his family and a Hall of Fame producer. On Jan. 16, 1996, the Hemisphere Dancer, piloted by Jimmy Buffett, was shot at by Jamaican authorities near Negril. Also in the plane was Bono, his wife and two kids, along with Island Records producer Chris Blackwell. The plane was hit several times, shattering a windshield and damaging the fuselage, but nobody on board was hurt. It turns out Buffett was taking the group to his favorite jerk chicken restaurant. The Jamaican government apologized and the incident spawned a song by Buffett called Jamaica Mistaica, which includes the lines: We had only come for chicken, we were not the ganja plane.
Of course, Buffett is one of the most successful musicians of all time with an estimated net worth of more than 600 million that includes restaurants, casinos and hotels. He started playing guitar during his freshman year at Auburn before transferring to junior college and then Southern Miss. His greatest hits album, 1985’s Songs You Know By Heart, has sold over 5.6 million copies and is certified 7x platinum. Bono was born Paul David Hewson in Dublin, Ireland in 1960 and formed U2 in 1976. He’s won 22 Grammy Awards with U2 and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. U2 has had a number of hit songs including two that hit No. 1 in the U.S. — With Our Without You and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For — both from the Joshua Tree, considered one of the greatest albums of all time. They have sold approximately 150 million records, which ranks among the top 25 bands of all time. Blackwell, a native of the UK, formed Island Records in Jamaica in 1959 and is was one of the leaders in introducing reggae music to the world. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.