Auburn surpasses Duke as championship favorites after 7-0 start
12/02/2024 04:47 PM
The Auburn Tigers might be No. 2 in the men’s college basketball AP Poll, but Bruce Pearl’s squad has overtaken Duke as national championship favorites.
Fresh off their title win at the Maui Invitational, Bruce Pearl’s group is 7-0 with victories over Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis. FanDuel gives them +850 odds to win the title, while Cooper Flagg and the Blue Devils fell to second place at +1000.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are third at +1100 and Houston is fourth at +1500. AP No. 1 Kansas, Tennessee and Alabama follow at +1700. The two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies fell all the way to +2500 after going 0-3 in Maui with losses to three teams that were, at the time, unranked.
The Tigers, meanwhile, have ascended all the way to No. 1 in KenPom and No. 2 in the first edition of the NCAA’s NET rankings. They’re led by national player of the year candidate Johni Broome, who scored 20-or-more in each of their three games in Maui. He currently leads the team in points, rebounds, assists and blocks per game.
"We played tremendous defense and tremendous basketball against great opponents," Broome said after Auburn’s title-winning win over Memphis. "Our word this year was sacrifice, taking care of your body, not being up too late, getting to things on time. All those things help win championships. These last two days, we've shown how committed we are to each other because we see how good we can be."
Rated as the most efficient offense in the game, per KenPom, Auburn has scored 83 or more points in each of their last four games.
For those not yet convinced that Auburn should have surpassed Duke as the title favorite, the Tigers will get a chance to prove it on the court next time out. They face the Blue Devils on Wednesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
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