Death, Taxes, and the Auburn Tigers making my blood boil. A team that somehow failed to win a National Championship with one of the greatest regular seasons the sport has seen a year ago is now in very real danger of completely missing out on the NCAA Tournament in 2026.

Steven Pearl’s squad has dropped six of its last seven games to fall into the ‘First Four Out’ in our bracketology just three weeks after debuting on the six line. I would say I’m surprised, but with Auburn sports nothing really startles me anymore. Well, unless Bryan Harsin’s pale and punchable face pops up on social media.

Truly a sad day for Auburn Twitter. I understand the 99% of readers that aren’t chronically online won’t get that joke, but one you will understand is the fact Seton Hall (yes, the team I clowned in our special bracketology podcast last week) is back on the outside of the bubble with them.

The Shaheen Holloway and Bud Clark-led Pirates may have lost a game to DePaul at home, but the Pirates bounced back with a 51-47 win over Georgetown that, combined with a Team USA win over Canada, made even more DMV youth trade their basketball shoes for skates.

A once proud basketball town? area? city? region now features a combined 24-31 record from its most prestigious basketball institutions (Georgetown and Maryland). Just go ahead and deploy the National Guard outside of the arenas to protect the spectators from witnessing the murder of James Naismith’s great game on a nightly basis. By the way, Naismith was Canadian.

Guess we stole that sport from our friends up north too. Let’s get into the bubble before I go completely off the rails. Ohio State is in now too by the way.

First Four Out: Auburn, Seton Hall, VCU, San Diego State

• I don’t think I need to say anything else about Auburn. The Tigers now need victories over LSU, Ole Miss, and Alabama to end the season if they want any hope at sniffing an at-large bid.
• It was either Seton Hall or Virginia Tech. We went with Seton Hall because Bud Clark has the best name on either roster. He’s also the best player on either roster.
• VCU summoned the ghost of Shaka Smart’s ‘havoc’ teams by committing about four felonies in a brawl-filled loss against Saint Louis a week ago. The Rams are still the second best team in the Atlantic 10, but that may not be enough.
• San Diego State sucks. The Mountain West sucks. For the love of all things March Madness, this needs to be a one bid league.

 

• Last Four In: TCU, Santa Clara, Ohio State, Missouri

• TCU is quietly becoming one of the best stories in college basketball. The Horned Frogs looked dead after four straight losses to open up 2026, but forward David Punch and company have smashed their way into seven wins over their last 10 games, putting them safely in the field as of now.
• If San Diego State gets a bid over Santa Clara I will say some mean things to the Selection Committee.
• Ohio State is in the field. The Buckeyes definitely won’t have a terrible loss that knocks them out.
• Fine, Missouri can take Auburn’s spot as the final SEC team in.

16 seeds: Merrimack*, Vermont*/Howard*, Long Island*, Bethune-Cookman*/Navy*

15 seeds: Montana*, Furman*, UT Martin*, Austin Peay*

14 seeds: UC Irvine*, Oakland*, High Point*, Troy*

13 seeds: North Dakota State*, Cal Baptist*, UNC Wilmington*, Yale*

12 seeds: Liberty*, Belmont*, Akron*, Stephen F. Austin*

11 seeds: Texas, USF*, Santa Clara/TCU, Indiana

10 seeds: Miami (OH), St. Mary’s, Texas, Missouri/Ohio State

9 seeds: Texas A&M, Utah State*, UCLA, Miami (FL)

8 seeds: NC State, SMU Georgia, Kentucky

7 seeds: Iowa, UCF, Wisconsin, Villanova

6 seeds: Tennessee, BYU, Louisville, Clemson

5 seeds: Alabama, North Carolina, Gonzaga*, Arkansas

4 seeds: Purdue, Vanderbilt, St John’s, Texas Tech

3 seeds: Nebraska, Michigan State, Illinois, Virginia

2 seeds: Iowa State (5) , Florida* (6), Kansas (7), Houston (8)

1 seeds: Michigan* (1) , Duke* (2), Arizona* (3) , UConn* (4)

 

* conference champion