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Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ranking the Top 10 Alabama moments from 2024-25 school year
Throughout the 2024-25 school year, there were countless memorable moments from the Alabama Crimson Tide athletic program between the months of August and May. For example, who can forget some of the moments during football games back in the fall against the likes of Georgia and LSU, as well as numerous others within the winter and spring months as each of Alabama's men's and women's basketball, baseball, and softball teams made runs to the NCAA Tournament? Having already taken a look at Alabama's top individual athletes from this past year as well, why not continue that same trend by now looking at some of the Crimson Tide's best moments, or plays, in particular? Here is a ranking of Alabama's best individual moments from the 2024-25 school year, starting with No. 10. 10. Doris Lemngole, Samuel Ogazi win outdoor national championships One of Alabama's final moments of the 2024-25 year came at the outdoor track and field championships when the duo of Doris Lemngole and Samuel Ogazi both took home national titles. Lemngole broke the collegiate record while winning the women's 3,000m steeplechase national title, while Ogazi took home men's 400m honors. 9. Grant Nelson blocks Duke's Cooper Flagg in Elite Eight A moment that captured national attention, Alabama forward Grant Nelson denied Duke's Cooper Flagg at the rim during the Crimson Tide's Elite Eight loss at the hands of the Blue Devils, something few, if any, did throughout the 2024-25 college basketball season to the future No. 1 overall pick. Yes, there were not many memorable moments from an Alabama standpoint in this season-ending loss, but this block from Nelson was certainly one that could be talked about for years to come as both enter the NBA. 8. Jalen Milroe's touchdown seals dominant win at LSU Alabama's 42-13 victory over LSU was one of the more dominant showings we have seen from the Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge recently, with the long touchdown run from quarterback Jalen Milroe likely the memorable moment to take away. Already owning a multi-score lead late, Milroe opened the fourth quarter with a 72-yard touchdown run where the Alabama quarterback was untouched on his way to the end zone, sending the remaining fans within Tiger Stadium heading for the exits, as well as capping a two-year span in which he owned LSU's defense on the ground. 7. Grant Nelson posterizes Auburn's Dylan Cardwell, hits 'Crimson Crane' This moment from Nelson inside Neville Arena when he put Auburn center Dylan Cardwell on a poster will be one played on repeat for years to come when talked about the greatest "I.B.O.B." (Iron Bowl of Basketball) moments from recent seasons. Following the dunk, Nelson also hit the "Crimson Crane" pose in the middle of the court as well, becoming one of the more memorable moments of a massive Alabama road win in Auburn. 6. Alabama's late inning comeback, Will Hodo walk-off vs. Ohio State Few of Alabama baseball's moments were bigger this year than this early season comeback against Ohio State in Jacksonville, one in which the Crimson Tide erased a 10-run fourth inning deficit to eventually win 12-10. Capping the comeback was a walk-off three-run home run by Alabama first baseman Will Hodo in the bottom of the ninth inning. 5. Alabama breaks 35-year-old NCAA Tournament record No team in NCAA Tournament history made more three-pointers than Alabama did in their Sweet 16 win over BYU, and this was a big reason as to why the Crimson Tide routed the Cougars, 113-88. Overall, Alabama made 25-of-51 three-point attempts (49%), headlined by a 10-for-16 showing from Mark Sears, breaking a 35-year-old NCAA Tournament record that had stood since 1990. 4. Sarah Ashlee Barker forces double overtime, breaks program record There were few individual performances better than what Sarah Ashlee Barker did in a second round loss against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament, breaking the Alabama program record for points in a game with 45. As part of this performance, Barker also delivered one of the more memorable individual moments of the year, making three consecutive free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining to force double overtime. 3. Zabien Brown's game-sealing interception vs. Georgia Likely the Crimson Tide's biggest win on the football field last fall, Alabama's victory over Georgia produced many memorable moments, the first of which was this huge game-sealing interception in the end zone by true freshman cornerback Zabien Brown. With the Crimson Tide owning a lead late with Georgia driving to potentially take a lead, Brown intercepted a pass by Georgia quarterback Carson Beck with under a minute remaining to seal the victory, sending Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium into an absolute uproar for the second time in the fourth quarter. 2. Mark Sears' game-winning overtime buzzer-beater at Auburn An overtime game at in-state rival Auburn, Alabama's Mark Sears delivered one the most memorable moments of the 2024-25 year back on March 8, beating the No. 1 ranked Tigers in a Top 10 road matchup on a buzzer-beater, 93-91. With the score tied at 91, Sears drove down the middle to the lane to shoot a floater over Auburn's Denver Jones as the buzzer sounded, sending a packed Neville Arena into a stunned silence while the Crimson Tide team celebrated in the jungle. 1. Ryan Williams' game-winning touchdown vs. Georgia Speaking of that aforementioned fourth quarter against Georgia, the Bulldogs erased a multi-score deficit in order to take the lead late, but Alabama immediately responded after with a score of their own on the very next play from scrimmage, as Milroe hit wide receiver Ryan Williams for a 75-yard touchdown pass that ultimately won the game for the Crimson Tide, 41-34. Happening with a little over two minutes remaining, Williams jumped in the air to catch the pass, spun away from defenders, and sped toward the end zone, while also catapulting himself into college football stardom in the process. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Ryan Williams, Mark Sears top Alabama Crimson Tide 2024-25 moments
USA Today
08-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Auburn vs Alabama: Game preview, prediction, betting odds for Saturday
Auburn vs Alabama: Game preview, prediction, betting odds for Saturday Who has the edge in Saturday's top-10 clash in Neville Arena? It is gameday for the No. 1 Auburn Tigers as they prepare to host No. 8 Alabama for the final regular season contest ahead of next week's SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee. The second edition of the 'Iron Bowl of Basketball' will tip-off at 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPN live from Neville Arena in Auburn. Auburn won the first battle with its arch-rival on Feb. 15 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa behind a strong defensive effort that limited the Crimson Tide's top SEC offense to 85 points on 39% shooting. Auburn's defense also held Alabama to five made three-pointers on 26 attempts. National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome scored 19 points in the game with 14 rebounds while Miles Kelly logged 15 points and eight rebounds. Auburn appears to be the more confident team heading into the matchup despite dropping its most recent game to Texas A&M on the road, 83-72. The Tigers are 4-1 since their win in Tuscaloosa, with wins over NCAA tournament hopefuls Ole Miss and Kentucky during that stretch. The Crimson Tide is 2-3 with losses to Florida, Tennessee, and Missouri since falling to Auburn on their home floor. Saturday's game will feature Alabama, who owns the best offense in the SEC, scoring 91.1 points per game. However, the Tide allows opponents to score 80.7 points per game, which ranks No. 16 among SEC squads. Auburn ranks in the top five in each category: No. 3 in offense (85.0 points per game) and No. 5 in defense (69.2 points per game). Who has the edge on Saturday? Here are the final betting odds ahead of Saturday's game between No. 1 Auburn and No. 8 Alabama. Auburn vs Alabama game odds: All college basketball odds via BetMGM Spread: Auburn (-7.5) Alabama (+7.5) Auburn (-7.5) Alabama (+7.5) Money Line: Auburn (-325) Alabama (+260) Auburn (-325) Alabama (+260) Over-Under: 178.5 Auburn vs Alabama prediction, pick: Auburn basketball will look to bounce back following a tough loss to No. 21 Texas A&M on Tuesday. The Tigers will have starting point guard Denver Jones back for this game following the ankle injury he sustained in Auburn's win over Kentucky one week ago. Jones' 10.7 point-per-game production, plus his solid defensive game, will provide enough cushion for other stars such as Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara to play at a high level. Jones' return, plus playing a rivalry game in front of the home crowd at Neville Arena, should be enough for Auburn to close the regular season in style. Prediction: Auburn 91 Alabama 85 Team A vs Team B channel, start time, streaming: Channel: ESPN Time: 1:30 p.m. CT Broadcasters: Karl Ravech, Dick Vitale, Jay Williams, Molly McGrath Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Auburn becomes longest consecutive AP Poll No. 1 since 2022
On Monday, Auburn basketball added another infinity stone to what has become a historically dominant gauntlet of accomplishments this season. Bruce Pearl's Tigers were once again tabbed the No. 1 team in the nation by AP voters, making it seven weeks in a row Auburn has received the top nod from the contingent of critics. The seven-week reign as the country's top program is the longest run in over three full calendar years. Gonzaga, who earned the preseason No. 1 ranking in the 2020-2021 season, grasped onto the top ranking for 21 straight weeks before finally giving it up in Week 4 of the 2021-2022 campaign. Before Monday's poll, Connecticut (2024), was the only other program to hold the AP No. 1 for at least six weeks since the 2015 season, when Kentucky held the top ranking for that entire campaign. Auburn also received every first place vote in the Week 17 AP Poll after an undefeated week. This is the fourth time the Tigers have been at the peak of every voters paper, and the first since Week 14. Florida, who received the only other first-place vote a week ago, slid down one spot in the top 25, to No. 3, in favor of Duke. Other than the Gators and Auburn, Tennessee (No. 5) and Alabama (No. 6) make up the remaining SEC programs ranked in the top 10 of the poll. Texas A&M (No. 12) fell out of the top 10 after a pair of losses to Mississippi State and Tennessee, marking just the second time since Week 5 the SEC hasn't represented at least 50% of the top 10 teams in college basketball. Kentucky (No. 17) spent most of the early season ranked in the top third of the AP Poll before the Aggies planted themselves among the nation's top programs. Missouri (No. 14), who very well could have won the SEC if the season was a month longer, continued its surge up the polls this week to round out conference programs ranked in the top 15, while Mississippi State continued its descent down the rankings, checking in at No. 24. Ole Miss (28) and Vanderbilt (2) were the only other SEC teams to receive votes. Old friend Yale received a single vote as well. Kansas, who had been ranked in the AP Poll for 80 consecutive weeks, only received 25 votes in Week 17. Auburn will need to continue playing extraordinary basketball over the final stretch of the season if it hopes to continue the streak of AP No. 1. After a matchup with Ole Miss at Neville Arena early this week, the Tigers travel to Rupp Arena to take on No. 17 Kentucky on Saturday before taking a pit stop in College Station to take on the Aggies next Tuesday. The regular season then wraps up with part two of the 'Iron Bowl of Basketball' on March 8. Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Brian on Twitter This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn becomes longest consecutive AP Poll No. 1 since 2022
USA Today
15-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Prediction and betting odds for Alabama vs. Auburn in top five Iron Bowl showdown
Prediction and betting odds for Alabama vs. Auburn in top five Iron Bowl showdown On Saturday afternoon, what is likely the "game of the year" in college basketball is set to take place from Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama when the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers meet for the latest edition of the "Iron Bowl of Basketball." The nation's two highest-ranked teams, Alabama, who is riding a seven-game winning streak, enters this contest as the No. 1 team in college basketball in the latest USA TODAY Sports' Coaches Poll, while Auburn however carries the top ranking according to the AP Poll. In addition to that, both Alabama and Auburn are tied for first place in the SEC standings at 10-1 in conference play, as well as projected as No. 1 seeds in the upcoming NCAA Tournament entering Saturday's contest. A truly massive game, here are the latest odds for the Alabama vs. Auburn basketball game as of Friday, Feb. 14: All college basketball odds via BetMGM: Point Spread: Alabama (-1.5) Alabama (-1.5) Money Line: Alabama (-135), Auburn (+110) Alabama (-135), Auburn (+110) Over/Under: 171.5 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Auburn Tigers injury updates: According to the SEC Men's Basketball Availability Report on Friday, Feb. 14: Alabama Crimson Tide Latrell Wrightsell Jr., Guard - Out Houston Mallette, Guard - Out Derrion Reid, Forward - Questionable Auburn Tigers Chad Baker-Mazara, Forward - Probable Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Auburn Tigers prediction, pick: Two of college basketball's premier teams, expect this contest to certainly live up to the hype, but when picking a winner, it's hard to imagine homecourt advantage not playing a role here. I'll go with Alabama to win this game by a close margin, and for the Crimson Tide to take control of first place in the SEC standings. Prediction: Alabama 83, Auburn 79 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Auburn Tigers channel, start time, streaming: Alabama vs. Auburn will take place Saturday, Feb. 15 from Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The game is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET, and will be available to watch on ESPN. Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Battle for No. 1: Alabama vs. Auburn isn't just a football rivalry anymore
The epicenter of college basketball this weekend won't be Storrs, Connecticut, Lawrence, Kansas, or somewhere on Tobacco Road. All eyes will be on a pigskin-obsessed state long synonymous with football. Auburn and Alabama clash Saturday afternoon in Tuscaloosa in by far the most anticipated game in the history of their century-old men's basketball rivalry. The Tigers (22-2, 10-1) enter atop the AP Top 25 and the Crimson Tide (21-3, 10-1) pace the coaches poll, a scenario that would have read like sci-fi fantasy as recently as a decade ago. To put into perspective how rare this is, consider that this will be the first-ever top-two men's basketball matchup in SEC history. Alabama and Auburn had only both met as ranked teams three times before the arrival of Nate Oats and Bruce Pearl injected newfound national relevance into a rivalry that previously had been about in-state bragging rights. Saturday's matchup shifts attention away from both schools' dismal showings on the gridiron this year. Without newly retired Nick Saban, Alabama staggered its way through a lackluster four-loss season and missed the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. Auburn finished below .500 for the fourth consecutive year and sank further into mediocrity. Meanwhile, both basketball programs have very real national title hopes, as the growing buzz for this season's first of two regular-season matchups reflects. Tickets to Saturday's game have been sold out for months. As of Friday morning, the secondary-market get-in price was $340 on StubHub and $319 on SeatGeek. Seats in Coleman Coliseum's lower bowl are going for two or three times that much. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne has held his current job for eight years, meaning he has been in Tuscaloosa for some of the most memorable football games of the Saban era. He told Yahoo Sports that in his Alabama tenure, Saturday's Iron Bowl of Basketball 'is the most ticket requests I've ever had.' 'And that includes football,' Byrne emphasized. 'There's a level of anticipation for this game that is off the charts.' From 2008 to 2017, Alabama and Auburn played 20 consecutive games in which neither team was ranked in the AP Top 25. Among those was Auburn's infamous 49-37 victory in 2013, a game in which Tony Barbee's Tigers only scored 13 points in the first half and Anthony Grant's Tide answered by putting up only 14 after halftime. How did we get from that to this? It's a story no one could have seen coming. The rebirth of Auburn men's basketball began almost two decades ago with a meeting inside university president Ed Richardson's wood-paneled office. Auburn coach Jeff Lebo asked to speak with Richardson to reiterate his program's need for the practice facility he had long been promised. In those days, Auburn epitomized the SEC's indifference to men's basketball. The Tigers were a perennial afterthought, save for the Charles Barkley-Chuck Person era in the mid-1980s and one or two other brief spurts of relevance. Only twice since 1960 had they finished a season in the AP Top 25. Only once had they advanced as far as the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight. The most glaring proof of Auburn's neglect was the aging multipurpose facility where the Tigers men's and women's basketball teams practiced and played. Lebo purposefully avoided showing Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum to prospective recruits because of its cavernous size, dim lighting and outdated locker room and weight room. Since the Coliseum was home to anything from concerts, to graduation ceremonies, to practices and games for an assortment of other Auburn teams, the men's basketball program frequently couldn't practice on its own court. Lebo's team was often relegated to a cramped, inadequately ventilated auxiliary gym not-so-affectionately known as the 'Hot Box.' 'We did a study and it would happen 20 times a year during the basketball season and more during the offseason,' former Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told Yahoo Sports. 'It was a disadvantage, but people didn't recognize it at the time because many other schools in the SEC were in the same situation.' This was some of the evidence that Lebo cited in January 2006 when advocating to renovate the Coliseum to include a new practice space for the men's and women's basketball teams. Lebo didn't even get through his whole pitch inside Richardson's office before influential Auburn booster and trustee Bobby Lowder interrupted. 'You can only put so much lipstick on a pig,' Jacobs remembers Lowder saying. Then Lowder proposed an even grander construction project: An intimate new basketball arena that would demonstrate Auburn's commitment to being competitive in basketball and provide the Tigers a true home-court advantage. 'We don't have the revenue in athletics to build a new facility,' Jacobs warned. Lowder and Richardson assured Jacobs that they'd find a way to finance it. The $92.5 million basketball arena was a high-risk investment at a football-focused school with a history of empty seats and losing seasons. As one dubious Auburn grad wrote in February 2010, nearly $100 million was a lot to spend 'for a sport that's nothing more than a diversion between the end of bowl season and spring football practice.' Skepticism mounted as Auburn struggled to cobble together a competitive team in time for the unveiling of its new 10,000-seat facility. Jacobs fired Lebo months before the unveiling of the new arena after six seasons without an NCAA tournament bid. Newly hired Tony Barbee then christened the venue with consecutive dismal losses to UNC Asheville, Samford and Campbell, a harbinger of what lay ahead during his four straight sub-.500 seasons. On the opening day of the 2014 SEC tournament, hours before Barbee's Tigers crashed out in the 12-13 game, then-SEC commissioner Mike Slive gathered the league's athletic directors and challenged them to invest in men's basketball. Slive felt the SEC was capable of far more than a second straight year of receiving only three NCAA tournament bids. 'Commissioner Slive's words stuck with me,' Jacobs recalled. 'I sort of felt like he was shining a light on me even though there were other people in the room whose basketball program was in no better shape than ours was.' That night, Jacobs dismissed Barbee at the team hotel in Atlanta, a move he planned to make all along. Then, with Slive's words fresh in his memory, he made a list of the qualities he valued most in his next coach. He wanted someone who had achieved sustained success in a power conference, someone who was unfazed by a rebuilding project, someone who could energize an apathetic fan base and have a presence in the community. He wanted Bruce Pearl. Two days later, Jacobs and right-hand man David Benedict traveled to Connecticut to meet with Pearl at a Bristol hotel. Pearl by then was three years removed from losing his job at Tennessee for lying to NCAA investigators in an attempt to cover up minor recruiting violations. He was doing studio analysis for ESPN and working a corporate job for a grocery distributor while completing the last of his NCAA-mandated three-year banishment from college basketball. Before the interview, Jacobs expected to get Pearl the salesman, the showman, the ball of sweaty energy who revived Tennessee's long-dormant program. What he got instead was a man seemingly wracked by indecision and self-doubt. Not once did Pearl pitch himself as the best candidate for Auburn. Pearl admitted he was unsure if he deserved the chance to coach again — or if he even wanted to. When Pearl showed up to breakfast the following morning, Jacobs said it was as if he was a completely different person. He spoke excitedly about the potential of the Auburn job, about having the chance to make a difference in young people's lives again, about how Jacobs wouldn't regret it if he took a chance on Pearl. What changed? In the middle of the night, Pearl had called his wife, admitted the interview didn't go well and reiterated that he wasn't sure if coaching was for him anymore. She told him that in the morning, he should put on two jackets. In one, he'd imagine remaining the vice president of marketing at H.T. Hackney and an analyst at ESPN. In the other, he'd visualize himself as Auburn's new basketball coach. 'The next morning, the Auburn jacket felt good,' Pearl told Yahoo Sports in March 2022. Auburn hired Pearl on March 18, 2014, five months before the NCAA would allow him to recruit or evaluate prospects again. When asked if that worried him, Jacobs would often joke, 'Well, we haven't recruited for the last three years. What's five more months?' Jacobs had an inkling he'd chosen the right candidate long before Pearl reeled in his first recruit or won his first game. Pearl engaged with Auburn students and community in ways that his predecessors never did. He crashed an Auburn marketing class to promote the school's version of Midnight Madness. He volunteered to sit in a dunk tank at a fraternity fundraiser. He handed out his personal cell phone number at a meet-and-greet with Auburn alumni. He lip-synced to Taylor Swift and dressed up as then-Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn. Jacobs said his cheeks turned 'six shades of red' after Pearl attended an Auburn tip-off club meeting, only to discover that the few attendees were graying retirees, some of whom required walkers and canes to get around. Quipped Pearl with a smile, 'Wow, I better win fast because some of y'all aren't going to be here in a few years.' 'The whole place burst out laughing,' Jacobs said. 'Now there's a waiting list to get into the tip-off club.' Eventually, Pearl rebuilt Auburn to the point that the basketball program sold itself. The Tigers won a share of the SEC title in 2018, advanced to the school's first Final Four in 2019 and began a sellout streak that persists to this day the following year. Auburn men's basketball, at last, had achieved relevance. But Alabama wasn't about to give up in-state bragging rights without a fight. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne remembers exactly when he first became intrigued by Nate Oats. It was the night that Oats' underdog Buffalo team faced Byrnes' previous employer, Arizona, in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament. Buffalo shredded a 27-win Wildcats team featuring future No. 1 overall draft pick DeAndre Ayton and several other NBA prospects. 'Arizona had a really talented team, and they beat 'em soundly,' Byrne told Yahoo Sports. 'After that, I started watching Coach Oats whenever I had a chance.' At that time, Alabama had an expensive, big-name coach hired by its previous athletic director. Ex-Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets coach Avery Johnson came to Tuscaloosa in 2015 with no college coaching experience but unfathomably high expectations. 'Duke University,' Johnson proclaimed during his introductory news conference. 'That's the standard for us here at the University of Alabama and our basketball program.' The results that Johnson produced at Alabama resembled Duke under Pete Gaudet rather than Duke under Mike Krzyzewski. Johnson attracted ballyhooed prospects like Collin Sexton, Kira Lewis, Herb Jones and Braxton Key to Tuscaloosa but never managed to elevate the Crimson Tide out of the muddled middle of the SEC. As Alabama tumbled to the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble late in Johnson's fourth season, Byrne made plans to make a coaching change. He also began doing his homework on Oats, a grinder whose path could not have been more different than Johnson's. For more than a decade, Oats taught math and coached basketball at Romulus High around the corner from Detroit's Wayne County Airport. He sold Cheetos and pop-tarts out of his office to fundraise for his basketball program and gradually transformed Romulus into one of the top teams in the state. Oats' big break came when he struck up a friendship with Dan and Bobby Hurley while they were recruiting one of his players. Bobby hired Oats as an assistant at Buffalo in 2014. Then Oats replaced Bobby when he left for Arizona State. By 2019, Oats built Buffalo into a mid-major juggernaut and cemented himself as the hottest name in the coaching carousel. We'll see Saturday who's the best team in the country. — Nate Oats What sold Byrne that Oats was the best choice for Alabama was a conversation with a former Buffalo player. Oats had helped the player earn the chance to play professional basketball in Greece by molding him into a point guard. 'The young man credited Coach Oats for his development as a player and the way he cared about him as a person,' Byrne said. 'That's the type of person I want leading any of our programs.' At Alabama, Oats accelerated basketball's stylistic revolution with his analytics-driven NBA mindset. He demanded the Crimson Tide play fast. He waged war on the inefficient mid-range jump shot. He made it clear the only shots he would tolerate were open 3-pointers or high-percentage dunks, layups and put-backs. Strict adherence to that efficient style of play has helped Oats achieve feats not even Wimp Sanderson could during Alabama men's basketball's previous golden era. Under Oats, the Tide won outright SEC regular-season titles in 2021 and 2023. Those two teams suffered painful Sweet 16 losses, but Oats made up for it last season by guiding Alabama to its first Final Four. When asked if Pearl's rapid success at Auburn motivated Alabama to stop accepting mediocrity and make a run at hiring Oats, Byrne insists, 'That didn't factor into it at all.' 'You make a decision to change coaches on what's right for the longterm health of a program, period,' he said. Some in Auburn circles are quick to push back against that and take credit for putting pressure on Alabama. 'I don't think Alabama goes and hires Nate Oats if Bruce Pearl isn't at Auburn,' Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl said in an appearance this week on the Stingray Show on Tide 100.9. Jacobs compared it to Auburn having to respond after Alabama landed Nick Saban. 'Healthy competition raises the bar for everyone,' the former Auburn athletic director said. "If another merchant across the street from you raises the bar, you have to raise the bar too or you're not going to have any customers.' The competition has always been plenty fierce when Auburn and Alabama meet on the basketball court — even if sometimes there was only pride at stake. Players on both sides of the rivalry say that was the game they wanted to win the most. 'Anytime Alabama came to Auburn and won, it was a problem for us,' said former Auburn team captain Frankie Sullivan, who played for the Tigers from 2008-13. 'You don't want to go to class. You don't want to talk to people on campus. You know you just let down your school and your fanbase.' On Saturday, it won't just be bragging rights on the line. As Oats told reporters on Tuesday, 'We'll see Saturday who's the best team in the country.'
