Get ready for the Maui Bump: Auburn is the best team and Johni Broome is the best player in college basketball

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The Auburn Tigers very much look like the best team in college basketball. 

I understand No. 1 Kansas is still undefeated and will continue to hold the top ranking into December after beating No. 11 Duke while shorthanded Tuesday night in Las Vegas. But no team has been as consistently impressive against higher-ranked competition than the fourth-ranked Tigers. The latest chapter chiseled into their tremendous early season résumé was recorded with ease Wednesday afternoon at the Lahaina Civic Center. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers swaggered their way to a 90-76 win over a Memphis team that had looked ultra-confident and of top-20 quality in beating No. 2 Connecticut and Michigan State the prior two days. 

It’s the first Maui championship in school history and the second that Auburn coach Bruce Pearl’s been a part of; he was on the 1987-88 staff at Iowa that won it all in this cozy gym on the hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Pearl’s face is part of a big mural of well-known coaches and players who’ve come here over the years. When he walked in and saw it, he thought it wasn’t deserving.

“I saw my picture up there on the wall, and it was like Bill Self and Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo, and I’m like, what am I doing up here? Come on,” Pearl said. 

Now it’s deserved. The Tigers won three games in three days to run their record to 7-0 and are positively roaring into December.

Auburn is the third SEC team ever to win Maui, which began in 1984, joining Vanderbilt in 1986 and Kentucky in 1993. 

Championships in this beautiful land can often provide the ever-coveted “Maui bump.” You win three games in three days here, it portends well for your season. (Five times a Maui champ has gone on to win March Madness, and seven former NCAA champs were in Maui fields the same season they played in this bracket.) Normally, champions have to beat at least two top 25-quality teams, if not three. Over…

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Author : Matt Norlander

Publish date : 2024-11-28 04:38:00

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