Auburn Tigers coach Bruce Pearl. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Sports world reacts to Auburn ugly upset loss to Yale in NCAA Tournament

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Renzo Pocholo Salao | Last updated 3/22/24

Auburn became the latest high seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament to succumb to the madness of March.

On Friday, 4-seed Auburn was upset by 13-seed Yale in a 78-76 affair at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington.

Bruce Pearl’s squad held a 68-58 advantage with just over seven minutes left in the contest. The Tigers' lead evaporated after they were outscored 20-8 the rest of the way.

Several fans on X couldn’t help but notice Auburn’s loss as part of a brutal trend for the SEC, who had a whopping eight teams make this year’s NCAA Tournament. The first six SEC teams that played went 1-5 against teams with lower seeds.

The SEC's tournament so far:
8 seed Mississippi State housed by 9 Michigan State
14 Oakland beats 3 Kentucky
11 Oregon beats 6 South Carolina
2 Tennessee beats 15 Saint Peter's
7 Florida gives up 102 to 10 Colorado
13 Yale takes down 4 Auburn

That's 1-5. Abysmal.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 22, 2024

SEC teams exiting the NCAA tournament two at a time. pic.twitter.com/lTbunXIwgy

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) March 22, 2024

Auburn’s 4-13 upset loss against Yale wasn’t even the worst one. On Thursday night, 3-seed Kentucky was similarly stunned by 14-seed Oakland.

Both Yale and Oakland had made the tournament after winning their respective conference tournaments. Fans haven’t forgotten how SEC commissioner Greg Sankey had openly called for the abolishment of automatic bids for smaller conferences.

Friendly reminder that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is a stain on college sports and his precious “competitive basketball league” is proving to be quite fraudulent pic.twitter.com/XDSCDr0mPx

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) March 22, 2024

Greg Sankey really just said the NCAA Tournament should get rid of auto bids right before 2 of the SEC's 3 best teams lost to Oakland & Yale: pic.twitter.com/WCssgVqD5I

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) March 22, 2024

Greg Sankey deserved every bit of those last few minutes.

Don’t lay a finger on our tournament.

— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) March 22, 2024

This is what Greg Sankey wants to take away from you. pic.twitter.com/a0HnlU1Ge1

— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) March 23, 2024

Guess that’s why Greg Sankey didn’t want mid majors in the tourney

— Jason Kirk (buy my novel) (@JasonKirk_fyi) March 22, 2024

Tennessee was the lone SEC team among the conference’s first six to win its first-round matchup. The 2-seed squad demolished Saint Peter’s 83-49. And 4-seed Alabama and 9-seed Texas A&M are the two other active teams from the SEC as of writing.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: