The wait is finally over, Auburn fans. Basketball season has officially arrived. The No. 15 Auburn Tigers open the season on Monday night at Neville Arena, hosting George Mason at 7 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
The Tigers lose first-round talent in [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag] and [autotag]Jabari Smith[/autotag] from last season’s team to the NBA, but still have plenty of talent returning such as [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag], [autotag]Wendell Green[/autotag], [autotag]Allen Flanigan[/autotag], and [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag]. [autotag]Johni Broome[/autotag] joins the team as a valuable addition from the transfer portal.
Auburn will enter the game with an overall advantage in talent, which is why the ESPN Basketball Power Index gives the Tigers an 85.6% chance to earn the season-opening win over George Mason on Monday.
According to the initial BPI report, Auburn is ranked No. 12 nationally, which is sixth-best in the SEC. As for the Patriots of George Mason, they are No. 6 in the Atlantic 10, and No. 92 overall.
The ESPN BPI “is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of performance going forward. BPI represents how many points above or below average a team is.”
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