One of the best weeks in the sports world is about to start. The 2022 Men’s NCAA Tournament has started and the Auburn Tigers have two of the top players in the tournament according to Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report.
Miller has Jabari Smith as the eighth best player in the tournament and Walker Kessler as the 11th best player.
Smith is Auburn’s leading scorer with 17.1 points per game but has been even better over the last seven games of the season, averaging 23.7 points over the last seven games of the season.
Smith, the potential No. 1 pick in the coming NBA Draft, is also grabbing 7.0 rebounds per game and shooting 42.8% from 3-point range, and playing elite perimeter defense.
Miller believes Smith can carry Auburn to a National Championship if they lean on him.
Alright, fine, one more lottery pick, and this one may well be going No. 1 overall. Smith does a little bit of everything for Auburn, and the 6’10” superstar freshman has become much more assertive in recent weeks. He had a career high of 25 points through his first 25 games, but he has put up at least 27 in four of his past seven contests. If the Tigers lean on him, they can win it all.
As important as Smith has been for Auburn, Kessler has been just as valuable because of his dominant defense. Kessler is blocking 4.5 shots per game and is a finalist for the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
His defense is exactly why Miller has Kessler as his 11th best player in the tournament.