The greatest showmen: Auburn uses home atmosphere to clinch Final Four spot

ATLANTA — Auburn basketball features its fair share of outspoken figures on and off the court, plenty willing to speak their mind and address the crowd. That personality was on full display throughout the weekend in Atlanta, where the Tigers held a home-court-like advantage over their opponents.

First up, Auburn fans filled State Farm Arena against Michigan – some 709 miles away from home. Then, the team which calls home just a daytrip away, faced Michigan State who had quite a trek to make.

Although they are used to the home atmosphere inside Neville Arena in Auburn, Alabama, that venue only seats 9,121 vs. 17,044 this weekend. With a large majority of those seats taken by their fanbase, the players felt more support than ever before.

Home-court advantage

Auburn knew it would have a large fanbase ready to cheer them on when the clinched the No. 1 overall seed and the right to selection which Region to play in. Despite dropping games down the stretch, their body of work earned them the valuable right to play closest to the fanbase. Had Duke or Houston surpassed them and taken the South Region, the atmosphere could have looked vastly different.

Newark and Indianapolis would have been the remaining options – with San Francisco a clear fourth – and taking them much closer to where opposing fanbases could travel in equal numbers or even surpass their representation. This performance by the fans should send a clear picture to those questioning the value of playing a strong schedule of the benefit.

The Auburn players showed no hesitation making the most of this inherent advantage. Throughout the weekend, players like Dylan Cardwell and Chad Baker-Mazara made sure to hype up the crowd on their way to the bench or during a timeout. The response was deafening.

“I just can’t imagine playing against that,” Cardwell said after the Sweet 16. “I’ve never seen a home-court advantage in March Madness like that. Just pack out the arena in orange and blue.

“Thank God for Auburn fans.”

While it is part of the job to play through opposing crowd noise, it was certainly something that the opposition noticed.

“Yeah, they were the Number 1 overall seed, I don’t know how it works with locations, but yeah, I mean, before tip, it seemed like a true road game,” Danny Wolf said on Friday. “I don’t think it really fazed any of us.

“Credit to Auburn, they hit some big shots late, but it’s March Madness and we’re two hours away from their facility. They had a great supporting cast from their fans and credit to them.”

Now headed to San Antonio, Texas, Auburn will not hold nearly the same advantage in crowd size, but they have plenty case to lift a national championship anyway if things fall right. That starts against Florida on Saturday.