Goodman: For Auburn and Alabama, a truth stranger than fiction

If another top-bracket team crashes out of the NCAA Tournament in the first weekend, then chances are good it’s going to happen in Birmingham.

Unexpected insanity sent a lightning bolt through the NCAA Tournament on Friday when giant killer Fairleigh-Dickson, a 16 seed, zapped one-seed Purdue 63-58 in Columbus, Ohio. Next up: Birmingham.

An all-time day of college basketball is here for the city and the state of Alabama. The first rounds are done, and there were plenty of upsets. If any sorcery remains for the Round of 32, then the Magic City could be the cauldron.

No one here is predicting a Purdue scenario for one seeds Houston and Alabama, so let’s not get it twisted. It’s just simple math. Two one seeds are playing here in Birmingham on Saturday night, so the potential madness factor will be greater at Legacy Arena than anywhere else.

It’s more than that, though, isn’t it? At some point, the feeling of a place and the temperature in the room affect the odds, and we are well beyond that point.

As numbers go, the most significant of all in Birmingham will be the ratio of fans in the building.

One-seed Houston plays nine-seed Auburn at 6:10 p.m. After that, top-seed Alabama takes on eight-seed Maryland in the late game. Let’s be real. There is nothing “neutral” about NCAA Tournament games in Birmingham featuring Auburn and Alabama. Birmingham’s Saturday double-header was the toughest ticket for a second-round session in the country.

These are home games for the Tide and Tigers.

GOODMAN: True madness is here for Alabama, Auburn

That’s an added advantage for Alabama, but I’m sure Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is wondering what he did wrong (this time) to upset the NCAA. The Final Four is in Houston in a couple weeks, but first the Cougars must win a road game against an SEC school known for its enormous (and enormously loud) fan base.

Let me remind America of Auburn’s home record over the last two seasons. It’s 30-2. Last season, Auburn went 16-0 in The Jungle. This season, only Texas A&M and Alabama got out alive.

Will Alabama fans cheer for Houston inside Legacy Arena? The smart ones won’t. No one wants to play Houston in a Final Four in Houston.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl joked on Friday that “if I was coaching the Houston Cougars, I would do everything I could to bring up to Alabama’s fans just how much they’re supposed to hate Auburn, right?

“You know, talk about anything you can possibly talk about,” Pearl said. “Talk about the Iron Bowl. Talk about Cam Newton and Cam beating them in Tuscaloosa. Talk about Charles Barkley. Talk about anything you can talk about just to get that Alabama fan base up to root against Auburn.”

“But I honestly think that we are a state that has pride in our state. How can you not respect Alabama and their university and their athletic program? I’m now coach at Auburn. I don’t like them, but I respect them. That goes a long way, I think.”

It doesn’t, but we’ll see. Something tells me Alabama fans will enjoy an undercard Auburn loss more than witnessing the history of Auburn knocking off a No.1.

The Cougars got an unlucky draw, but maybe it’s karma. Maybe Auburn was due. Who can deny that the Tigers were owed a mulligan of fate after the 2019 NCAA Tournament? In that Big Dance, the Tigers had to go through blue-bloods Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky just to reach the Final Four in Minneapolis.

Once there, Auburn was on the wrong end of two controversial plays in the final seconds that helped Virginia move on to championship Monday.

Auburn’s fairytale ride to Minneapolis was a significant month for the state of Alabama that’s still being felt today. That was Auburn’s first Final Four, and this dominant Alabama team we’ve witnessed this season was the effect of the Crimson Tide refusing to be outdone. Alabama has never made a Final Four, but this is the team to finally do it. It has been a season marked by tragedy, and the pressure to win in basketball has never been greater than it is now.

Pressure is what gets the best of even the best teams in March. One-seed Purdue had 7-4 center Zach Edey and lost to the shortest team on average in the entire NCAA Tournament. There’s no way to explain it other than the Purdue Boilermakers melting down like a flawed nuclear reactor.

Maybe Purdue’s historic loss was good for Alabama. Maybe it won’t matter and this Alabama team is unbeatable. It doesn’t get much wackier in sports than a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament going out earlier, but I would count Auburn ever cheering for the Crimson Tide an unbelievable truth stranger than fiction.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.