Whether on the football field, the baseball or softball diamond or the hardwood, you can generally expect a lot of scrap iron to be left behind when Alabama and Auburn compete against each other.

Wednesday night, Avery Johnson’s Alabama Crimson Tide takes on Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers from Coleman Coliseum.

Both teams have NCAA Tournament aspirations as Auburn leads the SEC with a 16-1 overall record including a 4-0 mark in the SEC while Alabama is 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the league.

Prior to Wednesday’s big game, Bryan Passink provided his preview of the contest on The Gary Harris Show.

After facing uncertainty with the absence of Austin Wiley and Daniel Purifoy and losing to Division II member Barry University in an exhibition game before the regular season, the CTSN color analyst relayed his surprise at Auburn’s 16-1 start.

“No, I didn’t and especially when they lost their exhibition game to a Division II team after all of what went down that you just described went down. I don’t think anybody anticipated this.” Passink said.

Prior to the start of the season, the media picked the Crimson Tide to finish fourth in the SEC. As the team has battled through injuries to Braxton Key, Riley Norris and Donta Hall, Passink cites the changing nature of the roster as a reason for Alabama arriving at their 11-6 record.

“Expectations were really high for this season, but when you look at the roster, this roster is much different than the roster that was predicted to be in the top four or five of the SEC and a top 25 team.” Passink said.

Concerning Donta Hall, the former Alabama guard evaluated the short term loss to Hall due to injury and his impact on Alabama.

“It’s a huge loss. I would have made the argument that Donta Hall was the most improved player in the SEC before he got hurt.” Passink said. “We knew what Donta could do on the defensive end in his first couple of years and he has rebounded the ball at a higher clip, leads the team in rebounding, but what he’s done offensively has been really impressive.”

Later in the conversation, the CTSN color analyst broke down the keys for Wednesday’s clash including the individual matchup at guard between Alabama’s Colin Sexton and Auburn’s Jared Harper.

Catch The Gary Harris Show every weekday from 9-11 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 and the Tide 102.9 app.

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