auburn looks to get back on winning track

Auburn University had plenty to celebrate on Monday.

The school's football team won its first national championship since 1957 with a 22-19 victory over the Oregon Ducks in the BCS National Championship game at Glendale, Arizona.

After the game, toilet paper was thrown in the trees in Toomer's Corner, which is a tradition at the Alabama school.

Hopefully, the same thing can happen to the women's basketball team this winter.

But first, the Tigers are focusing on getting a winning season. After losing to Vanderbilt 67-59 on Sunday, Auburn is 9-7 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. Last winter, the Tigers finished 15-16 after ending their season with a loss to Kentucky in the conference tournament.

Two seasons ago, Auburn, led by standout DeWanna Bonner, finished 30-4 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was the Tigers' best season since the later 1980s.

A year ago, the Tigers got off to a 9-4 start in non-conference play. But when the SEC season arrived, Auburn struggled, going 5-11, including a pair of four-game losing streaks.

Last winter, Alli Smalley was the team's top scorer (15 points per game) and Jordan Greenleaf was the Tigers' top rebounder (7.1 boards per game). This year, Smalley is the team's top scorer (12.3 ppg) and Greenleaf is the top rebounder (7.8 rpg).

Smalley and Greenleaf are also the only seniors on the Auburn squad. They lead a team that has a combined eight freshmen and sophomores.

After a 1-4 start, Auburn has won eight of its last 11 games. The Tigers started their SEC season with wins over Alabama and Florida before losing to Vanderbilt on Sunday. Against the Commodores, Auburn came back to tie the game at 33-33 in the opening minutes of the second half. But Vandy later went on a 17-4 run to prevent the Tigers from going 3-0 in league play.

"We had a tough run there in the second half," Auburn coach Nell Fortner said in the Opelika-Auburn News on Monday. "Vanderbilt went on a 17-4 run and that pretty much sunk us at that point. We fought back and battled back hard, but seven turnovers during that run sealed our fate."

The Tigers have a home game on Thursday against Ole Miss and another one on Sunday against LSU. Auburn plays Tennessee at home on Jan. 23.

Auburn has a total of 17 national championships, most of them come from swimming and diving.

In order for the women's basketball team to bring home the school's 18th national title, it must get past powerhouses such as UConn, Baylor, Tennessee, Stanford, Duke among others.

The Tigers played in the national championship game three consecutive times (1988-1990), but they didn't win any of them. Hopefully, the fourth time will be the charm for Auburn.

Save some more toilet paper for April, Auburn.

Big jump: Iowa and Arkansas tied for the biggest jump among the top 25 in this week's polls. Both schools moved up five spots from last week's polls.

Iowa jumped from 21st to 16th after getting Big Ten wins over Minnesota and Ohio State. The Hawkeyes are 14-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play. They play at Michigan State on Thursday.

Iowa climbed to the .500 mark in conference play after beating Ohio State 89-76 in a nationally-televised game on CBS Saturday.

"A great win," Iowa senior Kachine Alexander said in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on Sunday. "I'm still wrapped up in everything...how excited we were in the lockerroom. It feels like our team is really embracing it."

Arkansas jumped from 25th to 20th after getting wins over Mississippi State and Kentucky last week. The Razorbacks are 14-1 overall and 2-1 in SEC play. They play a home game on Thursday against Georgia, which beat Kentucky on Sunday.

Welcome aboard, Miami and Green Bay: The Miami Hurricanes and the Green Bay Phoenix enter this week's polls at 22nd and 23rd respectively.

The Hurricanes, who are in the polls for the first time this year, improved to 14-1 after beating Virginia and Virginia Tech last week. Miami will take a 15-game winning streak into Wednesday's home game against Clemson. The Hurricanes haven't lost since Nov. 17.

Green Bay, which returned to the polls after a four-week absence, bumped its record to 15-1 after getting Horizon League road wins over Cleveland State and Youngstown State last week. The Phoenix play a home game against Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday.