01/26 at 12:06 AM

A sellout crowd.

Standing room only. Two deep, actually.

DeWanna Bonner bobblehead day.

What more do you want?

An Auburn victory?

How ’bout fries with that?

How about 20 wins, zero losses?

How about Auburn 82, Tennessee 68?

How about 12,067 fans?

How about … wait, 12,067 fans? The largest ever to watch a live basketball game in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum under the new seat configuration?

Yep.

I guess it is great to be an Auburn Tiger. Especially when they’re undefeated and just defeated the best women’s college basketball program to bounce a ball.

Pat Summitt’s 999th victory will have to wait.

This is Auburn’s time.

And it’s great.

The sixth-ranked Tigers will most definitely move up in today’s AP poll, making them the team to beat, not only in the SEC, but in the country. Right up there with Uconn.

“Definitely,” Bonner said. “Got to be.”

These ladies are for real.

“Absolutely,” AU head coach Nell Fortner said. “Absolutely.”

For. Real.

“They picked us apart,” Summitt said.

And now they’re picking up speed.

And people are starting to notice.

“It’s about time these Auburn fans got to the gym to watch their women play basketball,” Summitt said. “We’ve been fortunate at Tennessee. Our fans love basketball …

“I think it’s great that Auburn had this kind of crowd today and they have been having bigger crowds. This community needs to get behind their team. Not just while they’re winning, but every time they play. They have a special team.”

Sunday was special.

“It was awesome,” point guard Whitney Boddie said. “(The fans) were out there before we were there.

“That’s the reason we came to Auburn, to play in big games in front of crowds like this.”

And to win in front of a crowd like this.

“I was just so excited because it was so loud. It took a while to get a crowd like that,” Bonner said. “We never had a crowd like that … We started from nothing, and now the crowd keeps growing. “I couldn’t even find a parking spot … at my own game.”

Get used to it. Winning does that.

“For Auburn, it was truly a magical day,” Fortner said. “From walking out there at the beginning of the game, seeing the arena with that many people in it and playing a game of that magnitude …

“I can’t say enough about these fans and them coming out the way they did. And the growth of this program over the last five years. I’ll work as hard as I can to keep that going.”

So jump on.

The bandwagon’s not full … yet.

MIKE SZVETITZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.