DURHAM, NC | If you may, hop in a DeLorean DMC-12, travel back to 2014, and try to explain this fact to someone: Auburn is playing Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The reactions? Oh, that’s a cupcake for the Blue Devils. Coach K will have his boys run over anyone who coaches the Tigers. This might be the worst match of the night.

Now open your eyes and see what’s at stake for Bruce Pearl’s team on Wednesday night at one of college basketball’s most historic arenas. Auburn comes in at No. 2 as a higher-ranked team, fresh off an incredible performance in Maui, where the Tigers fought their way to the title. The Blue Devils, now without their vaunted head coach, had already lost two games before December. Auburn? Yes, undefeated, won four games against Quad 1 teams.

It’s a game that shows you not only where Auburn is as a program, but what this team is capable of in 2024-25. The Tigers have the first National Player of the Year candidate in Johni Broome, a supporting group full of guys who can play on any given night and, perhaps most importantly to Pearl, a tenacious attitude on the defensive side of the field.

There will be several high-profile matchups during the SEC/ACC Challenge, including just eight miles down the road from where I’m currently sitting in Chapel Hill as Alabama looks to defeat North Carolina. But don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: All eyes in the college basketball world will be on the action at the famed 9,314-seat arena, home to legends like Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, Shane Battier and… well yes, I could go on and on about the long list of Blue Devils who have made Cameron a special place for every basketball fan.

But for once neither the home team nor the Cameron Crazies will be the highlight. I’m confident that when Duke fans saw Auburn appear on the schedule, they felt some respect, but not the amount they deserved in the first month of the season. Pearl put together arguably the most demanding non-conference schedule in the country and ensured this team was tested early and often. To date, the Tigers have passed this test with flying colors.

If voters had been watching the AP or Coaches poll, Auburn would already be at the top of the rankings. But like every year, if you’re not a so-called “blue blood,” you have to earn the respect of people across the country. A win in Cameron would go a long way to raising expectations and respect for these Tigers even further, and if my flight here and the Raleigh-Durham airport are any indication, more than many Auburn fans will be trying to get the Tigers to win win personally.

It might be a game in December, and Pearl and his team have much bigger goals than a non-conference win early in the season, but that’s not the point, is it?

No, on Wednesday night all of college basketball will turn its attention to Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the main reason is Auburn.

Fix your flux capacitor now and let everyone in the past know that this is the case.