Post game

[Win4AU 4,052]

Thankfully this team should only get better.  If Auburn doesn't make NIT next year then Bruce might feel some heat.  The talent here and on its way should make this team a beast. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Heard a good quote today on an Auburn radio show: "Auburn fans are finally angry about Auburn Basketball..."

Pretty striking there. Whether you notice it or not, the culture is changing.

[autigeremt 6,569]

If we don't get into the dance next season Pearl will be on his last leg.

But honestly....Auburn has a long ways to go to be a sustained force in Men's Basketball. We will have some really good years mixed in with some poor and mediocre but there is only room for 25-30 elite programs in the country and another 30 or so better than average programs. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see us as one of those top 50 programs anytime soon.

[au302 2,669]

7 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

If we don't get into the dance next season Pearl will be on his last leg.

But honestly....Auburn has a long ways to go to be a sustained force in Men's Basketball. We will have some really good years mixed in with some poor and mediocre but there is only room for 25-30 elite programs in the country and another 30 or so better than average programs. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see us as one of those top 50 programs anytime soon.

Yea we just aren't a basketball school at all and we'll never be a power. Best case is a tournament every 3-4 years and NIT between. Even if Pearl has a bad year next year we really should keep him. We're not going to get anyone better. Best case is BP brings back tony Jones or a good assistant. I think we get better next year. The offseason is huge. The pieces are in place it's now about meshing them. I also like how we have some defensive minded guys coming next year. 

[AUGoo 2,659]

34 minutes ago, autigeremt said:

If we don't get into the dance next season Pearl will be on his last leg.

 

I wouldn't put any cut and dried conditions out there.

Just keep getting better.

[jared52 4,354]

49 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

Heard a good quote today on an Auburn radio show: "Auburn fans are finally angry about Auburn Basketball..."

Pretty striking there. Whether you notice it or not, the culture is changing.

Fans have been angry for a long time. It's just now getting to the point where it's mindblowing that AU is so far down in the SEC that climbing out is getting harder.

[tigeraddikt 1,590]

4 hours ago, gr82b4au said:

Thank goodness this wretched season is over. Wow that was painful. 

Amen. Started good, got bad, ended worse.

[AU64 10,122]

9 minutes ago, AUGoo said:

I wouldn't put any cut and dried conditions out there.

Just keep getting better.

Agree....a school like AU is always faced with the question of:  who are you likely to get that will do a better job ?   What we need to see IMO is more development of the players.  It's a waste to bring in the quality players who have arrived at AU in the last two years and see so little improvement in their basic basketball fundamentals.

BP probably has a long leash as long as we are competitive and he recruits well....and his players show improvement while under his direction. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

I was very disappointed with this last game and as I said in an earlier post some of that was on the coaches and some was on the players. There have been times this year I have heard Pearl telling the players what to do and they just didn't do it. Partly it is because they are young and immature and also partly I believe their ego's make them think they are better than they are and they know better than the coaches.

A loss like this to a team like Missouri has the potential to make the players take stock and realize that they have work to do. Despite all the blown leads and the minor collapse at the end of the season we were in the position to win at least 4-6 more games. In the past we didn't have enough talent to get big leads to blow. We have very good talent but not quite elite talent. If each of the returning players improve by 10% and the three new players are able to help us overcome the loss of Johnson and Dunans we will be a lot better next year.

There is no doubt that Wiley with a year of strength and conditioning will be much better we will have Spencer back. I don't want to minimize how disappointed I am with the way we played at the end of the season but I also don't want to get in a funk and overlook the talent that we have. 

The 10% improvement has to be in rebounding, Defense and finding a facilitator. Even though we can score in bunches this year we also had to many cold spells where if the three wasn't going in we were not moving the ball and getting any easy baskets in the half court sets.

Individually:

Wiley needs to get Stronger quicker, work on FT's and work on his hands

Harper has to become an assist man who can score

Herron is most complete just get a little better on every aspect of his game

Purifoy must go to the basket more, Rebound more and realize as a 3 he will be bigger that a lot of threes and needs to take them down low and punish them

Spencer needs to rebound better and develop some type of post game

McLemore needs to add a mid range jump shot and keep hustling

Brown needs to realize he is a pure shooter and not try and take people off the dribble. Or he has to improve his ball handling skills.

That is a pretty good 7 man rotation now add the transfer and two freshman and we should have talent and depth with a year experience for the returning players.

 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

TCU just beat Kansas and could very well run the rest of that tournament. Win looks pretty good over them now.

[milehighfan 1,239]

8 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Purifoy doesn't like to do this, if you watch his games. Heron and Dunnans, yes but not DP.

He likes to shoot the outside shot and not look to slash to the basket. He needs to spend more time around the basket when he is not shooting, and then he can get more FTs.

I get so aggravated seeing the opposition go to the FT line and make most of their opportunities. Then I watch Auburn's masonry lineup throw up brick after brick. This isn't a problem that crept up this year. This is a problem that has plagued the team for years. Answer me why at crunch time is Dunans always in the game and taking shots like last night? When it comes to shooting, especially from the FT line, he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

[au302 2,669]

I've heard a lot of people say BP isn't developing the talent well. While I can see why people say that, it seems to me like he's done a solid job developing individual talent but not developing team talent. Look at a guy like Bryce Brown, he was only like a three star and we were his only main offer, and Bruce has gotten him to the point that he can shoot a very high percent from three and put up double digits in the SEC on any given night. McLemores another example of a guy I wasn't expecting much from who's come along nicely. 

I think Bruce has gotten these guys individually better this season, but I think he needs to mold that individual talent into team talent. That means getting them to buy in and play together. Hopefully Davion can be the assist guy we desperately need

[milehighfan 1,239]

I have to admit I really like McLemore. He has got an industrial strength pair of PF Fliers. He sure seems to be able to jump higher, (when he wants to )

[TigerTennis80 343]

I wonder if this last (excruciating) loss will finally be a difference maker for these guys. There's not another game for them to play to try to get this bad taste out of their mouths, so they have to live with it the whole offseason. Maybe that discomfort will finally get them to some self-examination, to some recognition that they're going to have to be smart & do the little things & the "dirty work" (primarily team defense & rebounding) to win games at this level. Individual talent--and we genuinely have a lot of that--only gets you so far at this level. Time & time again I watched this team play well, build a good lead, & then totally quit doing what got them the lead in the 1st place. They started with the street ball 1-on-1 stuff, jacking up 3s 7 seconds into the shot clock, no more defense & rebounding. Ugh! They may be the most frustrating team I've ever watched in any sport. I see the talent, so I'm hoping that some good comes out of this awful ending. I'm hoping the bad taste spurs them into next year so that we see a good team & not just a team with some good players.

[AU64 10,122]

Seems like the way this game wound down pretty much mirrored about a half dozen other games that we lost......usually starting with a nice lead getting away....and how did that happen?     some unforced turnovers, some non-existent defense during the last 10 minutes accompanied by a stretch when the opponents get about 90% of the rebounds and of course some bad clock management and finally some missed FTs at crucial moments.

So there it is......recipe for losing a game that could have been won. 

The question is:   What can BP do in the off season to prevent a repeat of this kind of behavior.

[au302 2,669]

At the beginning of the second half when we made our run and took the lead i remember BP running some full court press, and guys were playing with energy and it was pretty effective. Then all of a sudden he called it off and next thing you know Mizzou is back in the game. I guess he was worried about our guys getting beat in transition but I don't get why he went away from that

[AUGoo 2,659]

3 hours ago, milehighfan said:

I get so aggravated seeing the opposition go to the FT line and make most of their opportunities. Then I watch Auburn's masonry lineup throw up brick after brick. This isn't a problem that crept up this year. This is a problem that has plagued the team for years. Answer me why at crunch time is Dunans always in the game and taking shots like last night? When it comes to shooting, especially from the FT line, he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Awesome.