Auburn Loses Exhibition

[jared52 4,354]

It is strange that the difference in AU and a D2 school is just 2 players.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Show

He's brought in talent AU hasn't had in a while.

Substance

Barry 100 Auburn 95

[jared52 4,354]

Just now, SumterAubie said:

Show

He's brought in talent AU hasn't had in a while.

Substance

Barry 100 Auburn 95

Fair enough. I'm just not anywhere close to ready to see him off.

[keesler 5,923]

24 minutes ago, jared52 said:

He's brought in talent AU hasn't had in a while. This was going to be the year they had a real shot to make the tournament and the assistant forced on him screwed him over. AU would be lucky to keep Pearl after this all settles.

 

If he turns in another meh season, then why would AU consider themselves lucky to keep him?  

It's not like other programs courting Pearl.

[AUApostle 7,648]

Give this team a little bit of time to develop early in the season.  The FBI thing is/was a huge distraction.  They've obviously not gotten passed it and decided to play to their capabilities.  They'll figure it out.

[Tiger 8,817]

1 hour ago, SumterAubie said:

Show

He's brought in talent AU hasn't had in a while.

Substance

Barry 100 Auburn 95

Who should we get to replace him? Maybe Coach K or Bill Self will come on down. Hey I heard Pitino is out of a job. 

Bruce was the best and most accomplished coach in AU bball history the moment he was hired. Your "substance" needs an asterisk by it because prior this FBI bullshirt Pearl had us positioned better than any other AU bball team since the early 2000s. Almost 2 decades. But a rogue assistant took 2 of our star players away just before the season started. This was the first year that Pearl could actually be judged on because he had finally built the program without having to rely on temporary fixes just to have enough bodies to practice. 

Are there aspects of AU bball that could be better? Yes. Defense, offensive efficiency, moving without the ball, perimeter D, communication, all of these things could be better and are on the coach but if we could just grow together the pieces were coming together. Unfortunately we probably won't get to see the full progress and while I'm just as disheartened as you, Bruce Pearl is not the problem. In fact, BP >>>> AU basketball and we are lucky as shiz to have him and if he leaves I'd bet my house we downgrade in the coaching department. We will NEVER hire a coach with BPs credentials ever again. 

 

/rant over

[auburnphan 6,050]

The team took an emotional kick to the nuts yesterday, lets hope that is all that it was.

[Tiger 8,817]

24 minutes ago, auburnphan said:

The team took an emotional kick to the nuts yesterday, lets hope that is all that it was.

I hope you're right, Phan. The news certainly felt like a punch to the gut for ME, imagine how the team processed it. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

I was at game. Players looked frustrated. Obvious talent difference between Auburn and Barry but they were REALLY sound fundamentally. If they play their whole season like that, they'll win most games and end up back in the tournament again (they were in the D2 NCAA Tourney last year). That point guard of there's was every bit of an sec point guard if he wanted to be. 

Honestly I don't think this is an indication of how the team will fare. I think they were very distracted with everything going on around the program, and don't think they took this game very seriously. Lots of stuff to work on. Glad it happened now rather than in the season. I'll post some notes about what I saw personally from the players. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

I was expecting to come in this morning and see where we had blown out a Division II team. I knew that Wiley and Purifoy were out but I honestly expected that we had more than enough talent to match up. I was especially disappointed to see the same issues as last year poor defense and rebounding. 

I am hoping that because two of their teammates were caught up in the Person issue that they were pre-occupied by this and that they can try and put it behind them and start concentrating on Basketball.  While I know we are not big. We still should have more than enough talent without Person and Wiley to beat teams like this.

[AuburnNTexas 7,127]

2 hours ago, jared52 said:

It is strange that the difference in AU and a D2 school is just 2 players.

While the loss of those players hurt. It probably had as much to do with the distraction around the Person issue as it did with talent. That plus we lost both of them basically day before this game so had to make adjustments on the fly. Next few games where we have a chance to put the distraction behind us and practice with the players we know will be starters for a while should tell us more about the quality of this team.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Guards: 

Harper- Looked a little smarter on the floor than last year. Defensively was not as good but Pearl said this was an anomaly for him. Look for him to be more of a manager, less of a scorer this year. He'll still get his points but he does look a bit smarter with the ball.

 

Davion Mitchell- 5* freshman. Good defensively, definitely a game manager. Looks to be in good SEC shape already. Think he'll be more of a distributor. The only thing with him will be how he handles pressure in D1 basketball. Pearl says this is his best defender. 

 

Brown- Shot was off last night. Much better defender than previous years. Might be a little less under conditioned than that Barry PG though because he got beat late a few times in the shot clock. Better slasher than years past but missed a couple layups. 

 

Heron- good. As usual. Defensively not great but head and shoulders the most talented player on the court in terms of ability to will a bucket or a stop. 

 

Dunbar- Looked nervous. He was jittery all night and dropped the ball in a few clutch moments. Pearl said Dunbar may have been "thinking instead of plying." I think this is a good representation of things for him. He'll be productive for us when he gets comfortable. 

 

Murray- Potential there but obviously hasn't played on a team where he's not the main scorer. He should be productive through the season, as he had some really nice passes and drives. Defensively was bad and threw up some really stupid shots, though.

 

FORWARDS

Okeke - Most talented player besides Heron on the court. Will need to develop, but ball skills and basketball IQ are both high. Not great on D but not bad. Seemed to be a trend that guys forgot defense last night. 

 

Spencer- Good for a flashy play or two a game but not great for consistent production. Made a high flying dunk, and then blocked two shots in a row out of bounds. Very next inbound, got a shot made right over him. You get what you get with him. He'll be a body to plug in a produce a little though. 

 

Mclemore- The guy is undersized but he's a player. He's not an Austin Wiley, but has obviously developed his offensive game a bit, and rebounded like a champ at times last night. Very excited about Mclemores development. Defense could have used a little work, but didn't really have much to defend. Did his job in terms of rebounding and toughness.

We've got nine guys who will contribute without Wiley and Purifoy. Get those guys back, and we are 11 deep. 

We're pretty deep and we look as if we certainly have the TALENT to make the dance. The question will be in he chemistry of the team. They cannot get discouraged about their teammates or distracted by outside pressures. They seemed distracted last night and I think that's what I chalk that up to. Coaches will figure out ways to win. Louisville player getting cleared last night was big news for college bball because it may begin to show a trend towards these players being cleared all over the country. I think merley some good news is what this team needs more than anything. 

 

 

 

 

 

[KolchakAU85 430]

This was embarrassing.

I live near Huntsville, so it's hard for me to attend more than one or two games per year.  But if I walk into that arena this year and see Chuck Person's jersey still hanging in honor, I may not go back.

[KolchakAU85 430]

Wow, what must Pearl be thinking right now?

After what happened at Tennessee, if he leaves Auburn under this dark cloud, he'll never coach again above the high school level.  He must feel he's stuck for the long haul, which in a way is good for us.  He'll have to show stability and make everyone forget about this Chuck Person inspired debacle before he will ever have a chance to coach anywhere else.

I see all manner of vitriol spewed toward Chuck Person (all deserved), but I don't see much about the damage caused by the parent(s) of both Wiley and Purifoy.  They must have had a hard time explaining to their sons that if they hadn't taken the bribe money, their sons would still be playing.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

IT really is all about the defense. Defense takes EFFORT. It looks like we learned nothing from last year. 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

I’d never even heard of this school until last night. So there’s that.

[AU64 10,122]

37 minutes ago, NoALtiger said:

I’d never even heard of this school until last night. So there’s that.

Yep that stings....but they are well known in their level of play.....and it was practice after all....just ask  Iverson about that

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=ymyy-t-999&p=practice...you+mean+we+are+talking+about+practice#id=2&vid=0028ac6dcd01075d7b4ab904a1b23561&action=click

[gonefhin 8]

3 hours ago, KolchakAU85 said:

This was embarrassing.

I live near Huntsville, so it's hard for me to attend more than one or two games per year.  But if I walk into that arena this year and see Chuck Person's jersey still hanging in honor, I may not go back.

As I said earlier. They have take all the jerseys down. Arena is bare no trace of basketball   I think they are getting ready for gymnastics to take over ?

 

 

[gonefhin 8]

1 hour ago, AU64 said:

Yep that stings....but they are well known in their level of play.....and it was practice after all....just ask  Iverson about that

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=ymyy-t-999&p=practice...you+mean+we+are+talking+about+practice#id=2&vid=0028ac6dcd01075d7b4ab904a1b23561&action=click

Barry has a great music program. And a better basketball team than ours. 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

On 11/3/2017 at 2:06 PM, tigerbrotha12 said:

I was at game. Players looked frustrated. Obvious talent difference between Auburn and Barry but they were REALLY sound fundamentally. If they play their whole season like that, they'll win most games and end up back in the tournament again (they were in the D2 NCAA Tourney last year). That point guard of there's was every bit of an sec point guard if he wanted to be. 

Honestly I don't think this is an indication of how the team will fare. I think they were very distracted with everything going on around the program, and don't think they took this game very seriously. Lots of stuff to work on. Glad it happened now rather than in the season. I'll post some notes about what I saw personally from the players. 

I hope you are right. the point total is surprising. A bunch of new faces struggling is nothing unusual, team drama causing distractions is nothing unusual, letting a good DII team embarrass you isn't all that unusual either. The thing that worries me is primarily the point total. We have to defend better, end of story. IF we don't a repeat of last year is in store. 

[Tiger 8,817]

I didn't know where to put this but does anyone think our basketball staff as a whole could be better? I mean Steven Pearl is basically a Kodi/Lashlee hire and definitely not qualified.

[TigerOne 1,138]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

I didn't know where to put this but does anyone think our basketball staff as a whole could be better? I mean Steven Pearl is basically a Kodi/Lashlee hire and definitely not qualified.

I can agree with that. Bruce needs some help that will keep him in line, focused and add expertise.

Person didn't really bring anything to the table, it was all under it.

[Tiger 8,817]

1 minute ago, TigerOne said:

I can agree with that. Bruce needs some help that will keep him in line, focused and add expertise.

Person didn't really bring anything to the table, it was all under it.

haha I see what you did there. I really want to know what Tony Jones' real reason for leaving AU was. Not like he went on to greener pastures. I see university of Oakland hired him in June as an assistant coach. I wonder if he just didn't like being in Auburn.

[gravejd 3,268]

Season starts in a couple days.....was there another exhibition game planned on was this it? Was hoping to see a little bounce back before the games started to count

[auburn4ever 1,266]

That was an awful showing by Auburn and it's coaching staff.