Men vs. South Carolina

[fredst 9,064]

16 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

WE HAVE to take care of business at home. I would not be suprised if we go 0 for with those 2 road games. Those are extremely tough places to play. We have not won at the O dome in Gainesville since the 90's I believe. 

Yeah. With AM those were tough games but *without* AM and the defense/rebound presence he brings....man, I don’t know...

[alexava 6,973]

Losing Anfernee is tough but i think we spank USCe at home to ease this internal pain a little. Not so great of an outlook on postseason with the loss of our little big man.

[GwillMac6 20,666]

15 minutes ago, fredst said:

Yeah. With AM those were tough games but *without* AM and the defense/rebound presence he brings....man, I don’t know...

Yes sir mr fred. Sobering times surrounding AU basketball. You know it is bad when me and you cannot even get excited about gifs and we have to be serious because sadly the moment calls for it. But back to bball talk. You are on the money unfortunately. Those were going to be our 2 toughest games all season because of the opponent and where they were at with Mac. But without him? near impossible task.

[AUTigersfan89 256]

Chuma and Horace know they are the ones who need to step up. They'll need to play smart and avoid foul trouble. Murray can also step in and play a little bit of AM's role.

[AU Is Gold 410]

The basketball forum will become unreadable if we lose to Alabama and Florida...

[PUB78 1,358]

At least Tennessee and Florida lost today. AU still has a 2-3 game lead over them for the SEC championship:

[toddc 13,194]

 Broken tibia and lots of torn ligaments, surgery Sunday! Said he would return in 4-6 months. And dislocated ankle badly, if you saw the game it was horrendous looking injury!

[Sani-Freeze 552]

1 hour ago, AUTigersfan89 said:

Chuma and Horace know they are the ones who need to step up. They'll need to play smart and avoid foul trouble. Murray can also step in and play a little bit of AM's role.

Chuma is a wing. We have one other guy who can play the 5, and he fouled out today even though Mac played most of the first half. There is no way to look at this as anything but a devastating loss. 

I don't care about the wins and the tourney, but I just feel really bad for Anfernee and all the teammates who have fought so hard for each other. 

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

24 minutes ago, toddc said:

 Broken tibia and lots of torn ligaments, surgery Sunday! Said he would return in 4-6 months. And dislocated ankle badly, if you saw the game it was horrendous looking injury!

And for those that didn't see it, be prepared. It hurts to see. It hurts to hear.

https://screengrabber.deadspin.com/auburn-loses-anfernee-mclemore-with-horrific-ankle-inju-1823105222

[Mikey 16,575]

We played poorly and got beat. I don't think there's much else to say about it. The injury had nothing to do with it, we were down 20+ when McLemore got hurt. Bad turnovers, bad shot selection, bad decisions on offense. Live to play another day, because on this day we were not a good team.

[Randman5000 4,226]

5 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I hate that logo. It took me YEARS to figure out what that s*** stain is. 

That one and the Pitt panther, what is that, T Rex???

[AU64 10,122]

8 hours ago, Mikey said:

We played poorly and got beat. I don't think there's much else to say about it. The injury had nothing to do with it, we were down 20+ when McLemore got hurt. Bad turnovers, bad shot selection, bad decisions on offense. Live to play another day, because on this day we were not a good team.

So what is going on that the team comes out not ready to play ?  Why the bad starts?  Can't shoot and turn the ball over...dig holes for themselves ?

[Mikey 16,575]

41 minutes ago, AU64 said:

So what is going on that the team comes out not ready to play ?  Why the bad starts?  Can't shoot and turn the ball over...dig holes for themselves ?

I don't know the answer to that. It has appeared for some time that if we can just stay somewhat close we can win in the last 10 minutes of a game. Whether that's conditioning or what, that's been how we've played. Example: Down 6 to Kentucky with around 9 minutes left, win by 10. I've never witnessed a team that could get as far behind as this one and still come back to win. Maybe yesterday we were trying to see how far we can get behind and still come back? If so, it's clear that 26 points is too much.

I thought we were going to win again yesterday until that mindless one-on-one charge late in the second half. We had momentum, had closed the gap to a manageable number, forced a turnover with a runout and instead of doing anything that made any sense the player I won't name here ran over the one defensive guy that got back as if he wasn't there. That's the play that made winning impossible.

[AU64 10,122]

26 minutes ago, Mikey said:

I don't know the answer to that. It has appeared for some time that if we can just stay somewhat close we can win in the last 10 minutes of a game. Whether that's conditioning or what, that's been how we've played. Example: Down 6 to Kentucky with around 9 minutes left, win by 10. I've never witnessed a team that could get as far behind as this one and still come back to win. Maybe yesterday we were trying to see how far we can get behind and still come back? If so, it's clear that 26 points is too much.

I thought we were going to win again yesterday until that mindless one-on-one charge late in the second half. We had momentum, had closed the gap to a manageable number, forced a turnover with a runout and instead of doing anything that made any sense the player I won't name here ran over the one defensive guy that got back as if he wasn't there. That's the play that made winning impossible.

Those comebacks are thrilling of course but thrice in recent weeks we have not quite been able to recover the lost ground....bad call by ref or a brain cramp by a key player or poor FT results...  About halfway though the first half I got a text from a friend asking "when does AU 's team arrive in Columbia? "    I was thinking...we usually arrive at half time but of course wondered why they could not be there for the opening tip off. 

So what goes on during pre-game ?    shooting 1 for 14 to start an important game...or going 0 for forever on Saturday from 3 plus a game's worth of turnovers by middle of the first.    If it were just Saturday, I could write it off as a bad trip....but it's been the routine lately and something that's gonna hurt in March. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

I think there are certain teams that have taken us out of our game, especially to start the game or during the first half. with TaM, it was there big men and all the passes over our players trying to front them for easy layups. It was certain players not guarding strong enough around the perimeter letting a FR guard put up 3s.

In SC, they have a very very good D, especially there guards, and they pressured Harper, trapped him, over guarded his passing areas, causing him to turn it over, even unforced 6 times in the first half. And Harper also was careless with the ball at times dribbling into heavy traffic, making passes behind his back. Then when he did get it ot other players,  there wasn't much time, and they hurried their shot, or tried to shoot very tough shots. And, when we got down by so much, then they lost confidence and simply missed open shots.

It was not until second half, with adjustments, where they had our big men come out for the pass after mid court, and our guards who were being over guarded would flash to the basket with a pass for easy layups, and then SC had to quit guarding so close, and we got back into it, but the gap was to wide to over come.

But when your field general has 9 TOs and hit only one layup and one 3 pointer, the team is going to struggle, especially on the road.

[AU64 10,122]

37 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

I think there are certain teams that have taken us out of our game, especially to start the game or during the first half. with TaM, it was there big men and all the passes over our players trying to front them for easy layups. It was certain players not guarding strong enough around the perimeter letting a FR guard put up 3s.

In SC, they have a very very good D, especially there guards, and they pressured Harper, trapped him, over guarded his passing areas, causing him to turn it over, even unforced 6 times in the first half. And Harper also was careless with the ball at times dribbling into heavy traffic, making passes behind his back. Then when he did get it ot other players,  there wasn't much time, and they hurried their shot, or tried to shoot very tough shots. And, when we got down by so much, then they lost confidence and simply missed open shots.

It was not until second half, with adjustments, where they had our big men come out for the pass after mid court, and our guards who were being over guarded would flash to the basket with a pass for easy layups, and then SC had to quit guarding so close, and we got back into it, but the gap was to wide to over come.

But when your field general has 9 TOs and hit only one layup and one 3 pointer, the team is going to struggle, especially on the road.

Good points ....but this is not just about the USCe game. 

And a couple rebuttals.  ...(1) .nothing SC did was different than they usually do and we did not look prepared for them....(2) should not have to play an entire half of ragged basketball before making adjustments.  That's what time outs are for though historically BP has not used TOs much to break the momentum of opponents who are in the process of running us out of the gym.  

Yesterday was just a variation of what we've seen against about every team we've played in a month.....made some fantastic comebacks...and fell short in others. JMO but that is not the way to go through a season....or into a tournament. 

[BJCrawford 1,568]

12 hours ago, AU Is Gold said:

The basketball forum will become unreadable if we lose to Alabama and Florida...

I hope this is not the case.....that the forum becomes a bashing session for a team that has already far exceeded what anyone could imagine.  Most would have been ecstatic just to think of winning 20 games after the Barry game. I almost feel as though we’re playing on house money. 

[steeleagle 2,945]

17 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Good points ....but this is not just about the USCe game. 

And a couple rebuttals.  ...(1) .nothing SC did was different than they usually do and we did not look prepared for them....(2) should not have to play an entire half of ragged basketball before making adjustments.  That's what time outs are for though historically BP has not used TOs much to break the momentum of opponents who are in the process of running us out of the gym.  

Yesterday was just a variation of what we've seen against about every team we've played in a month.....made some fantastic comebacks...and fell short in others. JMO but that is not the way to go through a season....or into a tournament. 

I agree too with some of your other points. No really good team, should be able to let the other team get up to almost 20 (Tam) and over 25 at times (SC) in the first half of games. We are already only playing 9 (and now 8 players). Our style of play requires at least that many players to run our offense and our relentless D.

I think it all starts with the PG. And at times Harper is good, but many times he stands out there and dribbles until 10 seconds are left. Mitchell is much more of a better penetrator and dish off type of PG, but he is so raw and not always sure of himself. 

I think it is hard to make those type of adjustments on the fly during the first half of games. Even in Football, the best adjustments come after halftime. Why? b/c I think the players absorb it and see it better in the locker room, as to on the court or field with so much noise and intensity around them.  I think Pearl can get one player's attention ,but to change the offensive sets, which I think Pearl has done during timeouts, but the players always don't adjust that quickly.

What HAS to be done, is simply not to let the leads get so so large. We can handle anything around 10, if behind, but more than that expends a lot of mental and physical energy. 

[Tiger 8,818]

On 2/18/2018 at 10:48 AM, BJCrawford said:

I hope this is not the case.....that the forum becomes a bashing session for a team that has already far exceeded what anyone could imagine.  Most would have been ecstatic just to think of winning 20 games after the Barry game. I almost feel as though we’re playing on house money. 

This is exactly how I feel. Going into the season, even pre-FBI mess, everything was pointing towards next year as being "our year". Looking at how the roster is constructed, the fact that we are having this much success right now is just incredible beyond words and I'm going to soak it all and feel ecstatic about this season in no matter if we get bounced in the first round or if we go all the way to the Final 4. This was the true foundation setting year and we are 2nd in the nation with number of underclassmen on our team. Our only senior is a former walk-on. The arrow is pointing up, up, up! Next season will be the first season of any type of expectations for Bruce and the program (if this season is indication of anything, I think we can realistically wish for a Sweet 16 appearance next season with a top 3-4 finish in the league -- obviously this can change depending on who declares for the draft etc). But I'm looking forward to seeing Bruce work his magic with a full deck finally.

Of course, if Pearl is found to be a part of some egregious wrong-doing then we will basically be back to the program we have been the last 20 years, but short of some scandalous-type of stuff he should be our coach IMO. I hope those making the final say on such decisions understand how deep of a hole our program was in when Pearl was hired and see how far he's brought us because, while the entire campus and alumni base is enjoying this right now, for those that have been following the AU basketball program for years truly understand how special and sweet this feels.

[AU64 10,122]

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 10:48 AM, BJCrawford said:

I hope this is not the case.....that the forum becomes a bashing session for a team that has already far exceeded what anyone could imagine.  Most would have been ecstatic just to think of winning 20 games after the Barry game. I almost feel as though we’re playing on house money. 

I don't think it's bashing but what the pre-season projections indicated was shown to be wrong.....happens all the time.   The thing is, the team has shown what it is capable of ......being among the conference and national elite because of good defense,  good game management and fairly accurate shooting.  . 

JMO but what we have seen thus far this year has now become the "standard" of what the team can do.....and would be a shame to see regression at this point of the season. .

[triangletiger 1,599]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 8:31 PM, doverstutts said:

come wednesday night, i have a weird feeling that malik dunbar is going to be the hero

Prescient comment on your part.  While Dunbar might not have been the only hero last night, he definitely was one of them (14 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals), and he grew as a player.