What is off about this team?

[tigeraddikt 1,599]

Reality is the SEC is definitely up, and AU is a targeted team now, but there is something definitely off about this team. Reminds me of the 99-2000 team that returned all those Sweet 16 starters, only to underachieve. We definitely miss Wiley, but we didn't have Wiley last year and were a ton better. Some of my ideas are:

1. Doughty ain't no Heron. Heron underwhelmed me much of the time with mousey 1st-half efforts, but his quiet confidence and leadership have not been replaced. 

2. Mitchell was a LOT more talented than McCormick. Even in a small, backup role. Mitchell could lock down opposing guards at times. 

3. McLemore broke his leg and hasn't quite regained form. He's had flashes and isn't far off, but isn't as productive as last season. Admittedly, some of this is due to Wiley's availability, playing the 5.

4. Okeke has been 1 of the most singularly disappointing players I've seen in a while. Such high potential that his laid-back demeanor isn't allowing him to yet fulfill. Don't know if he'll ever live up to it, honestly. Hope lightning strikes and he finds some competitive gusto before his jr. and/or sr. seasons. He totally has time, just needs to turn the corner.

5. I guess we miss Murray more than we could have known, but who knows?

8. This team's chemistry is just not what it was last year pre-McLemore injury. Purifoy isn't really helping. Wiley wasn't the world-beating beast we'd hoped him to be. Doughty and Okeke are no-shows in league play. Harper and Brown are carrying the team with leadership and savvy, but they lack size and can't do it all themselves.

What say y'all?

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

People thought losing the five star stud and tough as nails undersized dude with grit and replacing them with midmajor transfers would equal a better team. 

[tigeraddikt 1,599]

I also believe Pearl has to take a long look in the mirror and review his coaching and leadership of this particular mix of guys. Something(s) just ain't working.

[AUBwins 10,074]

We can't finish. Regardless of foul trouble, we were there and couldn't finish. We needed this one. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,656]

Pearl's offensive system sucks, quite frankly

if you have to depend on guards hitting an irregular amount of 3s consistently, without running any half court plays, you were doomed from the start

[AUTigersfan89 256]

They look at the scoreboard too much. There's a direct correlation between their effort and the point deficit they face. If they never knew the score, I think we'd be much better. I guess this boils down a mental thing that's off.

[KolchakAU85 430]

4 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Pearl's offensive system sucks, quite frankly

if you have to depend on guards hitting an irregular amount of 3s consistently, without running any half court plays, you were doomed from the start

Yes, thank you.  We have no freaking offensive identity.  Our offensive strategy is "Jack it up baby.  Just jack it up".

[Scottie 124]

I was wondering the last couple of games, and a few items seem to ring true (even from last year):

• Urgency of better selection of shots isn't there until they are down big, or almost that is when it seems as that is when they play better because there is less stress
• Hero ball is played far too often
• Lack of effort/size going for the rebound
• Poor free throw shooting
• Lack of higher percentage shots/Live by the 3 die by the 3
• Lack of chemistry/trust amongst the team

Granted this is from what I can tell just listening to the game and watching the missed shots on an app. I could be completely wrong, but these seem like coach-able things to fix.

[KolchakAU85 430]

And Mac has had 2 (IMHO) bad games in a row.

[KolchakAU85 430]

Does anyone other than me think we look somewhat "easy to defend"?

[mustache eagle 2,397]

It’s easy ... Murray and heron are no longer on the team. Murray was the heart of this team off the court and both of these guys were while on the court.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

The chemistry of this team Has been off all year. I knew we were in trouble after uab. We just are not a good “team” at times. 

We have some unreal pieces. We have talent all over the place. No WAY we should have lost to Usc  - they are not any good. 

BP had his best coaching job last year. Amazing. This year may be his worst... so far. Good news is that unlike football, you can still have terrible games and make the tourney. He better turn it around soon or we are in trouble. Ms St is next and they are better than USC. 

[cole256 17,042]

Just read any posts I made before the season started as far as what the team was going to have to deal with and it's all there....

[AURex 1,993]

I've said before and will say again -- this year size matters. Take a look at Auburn vs UK, just a screenshot view from a distance. At every position, Auburn is 3-6 inches shorter than UK. Look at AU vs USC tonight. Every position, AU is 3-5 inches shorter. That's acceptable if you can shoot over or run around those taller guys offensively, and steal the ball to nullify their size defensively. But when they are halfway decent players and you end up playing half court at both ends .......

As a result, Auburn players foul far too often in attempting to defend, and end up taking really difficult shots inside and too many poor shots outside that are lower percentage -- all due to size.

Last year, with Heron and Murray, Auburn was able to mitigate the lack of size by outscoring teams due to the threat (and reality) of bombing away from the outside, which also opened up more opportunities closer in.

This year ---  well, Auburn really misses Heron and Murray -- and size is killing them. Even if Wiley was on the floor, I'm not convinced the UK and USC games would have magically turned into wins.

Auburn is going to have a difficult season. I'm hoping the guys can find ways to put together enough wins to make the tourney.

 

 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

1 hour ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Pearl's offensive system sucks, quite frankly

if you have to depend on guards hitting an irregular amount of 3s consistently, without running any half court plays, you were doomed from the start

Bingo. We have to have a plan B if the 3s are not hitting. To me it's simple as just driving the ball....go to the FT. I'm going to keep begging for this. Plus our defense is not good right now.

[CameronCrazy 1,059]

Doughty is no Mustapha Heron. Heron had his faults, but he brought rebounding, toughness, free-throw shooting, and another scorer. We’ve lost production at the 3 spot, plain and simple. 

The hope I have for this team is Okeke, Wiley, and Purifoy living up to their potential by the end of the year. I’ve said it before, this team will go as far as Chuma Okeke pushes himself to go.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,656]

2 hours ago, WarEagle1983 said:

Bingo. We have to have a plan B if the 3s are not hitting. To me it's simple as just driving the ball....go to the FT. I'm going to keep begging for this. Plus our defense is not good right now.

I just don’t think there’s an emphasis on driving from the top down. Coaches don’t prioritize it if the shot isn’t falling, Harper does it enough to where you can’t clown him about it, but he’s sporadic in that sense and isn’t the greatest finisher ever. Bryce just doesn’t and refuses to. Samir tries but it ends up taking 15 seconds, and no one else is really able to. The post up options between Chuma, Wiley and Danjel haven’t existed largely. They ignore Austin most of the time when he does have position and don’t even run plays for the latter two. Out of a roster of ~11 contributors, three currently are tasked with initiating the offense from the key and none of them are good at it, and obviously the auxiliary pieces are made even worse by it

 

a worthwhile defensive coach should be able to demolish our offensive identity goin forward, and maybe we get lucky and shots fall like vs UK, but the earlier part of that game is likely the norm in any match up vs size (we don’t get a lot of calls admittedly, but we also can’t stay with guys on the other end)

[doverstutts 1,643]

11 hours ago, tigeraddikt said:

Okeke has been 1 of the most singularly disappointing players I've seen in a while

this

[twilli13 600]

7 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I just don’t think there’s an emphasis on driving from the top down. Coaches don’t prioritize it if the shot isn’t falling, Harper does it enough to where you can’t clown him about it, but he’s sporadic in that sense and isn’t the greatest finisher ever. Bryce just doesn’t and refuses to. Samir tries but it ends up taking 15 seconds, and no one else is really able to. The post up options between Chuma, Wiley and Danjel haven’t existed largely. They ignore Austin most of the time when he does have position and don’t even run plays for the latter two. Out of a roster of ~11 contributors, three currently are tasked with initiating the offense from the key and none of them are good at it, and obviously the auxiliary pieces are made even worse by it

 

a worthwhile defensive coach should be able to demolish our offensive identity goin forward, and maybe we get lucky and shots fall like vs UK, but the earlier part of that game is likely the norm in any match up vs size (we don’t get a lot of calls admittedly, but we also can’t stay with guys on the other end)

We dont drive enough and when we do, we often have problems finishing. We also lack any consistent low post scoring presence, forcing us to drive or just jack up 3s. Chuma is the only one of those 3 I can really see getting better in low post. I just dont think Wiley has it in him at this point. Hes huge and 5% body fat, yet always looks a little slow and stiff to me with his back to the basket. I hope I'm wrong and he can get it going. Purifoy literally has no inside game and is rather stiff too. Chuma looks fluid at times, but looks timid to me. Pearl desperately needs inside scorers. And none of our guys seem to be able to pass when posted up. 

[jluvah 664]

No true big man who can out muscle the other guy without fouling(out)

[bigbird 60,466]

A few things....

We have two players starting that stop the flow of the ball. Both dribble in place for 5+ seconds and either jack up a three, try a weak drive, or get turned over.

We don't have any player that can create their own shot besides Harper

We don't have anyone that can remotely finish at the rim consistently

We don't reward our bigs for working hard to establish position

Our off ball movement is slow, uninspired, or without purpose

We ignore mismatches Down low. Our guards think that if a switch happens and a big steps out it means to jack a 3

Our fast break O is more concerned about the highlight than the points so we miss a lot of easy opportunities.

We give up too many offensive boards and look lost on the resets.

 

[DAG 33,965]

I am starting to think Bruce Pearl is our Mark Jackson , but where is the next Steve Kerr. And no this is not a knock on Pearl if you get the context .

[AU64 10,122]

Despite the issues I still think we win more than half our SEC games and make the big dance .... about a 6 or 7. 

Watching them play however it still makes me laugh ...our guys looking to go NBA  last year and getting their evaluations. 

[PUB78 1,358]

Looks like our SEC expectations for this team will fall far short. I hope they can regroup with Wiley back and make a strong run in the SEC and hopefully, NCAA tournament.

[Tiger 8,818]

We can still hit our stride at the right time. Wiley being out does not help a team trying to find it's groove. I don't think our losses without Wiley will hurt us in the eyes of the committee as much because the scores have been so close. Don't they consider that? We are a 3rd scorer away from looking a lot better. Our poor defense needs that 3rd scoring weapon to make the difference. And truthfully, Wiley does not look polished enough down low and Chuma has flatly not stepped up to the plate from a scoring perspective.

Also we don't do the little things well enough. We don't have that a "hustle guy". Closest is Dunbar but Bruce doesn't trust him enough to give him a ton of minutes at a time. Sometimes he has a few moments where he just hurts the team sandwiched between great plays but then he has nights like last night where is essentially a liability from start to finish.

Danjel....yeah he looks like the Monstars got him. Or looks like a guy 2 years removed from any meaningful competition. 

Samir is going to need time to develop. He looks like a mid-major player transitioning into an SEC guy. You can see his flashes but you can also see where the size/speed of everyone overwhelms him. It would be great if he could develop a shot off the bounce or a non-set shot. I also don't think we're putting him in his preferred position at the 3 spot where he's spending so much energy trying to defend players significantly bigger than him.