Thoughts on UT

[Tiger 8,818]

I want to take some time and give a space to reflect on our seniors Bryce Brown, Horace Spencer, and Malik Dunbar. These guys all signed with AU during a time where we had no recent basketball success to lean on to sell them on coming to AU. At a time where our roster was void of SEC caliber talent. They bought in to what Bruce was building and wanted to be a part of pulling Auburn basketball up by the boot straps and turning AU into an SEC contender - and they succeeded. These guys have seen the worst of times, fought and worked through it, and have also seen the best of times with an SEC championship ring to show for it in one of the most special AU basketball seasons in program history. And they are not done just yet but wanted to have a place to honor all that these guys have done over the years as they have one last chance in front of the AU home crowd tomorrow.

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Bryce Brown came to AU as a 3 star kid with no major offers. He was committed to UNC-Charlotte before Bruce got him to flip. This kid has gone from sulky freshman who would completely take himself out of games after a bad stretch of plays to one of our leaders. The progress he has made each year has been outstanding for our program. It's been great watching him grow game by game. He leads AU in 3 pointers made. He was an All-SEC player as a junior. When he is hot he can completely take over a game and has won games for us from behind the 3 point line. Oh man when he gets going at home and the crowd feeds off of that it's truly something else.

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Horace Spencer was Bruce's first big get at AU. Horace was a 4 star and his all-out hustle play and never scared, never back down attitude has made him a fan favorite over the years. He is the quintessential hustle guy every team needs. He epitomizes toughness. He's a glue guy through and through and has matured big time and grown over his 4 years at AU. Remember how much of a liability he was at the FT line or offensively as a freshman and soph? He worked his butt off and is no longer a liability at the stripe or in the post. He's developed a nice little hook shot that he utilizes from time to time. He is always diving on the floor. He may be the only dude in the nation that would've tried to jump with Zion Williamson attacking the rack. And he didn't get dunked on! We are going to miss Horace big time next season as he makes so many of the hustle plays for us. His dunks,  aggressiveness and relentlessness will be missed

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Malik Dunbar came to AU as a 3* JUCO transfer. He only had 2 P5 offers, AU and Ole Miss. During his junior season, we were notorious for starting off slowly as a team in essentially every game. But man Malik would come off the bench and he hit several biiiig shots throughout the season to keep the games within reach allowing us to claw back in it and take the Ws. He's been a very important spark plug for us during the birth of the new era of AU hoops. He makes plays that gets our guys going. He's a human pogo stick. He has made some of the most electrifying dunks we have seen at AU in years. When you see footage of the team in the locker room or off the court it's clear he's one of our leaders. He gets the guys amped, he has a positive energy that really helps fuel our team.

 

 

Please share your thoughts on these guys and provide any of your favorite highlights or clips of these guys from over the years! They have been immensely critical in our journey from basketball hellhole to SEC contender

[Tiger 8,818]

Young boys

 

 

 

 

 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

Posted this the other day, and I thought I'd offer a few more thoughts on a slow Friday afternoon:  

 

"Took my first look at UT today, other than catching some portions of their games over the course of the season, and they present some particular problems.

• UT doesn't turn the ball over much, they are 3rd in the country in assists/turnover margin, only 11 turnovers a game at a very low 13.7% per play.
• UT isn't a great rebounding team, and they give up 10 offensive rebounds per game
• They only force 13 turnovers a game and at a low percentage of 16.3% per play
• They score a lot at 82 per game (9th in the country)
• one of the best passing teams with 18 assists per game (4th in the country)
• Their losses correlate most with
  • 11 or fewer assists,
  • 22+ 3pt attempts, 
  • 25 ish personal fouls
  • 83+ points allowed

Needless to say they look phenomenal on the stat sheets."

 

Having taken another look at them I believe I have seen a few cracks that if we exploit gives a chance to win this game. According to ESPN's BPI it is a near toss up, according to the stats UT looks like a beast. A couple of areas where they are weak for an elite basketball team are in areas of strength for us. They give up a lot of offensive boards, they allow their opponents to attempt a lot of shots, and they allow their opponents to shoot nearly 34% from 3. One of the way we have won several games this year is by out attempting opposing teams, even when we don't shoot a great percentage. 

I think the key to this game for us offensively will be offensive rebounding. We need to crash the boards to secure those extra attempts. After that we need one of two things to happen: either we need to shoot a high percentage(37%+ from three / 50%+ from the floor), or we need to turn them over. Scenario 1 is more likely as we have had hot shooting performances at home this year. Scenario 2 is less likely as UT is not generous with turning over the ball. We do this on offense and I think we have a good chance to win the game. 

 

Now that offensive plan is assuming we do a good job on the defensive end. I think we want to force them to shoot the ball from outside, and we can do that in two ways, one front the post and deny/force difficult passes, or 2 play a lot of zone. We will likely implement both tactics in this game similar to the way we defended Miss State and Alabama at times. UT's post guy is awesome, but he isn't big. He is 6-7(maybe) and utilizes his quickness and strength in getting his shots and often draws a lot of fouls. I think we can frustrate him with a fronting defense and hopefully get some of those turnovers I mentioned we need. The other player that I am worried about is Bone, the point. He is really playing well and will present problems for our point guards defensively. I'd use Brown and McCormick on him when pressuring, and maybe even play a bit of off him more than usual to encourage outside shots. 

 

UT is a legit final four team. They will give us a good look at what we look like against a 1 or 2 seed, albeit in our place and not a neutral floor. We fail to rebound and we could be in for a long day. Harper needs to have his best game as a floor general in this one. 

 

Will share more thoughts on this thread as I look more at this game tonight and in the morning.

 

What do yall see or worry about?

[cole256 17,039]

Lamonte Turner will be a problem for whoever guards him

[augolf1716 21,096]

1 hour ago, cole256 said:

Lamonte Turner will be a problem for whoever guards him

Wonder why??? must be that Florence blood.............j/k cole I agree not looking forward to seeing him Sat. 

[AUpreacherman22 3,876]

Thanks for posting @JwgreDeux!

The fact that they give up a lot of offensive rebounds and allow a lot of shots is encouraging.  

Their stinginess with the ball is not good.  We live off of TOs and POTs.  

The bottom line is AU is a very streaky team.  All teams that live or die by the 3 are, but our D has been streaky too.  We play WAAAAYY better at home, so we’ve got a chance.  If we’re hot from behind the arc and playing lights out D, look out!!!

[cole256 17,039]

2 hours ago, augolf1716 said:

Wonder why??? must be that Florence blood.............j/k cole I agree not looking forward to seeing him Sat. 

I am biased, but blood over everything! But this may be a time I could change my mind about Brown and see if he's as good as some say

[djg0017 726]

4 hours ago, cole256 said:

Lamonte Turner will be a problem for whoever guards him

Was sad when he left Sparkman; he always let his play speak for itself

[CR 2,427]

On what is not a very physical team, Spencer and Dunbar bring some level of physicality and toughness. While limited offensively, they bring  elements that are desperately needed. Bryce obviously runs hot or cold. Rarely in between. I really think all 3 have done all they could do with their limitations and have helped build AU basketball to the point that fans are disappointed in "only" winning 21 games this season. Who would've believed that  5 years ago?

[BJCrawford 1,568]

Line opened as a pick and now Tenn favored by 1.5, so vegas projecting a close one

[alexava 6,973]

6 hours ago, BJCrawford said:

Line opened as a pick and now Tenn favored by 1.5, so vegas projecting a close one

I might put a nickel on this one( On UT). It’ll probably guarantee a one point Auburn loss though. 

[doverstutts 1,643]

without wiley and his 5 extra fouls, i just don't think we can handle them on the inside....i think BB can handle turner, its bone that is the most dangerous......we have to hit the 3's early and play smart to have a chance against a team, considering all stuff going on, that i now pick to win it all

[AUGoo 2,659]

The biggest factor today is the officiating.  Is this a WWE match that has already been settled like the UK at home and USC games, or are our guys gonna be allowed to play today?

[cole256 17,039]

Tae didn't play well at all. Didn't play like himself, he played like Brown to be honest, but he did set up other guys to score, always told him to affect the game other than scoring. He played good defense as well but he didn't attack the rim at all. He actually has played that way the past 3 games.....but just like us I like for things to happen and you learn from it before the important games. I look for him to step up as opposed to folding

His attitude was A1 though, pure competitor doesn't cry about anything, too tough for that and he carries himself with so much respect. Proud of him

[AUBwins 10,064]

51 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Tae didn't play well at all. Didn't play like himself, he played like Brown to be honest, but he did set up other guys to score, always told him to affect the game other than scoring. He played good defense as well but he didn't attack the rim at all. He actually has played that way the past 3 games.....but just like us I like for things to happen and you learn from it before the important games. I look for him to step up as opposed to folding

His attitude was A1 though, pure competitor doesn't cry about anything, too tough for that and he carries himself with so much respect. Proud of him

I imagine you probably haven't had a chance to catch up with him about the game.  Curious on his thoughts on our guards. 

[cole256 17,039]

4 minutes ago, AUBwins said:

I imagine you probably haven't had a chance to catch up with him about the game.  Curious on his thoughts on our guards. 

Nah I haven't talked to him. Talked to his dad though but what I do find out I'll PM it, I don't want to have to deal with the stupid stuff I know I would if I posted what he said, and I don't want to put him in a bad spot with people that don't know him

[AU64 10,122]

26 minutes ago, cole256 said:

Nah I haven't talked to him. Talked to his dad though but what I do find out I'll PM it, I don't want to have to deal with the stupid stuff I know I would if I posted what he said, and I don't want to put him in a bad spot with people that don't know him

Wise move...probably not a good thing to be putting comments on a board like this from players on opposing teams.    

[Grumps 3,693]

2 hours ago, cole256 said:

Tae didn't play well at all. Didn't play like himself, he played like Brown to be honest, but he did set up other guys to score, always told him to affect the game other than scoring. He played good defense as well but he didn't attack the rim at all. He actually has played that way the past 3 games.....but just like us I like for things to happen and you learn from it before the important games. I look for him to step up as opposed to folding

His attitude was A1 though, pure competitor doesn't cry about anything, too tough for that and he carries himself with so much respect. Proud of him

He didn't have his best game, and AU would not have won if he had, but he is very good! He hurt us late with his O rebound and putback. (I think it was a dunk but I have blocked it from my memory) If we had lost I was hoping that he would be the one to beat us--just for your sake!

[Gene Loblaw 636]

On 3/8/2019 at 5:02 PM, cole256 said:

Lamonte Turner will be a problem for whoever guards him

Dude was 1 for 9 with 3 pts.

[cole256 17,039]

53 minutes ago, Gene Loblaw said:

Dude was 1 for 9 with 3 pts.

I don't have anything for you, everybody know you're a clown but the dudes that reacted as long as they know not to have too much to say to me. Harder for guards that don't have a green light to shoot 17 times. But he moved the ball and played great defense I'll take it. He has to deal with clowns every where he plays

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

I really hope Dunbar gets a chance in the GLeague or euro ball with a good camp, because there are some attributes of his game that are ideal for the 2 guard spot, as Cole has said before. He has the frame and athleticism for it, just needs a tighter handle to me

[alexava 6,973]

14 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I really hope Dunbar gets a chance in the GLeague or euro ball with a good camp, because there are some attributes of his game that are ideal for the 2 guard spot, as Cole has said before. He has the frame and athleticism for it, just needs a tighter handle to me

Pure grit. I love him. Muscle, heart  and instincts. 

[doverstutts 1,643]

5 hours ago, Gene Loblaw said:

Dude was 1 for 9 with 3 pts.

just another walk in the park for BB....BB is a great player as long as he does not try to dribble...Probably the SEC defensive player of the year...if he was 6'5" he would be a lottery pick

[cole256 17,039]

29 minutes ago, doverstutts said:

just another walk in the park for BB....BB is a great player as long as he does not try to dribble...Probably the SEC defensive player of the year...if he was 6'5" he would be a lottery pick

Clearly you didn't watch the game or the season, or the game of basketball

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

I thought the game played out about as expected in many ways. We forced them to shoot a lot of jump shots, and we just aren't going to lose many of those games at home. We forced them into 13 turnovers and we had only 5. That is probably the worst turnover ratio for them this season (I haven't looked it up). They beat us on the boards, and we didn't offensive rebound as well as I thought, but we did a better job of getting to the line than I thought. We shot a high percentage from 3 and those extra couple of threes we made were the difference. 

 

As for sharing our thoughts on the senior, I am very grateful to all of them for the growth this program has gone through since their arrival.  I've been a fan of Brown since he arrived and have really enjoyed him in particular. Watching him grow and develop. Hope they get the deep post season run they deserve this season.