Men vs Texas A&M Game Thread

[auburnatl1 4,887]

We’re trying to play the 2019 style with completely reversed strengths and weaknesses. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by auburnatl1

[au701948 997]

4 minutes ago, kennypowers said:

Hope he didn't hurt his hand punching that sign on the way back to the locker room.

I saw that and thought same thing.

[AUDynasty 585]

See, here's what I'm thinking with how we're approaching these games lately. We're 5-4 in our last nine games. We've gone back to Earth after our 22-1 start. We're 9 out of 36 today beyond the arc. Past few games (except one or two) we've been shooting below average from the 3 line in what you'd like for a contender.

I think Pearl is trying to make a point that we have to have the ball inside or at least from top of the key in order to generate scoring. Take 3s only when they're open, and that's it. KD went for 0-14 today. They'll have extra rest and these times spent MUST be all about nailing down roles and recognizing situational basketball (such as making sure to drive or going for an extra pass if you've missed last three shots).

This team knows they'll be making an early exit if they continue to play this style of basketball, and I expect them to make adjustments... if not, then don't be surprised if we go home in the first weekend. I still think we got a shot, but a lot of things will need to go right if we want to make a deep run.

[jAUSon 2,836]

Well sh*t

[e808 3,025]

2 minutes ago, homersapien said:

A&M's defense had me worried to start with. We didn't shoot well enough to counter their game plan.

I am not sure about their defense. I saw Auburn had a significant height advantage inside . There is no way TAMU  should have been able to mitigate the height advantage being undersized. Especially with Auburns two most skilled players being bigs

[aublue88 145]

I think Flan broke our early chemistry, it seems like Bruce is trying to will him to regain his old form and it ain't working!!  We do have a relatively good 3 point shooter, maybe he could have come in for a few of the Flan minutes just to give us a spark and maybe a 3.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

2 minutes ago, AUDynasty said:

As much as I hate to admit it, I think this is the truth. College basketball teams this year aren't elite. Only a handful are "very good" such as Gonzaga, Arizona, and maybe Kentucky and the rest are "good" and that includes Auburn. It's as @Dual-Threat Rigbyonce said -- teams have scouted us to the T after our initial start (22-1), and they've laid a blueprint on how to stop us. We've been winning some close games but a lucky bounce or not we could very well lose to games like Missouri, Georgia, and Miss State. This is who we are. We'll just have to make do with what we have and hope for the best.

Gonzaga and Zona are not very good in my opinion; just good. Hate to admit it but Kentucky is the clearly the best team in the country. As long as they're healthy. I'm taking them in my money brackets. Gonzaga was a lot better last year. They are overrated and were 2-2 against teams with a pulse outside of their conference. Almost lost twice to St. Mary's

Zona is very talented but young. Like us they have stumbled a bit towards the end the season. I don't hold the Pac 12 in high regards as a conference.

I do agree the tournament is more wide open this year though. I play big money tournament challenges every year. Again, Kentucky will be my pick. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

1 hour ago, AUDevil said:

I blame whoever started the thread claiming this could be the greatest AU team ever in any sport.

Just think, we actually had regular posters on this forum say that Auburn is now a "blue blood" in basketball. Smh We have a MUCH richer history in football and we aren't even close to being a blue blood in that. We got hot at the right time in 2019 and made a Final Four run but that team finished like 4th in the SEC regular season. The teams we've had that should go deep in the tourney usually underachieve. Even that 1998/99 team underachieved and they were better than this team.

[au701948 997]

11 minutes ago, Never2Yield said:

But not done yet.  Some good may come of this, going forward.  I certainly hope so.

You would think that this would serve as a wake-up call. But the team has not responded to any past losses with a sense of urgency. It has become kind of a red flag to their mindset as a team. I am not excusing any of the bad play or effort, but besides shooting an unbelievable 15% from the field in the first half today, we have gone completely dead on the offensive rebound part of the game. I genuinely wonder how much Kessler’s injury has caused him and the others to just give that part of the game to their opposition. Just a thought.

[AUDynasty 585]

2 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

Gonzaga and Zona are not very good in my opinion; just good. Hate to admit it but Kentucky is the clearly the best team in the country. As long as they're healthy. I'm taking them in my money brackets. Gonzaga was a lot better last year. They are overrated and were 2-2 against teams with a pulse outside of their conference. Almost lost twice to St. Mary's

Zona is very talented but young. Like us they have stumbled a bit towards the end the season. I don't hold the Pac 12 in high regards as a conference.

I do agree the tournament is more wide open this year though. I play big money tournament challenges every year. Again, Kentucky will be my pick. 

Maybe, but there's no denying that Gonzaga is playing like a top team should. They've blitzed their opponents. We've had slow starts in either first or second halves too often, and this finally bit us at the end. That's not how a top team should play. They should be able to come out focused and dictate the play. We've been too submissive and passive to a fault sometimes. We got to stop playing reactive basketball.

[au701948 997]

1 minute ago, AUDynasty said:

Maybe, but there's no denying that Gonzaga is playing like a top team should. They've blitzed their opponents. We've had slow starts in either first or second halves too often, and this finally bit us at the end. That's not how a top team should play. They should be able to come out focused and dictate the play. We've been too submissive and passive to a fault sometimes. We got to stop playing reactive basketball.

You are right. That has been our footprint the past month and we have lost 4 games because it was allowed to continue.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

4 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

Gonzaga and Zona are not very good in my opinion; just good. Hate to admit it but Kentucky is the clearly the best team in the country. As long as they're healthy. I'm taking them in my money brackets. Gonzaga was a lot better last year. They are overrated and were 2-2 against teams with a pulse outside of their conference. Almost lost twice to St. Mary's

Zona is very talented but young. Like us they have stumbled a bit towards the end the season. I don't hold the Pac 12 in high regards as a conference.

I do agree the tournament is more wide open this year though. I play big money tournament challenges every year. Again, Kentucky will be my pick. 

I also think Kentucky, when healthy, are clearly the best team in the nation. Earlier this season Bruce said this Kentucky team is the best team Calipari has had since their team that won the Natty. Most AU fans were saying that we would've beaten Kentucky even if Ty Ty didn't get hurt but I'm not so sure. Auburn vs Kentucky, both healthy and a neutral site, I think UK wins by 10+. 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

5 minutes ago, AUDynasty said:

See, here's what I'm thinking with how we're approaching these games lately. We're 5-4 in our last nine games. We've gone back to Earth after our 22-1 start. We're 9 out of 36 today beyond the arc. Past few games (except one or two) we've been shooting below average from the 3 line in what you'd like for a contender.

I think Pearl is trying to make a point that we have to have the ball inside or at least from top of the key in order to generate scoring. Take 3s only when they're open, and that's it. KD went for 0-14 today. They'll have extra rest and these times spent MUST be all about nailing down roles and recognizing situational basketball (such as making sure to drive or going for an extra pass if you've missed last three shots).

This team knows they'll be making an early exit if they continue to play this style of basketball, and I expect them to make adjustments... if not, then don't be surprised if we go home in the first weekend. I still think we got a shot, but a lot of things will need to go right if we want to make a deep run.

We should've been doing that 10 - 12 games ago. It's not being required until we're down in games and/or we're shooting horrible. Under zero circumstances should this team be taking 36 3s. This is what Bama does. We see how that's working when they don't have the players to execute it. Particularly the guards to do it.

Going to be interesting to see where we land. I have a feeling we're not going to be in a good bracket and will have to travel far on top of it. I think the committee will make us work hard to go far in the tournament.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

5 minutes ago, AUDynasty said:

Maybe, but there's no denying that Gonzaga is playing like a top team should. They've blitzed their opponents. We've had slow starts in either first or second halves too often, and this finally bit us at the end. That's not how a top team should play. They should be able to come out focused and dictate the play. We've been too submissive and passive to a fault sometimes. We got to stop playing reactive basketball.

They've blitzed them because they're in a weak conference. This years team would get killed by their team from last year. 

[WarEagleHunter1221 1,690]

The last two months have shown we are not the team we thought we were in December and the beginning of January. We can be and that’s what frustrating. We could very well win the whole thing and very well go home in the first round. Wasted potential because we’re easily one of it not the most talented team in America. 

[tigers23 648]

I think I could take 14 shots blindfolded and hit at least one by dumb luck. KD is a great athlete but he's not a basketball player. We seem to have a team full of that type guy. Need to be busy in the portal this off-season to hopefully find some guards. Preferably not from Eastern Kentucky 

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

3 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

I also think Kentucky, when healthy, are clearly the best team in the nation. Earlier this season Bruce said this Kentucky team is the best team Calipari has had since their team that won the Natty. Most AU fans were saying that we would've beaten Kentucky even if Ty Ty didn't get hurt but I'm not so sure. Auburn vs Kentucky, both healthy and a neutral site, I think UK wins by 10+. 

Yeah. Not saying they can't be beat but they're favorable in a lot of match ups. They check off the most boxes of any team. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

4 minutes ago, WarEagle1983 said:

We should've been doing that 10 - 12 games ago. It's not being required until we're down in games and/or we're shooting horrible. Under zero circumstances should this team be taking 36 3s. This is what Bama does. We see how that's working when they don't have the players to execute it. Particularly the guards to do it.

Going to be interesting to see where we land. I have a feeling we're not going to be in a good bracket and will have to travel far on top of it. I think the committee will make us work hard to go far in the tournament.

And yet there is no punishment by Bruce. Just keep flogging them up there.  The bench is the best motivator a coach has. I don't think I've seen Bruce get on a player 1 time for taking a jacked up 3.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

1 minute ago, NWALA Tiger said:

And yet there is no punishment by Bruce. Just keep flogging them up there.  The bench is the best motivator a coach has. I don't think I've seen Bruce get on a player 1 time for taking a jacked up 3.

We don't have anyone better to replace them with. They're going to keep shooting it if he doesn't say anything about it. Therefore, it's on Bruce. 

[e808 3,025]

19 minutes ago, AUDynasty said:

Maybe, but there's no denying that Gonzaga is playing like a top team should. They've blitzed their opponents. We've had slow starts in either first or second halves too often, and this finally bit us at the end. That's not how a top team should play. They should be able to come out focused and dictate the play. We've been too submissive and passive to a fault sometimes. We got to stop playing reactive basketball.

Not sure about that . Did u forget they recently lost to St. Mary’s they were terrible. Bama waxed them on a neutral floor that says something.I agree with the poster above . All things equal Kentucky should be the favorite. They have the most impressive road win IMO

Edited March 11, 2022 by e808

[CCTAU 3,307]

7 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

And yet there is no punishment by Bruce. Just keep flogging them up there.  The bench is the best motivator a coach has. I don't think I've seen Bruce get on a player 1 time for taking a jacked up 3.

To be fair, we missed a lot of open threes today.

[homersapien 11,361]

16 minutes ago, e808 said:

I am not sure about their defense. I saw Auburn had a significant height advantage inside . There is no way TAMU  should have been able to mitigate the height advantage being undersized. Especially with Auburns two most skilled players being bigs

They were packing the lane and inside and daring us to make wide open 3s. 

Had we made a few, it would have forced them to open up a little and made it far easier to go underneath. Apparently, we just don't have the shooters to make those shots at an acceptable percentage.

Their plan was to counter our height with speed and aggressive defensive pressure down low and it worked.  We'll continue to see it regardless of height differences IMO.

 

[AUDynasty 585]

Just now, e808 said:

Not sure about that . Did u forget they recently lost to St. Mary’s they were terrible. I agree with the poster above . All things equal Kentucky should be the favorite. They have the most impressive road win IMO

Gonzaga went to the national championship game last year and is a heavy favorite to make to the Final Four. Sure, Kentucky can very well win it all, but Gonzaga is one fantastic team. St. Mary played a great game against Gonzaga and Gonzaga got their revenge on them in their WCC championship game.

The point I'm trying to make is that you can expect Gonzaga to come out prepared. Can you say the same about Auburn? We've been prone to slow starts for too long and when that happens, we shouldn't be surprised at the results like today. It is what it is.

[casatiger 513]

Well, we will be rested at least.  

[Randy4AU 109]

IMHO, Auburn got outplayed, out-schemed and, worst of all, out-coached. Johnson goes 0-14; Jabari missed some chip shots; bad free-throe shooting; constantly throwing up 3s. Auburn played like the pre-season #5 pick in the league, not the league champion. Next year, without Jabari and probably Kessler, Auburn could be one of Pearl's worst teams.