What did you see and what do you want to see?

[oracle79 3,569]

Good topic.

3 hours ago, aubaseball said:

I do not like the 1 and done.

Agreed and Calipari would probably agree also...lol.

Just my thoughts:

1) Need a ball handler that can defeat double teams and turn that to an offensive advantage.

2) In today's game you have to have a guy that can knock down the 3 and not be a liability on defense.

3) You need a guy that you can count on to shut down the other team's go to guy.

4) You need an enforcer type that gives your other guys confidence that no one is going to bully you on offense or defense.

5) Hard to win without chemistry and confidence, which is why 1 and done is tough to win with in college.

No idea what all that means, but we had none of it.

[ArgoEagle 1,767]

I hope and think Kessler may come back 1 more year. If he does, That Young Man had better develop a mean streak on Offense. A I'm 7'1" load and you better clear out of my way when I go to the goal!

Also we have got to have a Pure Shooting Guard that's an offensive weapon.

[TexasTiger 12,800]

I saw an SEC Champion. I want to see a national champion. 😉

[JMassie11 1,610]

Team fell apart when they could no longer drive the paint and get the fouls called. This led to bad looks beyond the arc. End of the day we had big lengthy guys that lacked the physical type of play we saw being allowed at seasons end and into the tournament. 

[Gowebb11 9,307]

One of our guards is not long enough to shred defenders or pass around them, or quick enough to go around them. He ended up drifting back towards half court as much he did to the basket. Another guard lacks body control. Teams figured it out and jammed us at the top of the key leading to turnovers. I thought Jasper and Flanagan should have played more. I thought Jaylin should’ve seen more time also. It was a disappointing end to the season but it is fun to see basketball matter so much to AU now. 

[Didba 5,256]

12 hours ago, gravejd said:

One criticism i have is for the coaching staff and the lineup they played. I thought we had found something with playing the small lineup with Jaylin at the 5 spot. We used that lineup to pull within 1 at the half. We come back out with the usual lineup to start the second half and i really don't have any complaints with that. But we were well into the second half and down double digits i think before we went back to the small lineup. I don't know if the outcome would have been any different but i thought it was strange to go away from what was working for so long. I also thought we were slow to adjust to the ball pressure they were bringing when we tried to screen for the PG. Would have thought we'd figure out a way to punish them for guarding one guy with 2 but we never did. 

Other than that i just think we got punched in the mouth by older and more experienced players. Jabari had an off night shooting and their style of play completely negated of height advantage. They basically ran AU out of the gym. Kudos to Miami for playing a great game. 

Bruce admitted that it was a msitake on his part to put the starting 5 out there after the half

[TigerTennis80 343]

I think the comments about inexperience & lack of swagger are really on target. And the 2 are probably not unrelated.

In the 2019 Final 4 (the year we were there), I believe there wasn't a single one-and-done among the 4 teams. In last year's Final 4 there was one (the kid at Gonzaga). One key to a deep run in the tournament is great team play which is the result of guys having played multiple years together. Consider Bryce, Jared, Anfernee, etc., on our Final 4 team. Or Baylor & Gonzaga last year. Or Villanova the year they won. (I could mention Virginia here, but I just can't bear to do so even now.) Guys who've played multiple years together are also (by definition) experienced. And likely to have some swagger. All these things are related.

So, when I think about these things I find that it's remarkable that we had the season we had with essentially a brand new team. What I hope is that Bruce can draw on these things with the guys who return next year, add the right new pieces, & thus build toward a deeper run next year & perhaps an even deeper run the year after. That's what I hope. But with the portal, all of that seems even harder now. But I hope. 

[Mikey 16,545]

"What did you see and what do you want to see?"

I saw a team that peaked back earlier about the time we had the two wins over bammer and the win over Kentucky. Then I watched them decline to the point that they lost five of their last 11 games. It's never a good sign when a team's record over the last 1/3 of the schedule is worse than it was earlier.  Started 22-1, ended up 28-6.

What I want to see is we all take a BC powder and come back strong next season.

 

[au302 2,669]

I have been of the opinion that we have too many guys with low ceilings but also low floors. Ceilings of becoming solid role players (Jaylin), and floors of not being SEC players (Stretch/Moore). Every team needs role players, but this cast is not good and has been disguised by amazing players. Just look at last year when they were the main players. We couldn't win an SEC game until Sharife got cleared. And that's with Flanigan playing awesome.

The 2018/19 role players, on the other hand, had floors of being role players (Danjel/Horace) and ceilings as quality SEC starters (Samir/McCormick). They were able to fill in for Jared/Bryce/Chuma in 2020 and really not miss too much of a beat. I think Bruce was handicapped with the cloud over the program and did the best he could recruiting wise with the core role players from the 2019/2020 classes. Sharife and Jabari/Kessler and the guard transfers truly hid it. 

Edited March 22, 2022 by au302

[arein0 946]

I would love to see Cambridge expand his game. He is such a high flyer, and if he could figure out his shot, could be a dangerous offensive weapon. Right now his shot is so bad that teams have been leaving him alone in the corner, daring him to shoot, while they are sagging off and helping defend the paint.

Guards need to take care of the ball better. At times in the game, it looked like they were forcing their shots because they felt they had to score to contribute / be noticed. A lot of their passes were telegraphed and were so obvious who they were passing to. I think they need to learn to make the easy pass instead of tunneling on I have to score or I have to get the ball to Jabari.

I think this was the first game where it looked like the game was too fast for Jabari. They did a great job of sticking to him on defense and not giving him any space. If he can learn to drive just a little more, it will help him out so much. Teams will have to respect him getting to the basket which will open up his shot. Miami was focusing on taking away his jump shot and we had no answer.

In the off season, I would look for a guard that can distribute, a 3 and D wing, and a replacement for Jabari

[Didba 5,256]

12 hours ago, cole256 said:

I feel that we were sort of handicapped. Our guards are tweeners and aren't super good at scoring and at the same time aren't great ball handlers or facilitators. 

I'm not sure but it looked to me watching us play that if something happened that they didn't walk through and talk about we lacked the creativity to adjust. 

I could also tell that even games we won our guards didn't have confidence handling the ball. Think about it, if one of our guards had the ball and weren't trying to score it wouldn't even be full speed....it would be passive like. It look as if they would be relived to get rid of the ball as opposed to wanting the ball in their hands.

Little things like that.....I'm just saying everybody saw me post about that while we were winning. Little stuff like that.....if I'm a guard watching film, I know they don't want that pressure. I know I can expose them. Just take the big brothers out of the game and I'm going to get them. 

I feel like that's how other players were looking at us. And that's half the battle. Nobody feared us. We didn't have that type of swagger. And the bad thing about our situation was we got on top and that means the wolves are coming for us.....we needed to be a wolf back. I'd say a school like Arizona, you can just look at how they carry themselves.....just completely different than us. And as soon as Smith wasn't superman nobody could step up and say I'll be that guy. 

You're right as far as we had guys that needed help as far as getting good shots but we didn't have any play makers

So this is weird for me. I never play basketball. Never coached it, etc.  I can say that about football so I can figure out stuff for myself when the team isn't doing well.

 

With basketball I can't do that.  I can see the problems ie I figured out the guards were an issue but never could figure why.  You surmised that perfectly.

[DAG 33,955]

I’ve already settled on the type of ball Auburn plays eventhough I hate it. My frustration is two fold. 
 

1. the lack of defense IQ at times 

2. getting out rebounded with our size

Sometimes it comes down to plain on want to. Being a defensive player is a skill set and I love listening to the likes of Tony Allen and Pat Beverly talk about it. But sometimes you got to just commit to the brand of play. At times, there was such a lack luster part of our identity. 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

16 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

I saw an SEC Champion. I want to see a national champion. 😉

Unfortunately the only folks who remember conference champions is the school and fanbase of the team that won, and even that fades over time.  Nobody else knows or cares and it’s a shame we went out without a bang the last quarter of the season really. Needed  more talent and better play all around at the guard position, it’s as simple as that. We had a lot of the required parts but our deficiencies were too glaring when it got go time. 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

@cole256 we gonna be able to upgrade and/or improve at guard enough for next year to make a serious run when it counts? 

[Butthead 525]

On 3/21/2022 at 3:42 PM, aubaseball said:

Here is my take and some will not like it. I do not like the 1 and done.   I don’t particularly like the transfer portal.   I know that Jabari has as much potential as probably anyone that has ever stepped foot on Auburn’s campus, but he isn’t NBA ready.   And if he is, what does that say about the NBA.   If guys are going to be able to get money for NIL, reinstatement the three year commitment.   How much fun would it be to see Smith, Okoro and Okeeke on the same team?   I found it hard to watch Auburn this year because of the bad/inconsistency in guard play.  

As my kids would say, that's cray.  Sure, he is young and a little skinny, but you put him on a team with a real PG that gets him the ball at the right spots, and damn he will be great.  

[e808 3,020]

As I stated in a previous post young Harper and Bryce got the brakes beat of them worse than this years team. To bad they can’t run it back. I stand on Kess and Bari not finishing at the rim which would have given Auburn the lead was the major swing in the game

[aubaseball 2,583]

1 hour ago, Butthead said:

As my kids would say, that's cray.  Sure, he is young and a little skinny, but you put him on a team with a real PG that gets him the ball at the right spots, and damn he will be great.  

My take is more an indictment on the college basketball system and the NBA than Jabari.  I said he has the most talented to step foot on campus but he is still very young.  I just think it’s a shame that guys can’t come in and play together for a few years and build something together.   
I’m all for letting them go pro out of high school if they think they can make it.  But if you choose college, I think you should stay 2 or 3 years. 

[AUloggerhead 2,225]

On 3/22/2022 at 9:52 AM, DAG said:

I’ve already settled on the type of ball Auburn plays eventhough I hate it. My frustration is two fold. 
 

1. the lack of defense IQ at times 

2. getting out rebounded with our size

Sometimes it comes down to plain on want to. Being a defensive player is a skill set and I love listening to the likes of Tony Allen and Pat Beverly talk about it. But sometimes you got to just commit to the brand of play. At times, there was such a lack luster part of our identity. 

I hear ya with the rebounding comment.  Too many times, the other team (& not just Miami) would get multiple offensive rebounds during the same possession.  That just can't happen, and it drove me crazy wondering what were they thinking?!  Same with the offensive side -- jack one up from 3-point range & the shooter doesn't follow the shot or the others don't work to get position for the offensive rebound.  The operative word here being "work."   

[AUlurker 178]

I saw a team that relied too much on Kessler and Jabari to clear the boards so that they could run. I thought preseason we were ranked too low and halfway we definitely surpassed expectations. However, once we were scouted and some of the teams we played can run that scouting report very well, our coaching staff couldn't adjust. Defensively we were fine but offensively we just lacked consistent outside shooting. Teams could double the post or pressure the ball and we couldn't make teams pay. 

[auburnatl1 4,839]

When I think of auburn football and basketball in the last 10 or so years. Speed was always a characteristic of ours. Almost a culture.  When we lost it was usually due to being out physical’d, scheme’d, or skilled. But never speed. This is the first team that almost seemed…… slow. Big 10’ish.  Especially given how much bench rotation we did.

I watched a little YouTube  of the 2019 tournament team last night  Ridiculously faster,  more spacing and passing  (and damn they could hit shots).

[mustache eagle 2,388]

On 3/22/2022 at 4:20 PM, aubaseball said:

My take is more an indictment on the college basketball system and the NBA than Jabari.  I said he has the most talented to step foot on campus but he is still very young.  I just think it’s a shame that guys can’t come in and play together for a few years and build something together.   
I’m all for letting them go pro out of high school if they think they can make it.  But if you choose college, I think you should stay 2 or 3 years. 

The best move college bball could make is let kids return to college AFTER the draft.  Someone like cooper may return last year.  Might add a year or so of playing time for a few kids.