A title run, a broken heart for Lebo, Tigers

[DKW 86 7,410]

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/ks....xml&coll=2

A title run, a broken heart for Lebo, Tigers

Sunday, March 04, 2007

They had never been here before. None of them. Not one single player on either roster.

For Auburn and Ole Miss, the last game of their regular seasons meant something for a change. It meant a share of the SEC West title.

If that doesn't sound like much this year, you didn't hear the noise in Tad Smith Coliseum. Or feel the pulse of the final minute. Or see the Ole Miss players, 83-79 survivors, circle the floor to share the moment with their fans.

This was an unusual championship game in two ways.

Neither team was supposed to be here.

Both teams played like they belonged.

When Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said, "We did everything we could do but win the game," he wasn't muttering motivational mumbo-jumbo. He was telling the straight truth.

When Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said his players "willed themselves to victory," he was describing one of the greatest turnarounds in memory.

After three years of losing, the Rebels found a way to win the final game in the final minute. One senior, Phenix City native Clarence Sanders, a short-timer here after a junior-collegestay, hit the trey that tied a game that seemed lost.

Another senior, Bam Doyne, a four-year survivor, made the last four free throws that were free of everything but pressure.

"We had some guys out there who've never been in this moment," Kennedy said.

Some guys? Forgive Kennedy his imprecision. It's tough to focus when your team has completed the trip from worst to first in your first year in the SEC.

It's been three long years for Lebo, but he wasn't blessed with seniors willing to stay and work through a coaching change as Kennedy was. And yet Lebo's lunch-pail gang, in its first championship game, came up just one whistle and one decision short.

The whistle sent Quantez Robertson to the bench with his fifth foul with 3:12 left. It wasn't a bad call, just a momentous one.

Lebo's been playing two point guards together, but Auburn has one leader on the court. With Robertson on the bench, it was only a matter of time before the lead changed hands for good. (I felt the same way. With Robertson out, it was only a matter of time before we turned the ball over enought to lose the game.)

It did in the final minute, but only because Quan Prowell tried to make a play, and why not? He'd been doing it all day, mostly in the second half, scoring a career-best 26 points.

But in the final minute, with the ball and a three-point lead, Prowell took the ball to the basket when Auburn didn't need a basket. His pass glanced off Frank Tolbert's hands, and you could glimpse the consequences to come.

"Our team and Andy's team don't have a lot of margin for error," Lebo said. "We both play a lot on grits and heart and hustle."

Grits? Yeah, well, the ending was tough to swallow. He watched his team trade losing for winning this season, but in the painful final minute, his Tigers traded a lead for a loss in his biggest game in this job.

You think the stomach flu's bad? Try a broken heart.

This is the second time Lebo and Kennedy have met as head coaches. It was the first time they met with a ring and a banner in the balance.

It won't be the last.

Next time, no one should be surprised.

[autigeremt 6,569]

Amen, brother. I am excited about the future of this team!

[ssgaufan 0]

I'm glad to see basketball starting to mean something again. WDE!

[Ranger12 46]

For a team with not a single senior on it, these guys played above their heads several times this year. There were times when they did frustrate the heck out of me also, but I had to remind myself that this was a very young team and the experience was making them better players. With the inconsistent way that Florida, UAT, and Kentucky are playing right now, I am looking forward to a very unpredictable SEC tournament.

[WAR EAGLE!!! 0]

I thought Robertson fouling out was going to hurt us too. When he got his 5th foul...a silly foul which he will not make with more experience, Ole Miss immediately started their full court trap. We needed 2 guards out there to break the press. Robertson hasn't been much of a scorer this year but he is, I think, number 3 in the SEC in assists.

I said this after the game and I will say again. I think the inexperience hurt us on Saturday. It was a close game and the effort and intensity are things you can not coach. You can also not coach experience which is what ultimately cost us the game. What you can coach, the x's and o's, have been coached extremely well. If Auburn continues down the path they are on, we will find ourselves in this position again. With the intangibles, like experience and effort on our side, I think we will win a lot more of these games than we will lose.

[Ranger12 46]

With the intangibles, like experience and effort on our side, I think we will win a lot more of these games than we will lose.

Couldn't agree more. I was not expecting much from the team this year, but they surprised a lot of people, both inside and outside of Auburn. I don't think they will be overlooked by anybody in the conference next year.

[AUdmd07 2]

Oh no, this team won't be overlooked next year. With all 7 players that saw significant playing time returning, we should be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC West. The days of Jeff Lebo being Gottfried, the Birmingham media, and the rest of the SEC's punching bag are over in my mind.