TitanTiger

Honestly, aubie, I don't have any ongoing issue with you. I barely even remember the incident you're referencing. If you got in trouble for something it was basically isolated to one incident and we moved on after that. I haven't intended to make you feel talked down to or like you're in some sort of ongoing trouble.

I hate continuing the derailment here, but since comments are being made publicly, I'll respond publicly. But we aren't going to drill for oil on this. I'm not sure why the ownership and management of this site should decide how to handle the way some people behave on whether or not they're big enough to take them in a fight one on one. It's an internet forum, not high school or the playground. Nobody cares if someone usually intimidates folks face to face from saying what they really think of them or their behavior. It's not relevant. The basis for respect or not saying what you really think isn't tied to such considerations nor should it be. If folks are told multiple times over many years to alter their approach here based on how the people who own and run it want the parameters to be and they keep not heeding that, eventually something is going to be done about it. Those who are fine with it or it doesn't affect will stay. Those who don't like it can decide what they want to do - adjust to the climate or move somewhere more palatable to them personally. But no forum is going to be able to accommodate everyone or make everyone happy. This is true whether they're free or pay to play. Every place has its own feel and personality whether it's rigid and controlled, everything goes, or something in between. But I'm not going to apologize for how the owner of this site wants things to be and how the mods and admins do their best to manage things. I'm just stating facts - if this forum doesn't have the vibe you or someone else personally prefers or thinks is more interesting and fun, that's understandable. Everybody's different. But maybe it means rather than veiled complaints and jabs about the situation, folks who don't like or agree with it explore some other options. Maybe there's something out there that will be more in line with how you think it ought to be. We certainly aren't perfect, but I'm comfortable with the decisions we've made and how we're managing the site. I stay in regular communication with @RunInRed about these things. He lets me know if he has different ideas on how to handle stuff - whether to take action or hold off. Whether to address something head on or let it ride for a bit. Contact him if you feel you've got a case to be made otherwise.

I think assuming Bruce is around for another 7-10 years, if Steven stays on that whole time I wouldn't be opposed to elevating him to HC. Other places such as Duke have done that with long time assistants. I think Bruce's run over the last 6 years or so has got people thinking that somehow we're a permanent fixture at this level of competitiveness. We aren't. Auburn in basketball is basically a hair better than Vanderbilt in football historically. We've had a few well-spaced out pockets of success followed by many, many consecutive seasons of utter futility. There's something to be said for continuity and experience knowing how to recruit to Auburn, how to interact with and engage the power brokers and the fanbase, how to be successful and popular at a football school, etc. Now, if some really great current HC just happened to be interested we'd certainly have to give that person a serious look too. I'm not saying we mail it in and bank on that right now. But grabbing the next up and comer from a mid major just because he's got HC experience doesn't seem like a clearly better choice to me.

I didn't argue otherwise. I simply pointed out we had three returning guards from a team that went 28-6 and won an SEC title and that Alabama was in a much more dire position on paper at the guard position going into the 2022-23 season where Sears was in the portal. Which I acknowledged. He had way too much confidence in the progression Wen and Zep in particular would make with a full offseason. I didn't say anything to the contrary.

Well luckily the internet's a big place.

You'd be in a position to know if we offered him. The only thing I'll take issue with is that Bama took him even though they had plenty of guards. They didn't. Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison declared for the NBA Draft and Keon Ellis graduated. Quinnerly was their only returning guard of any consequence. They added Sears, Dominick Welch and Nimbi Burnett in the portal. Signed Jaden Bradley. I think it's reasonable to argue that on paper at least, Alabama felt a stronger need to grab some guards in the portal than Auburn felt. Now, I won't argue that Pearl's confidence in Wen and Zep's progression ended up being misplaced. We clearly could have used Sears. But going into 2022-23 by comparison, Auburn had this set up: Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team. Signed #7 PG Chance Westry Signed Tre Donaldson I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated. But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

How could he not?

And they very well may prove to be. Lots of season left.

I found the tweet with the stats I was thinking of. It’s not exactly what I said, but close enough:

Yeah I was thinking about the transfer portal when he was at Ohio. I’ll also note Sears was 6-0, 155 lbs coming out of HS. And Auburn signed two guards in that class -Sharife Cooper and Justin Powell. We were cursed on both - NCAA and daddy issues, but I can see why we didn’t offer out of HS.

I’m trying to find the citation but I’m almost positive it said Top 15 teams. Meaning the stat included all of them, not just the 2-4 best teams at a given moment. Yes, we need to get some Q1 wins. Yes, some others up in the top 5 have some. We’ve also been unfortunate not to have a Q1 game at home yet. Give it some time.

Um, was someone arguing we should keep losing games or something?

He was talking about Sears and said we recruited him and that we should have worked harder to get him.

Of course. That’s not the same thing as “we didn’t offer him.”

It’s college basketball. There’s basically no such thing as a guaranteed win for anybody.

However, Pearl seemed to directly contradict that just this week in an interview leading up to the Alabama game. Does anyone making the contention that we didn’t recruit Sears have anything to back that up?

We already mentioned we haven’t won a quad 1 game yet. We have like 4 more chances by season’s end. But losing road games to good teams is becoming the norm in college b’ball. I can’t find the stat right now but someone posted it a few days ago on Twitter I think. 10 years ago top 15 teams won something like 70 to 75% of their road games. This year so far they’re winning about 35 to 40% of them. And the years in between have been a consistent downward trend. This year isn’t just a one off. my point in saying this isn’t to say there’s nothing wrong or that we don’t need to work on some stuff. It’s just a reel things back in a little bit from the panic some folks seem to be in. we are reading way too much into a couple of close losses on the road this week.

Pearl said just this week that we recruited Sears. Where did you hear we didn’t offer him?

Some perspective ($1 to Justin Lee): Only two teams in the top 17 have less than 2 road losses.

Which he’s addressed by sending both on their way, developing Tre, and signing Aden and Pettiford.

An exception doesn’t really change the rule. It’s not easy to be great right out the gate as a PG in this league. Tre has made great strides as a sophomore compared to last season. I think Aden has a higher ceiling than that. And there’s a lot of season left.

Apparently they replaced the RPI with the NET rankings a few years ago. Here’s a good article on it: https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/net-rankings-explained-quad-1-ncaa-tournament/kokjb6zynkotpe3hjwoo0d3b

I still think Aden is gonna be special. It’s hard to be a true freshman PG in this league this year. Barely half a season in. Got time to grow.

In the NET rankings, Ole Miss is 61. I think they were about the same when we played. That would only be a Quad 1 win if we played them at their place. To be a Quad 1 win at home they have to be ranked 30th or higher.