Rednilla

To be fair, I knew you weren't specifically talking about me because I haven't been talking on the subject. I was going to bat for those in my position... but then, I really don't know what, exactly, is being said about this except for what's on this board. He's supposed to be the best WR in the portal this round, but that doesn't mean we're dealing with the next Randy Moss here, it just means he's the best we could reasonably have hoped to add to the WR room in the portal. That said, you're not wrong that we should be slow to put great expectations on this year's team. I prefer to look at it as a floor/ceiling type of deal... but 7 wins is the absolute floor for this team, IMHO, and that's only if we suffer key injuries. I don't think we're a true playoff contender, but I think we're good enough that we'll get some hype so long as we aren't too slow out of the gate, and with just a touch of Auburn magic we could be right in the thick of things. So no, don't put lofty expectations on us, but don't count us out, either.

Getting Lambert doesn't in and of itself transform the team, but it adds quality experience to the WR corps to go along with the influx of talented freshmen we signed. Combined with the other additions to the team, I don't think it's unfair to say the unit has been transformed. How many new starters will we have? How many additions to the 2-deep? The question is whether the transformation is a healthy one. I refuse to enter this season with my expectations set at a 7-win year because I do think we'll be better than that. But apparently it's a bad thing for me, a moderator, to lead a conversation suggesting that getting Lambert completes (or at least furthers) a transformation of the team we had last year. Heaven forbid that we think a better roster should lead to better results and try to encourage Auburn fans to be positive about the coming season...

That didn't happen because of basketball, brother...

This is going to either be a home run hire or it's going to end ugly, but I love the story of the daughter only relenting to wear the colors of her dad's employer with Kentucky socks underneath. I would have gone with underwear and undershirt to protect the vital areas from corruption, but it's the thought that counts.

Have you heard somewhere that Bruce is going to alter his strategy? Because I would think that with the number of fouls we commit playing Bruceball defense, having that kind of depth is kind of necessary to keep guys from fouling out.

You act as if UK sh*ts gold bricks and farts rainbows. Walk-on? I would ask for some of what you're smoking, but you've got some mad paranoia going on. Bruce will retire as an Auburn Tiger. Of that, I am virtually certain.

No. You're saying Bruce has done a good enough job that he should have a loud voice in who his successor will be. It's a little difficult to know how much of the job Steven has done should be attributed to his father for you to be able to say that CSP has done such a great job for the program. Now, I don't mind him being given a courtesy interview if that will make Bruce happy, but Auburn should never hire an assistant basketball coach to take over as head basketball coach. If Steven really thinks he's got the chops to take over for his dad, then he needs to take a head coaching job at a smaller program and build it up some on his own. That's the only way he's going to really know if he can handle the position of head coach, and he doesn't deserve the opportunity to learn it without his dad for the first time while at Auburn.

No, it still is. It's just going to go longer despite already being long enough.

Tomorrow, Feb 10 2024, will be 28 years to the day since the last time Auburn beat Florida in basketball in Gainesville. I'd say 28 years is long enough.

That's a lot of words to highlight a single quote from the game commentator, but I'll take it.

Ah. Well, no worries, I just thought it was odd. If this works out, maybe we should make it a tradition, starting the game thread the day before. In any case, I feel pretty good about this one now, with Nate Oates (for brains) talking smack about Neville Arena. Like he really needed to give KD Johnson a reason to get more fired up...

Why was the game thread started a full 24 hours before tipoff?

I, for one, absolutely LOVE this and think Oates is a frickin' dumbass for saying it. Bulletin board material is much appreciated.

Amazing what a good second half can do for the confidence in your team, no?

Maybe, I don't know, but does that mean they will be clearly better than us? For one thing, depth matters, but it's possible that DeBoer's system doesn't work out so well with the players that stick around. A head coaching change and the exit of about half the roster makes for a lot of questions in T-town.

How did I miss this pickup? This is freakin' MASSIVE!!! It's exactly the piece we had to have to be competitive offensively next season. I don't know, maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I think Thorne can be what we need to have a good season with a better supporting cast... and the WRs we signed should provide that for him. Lewis appears to be the beef we need to shore up O-line issues, and the return of all our RBs means we're stout there, as well. Naturally, I always seem to overestimate Auburn's chances (though I had us with 7-8 wins last year preseason, and if not for two huge disappointments that should have been avoided...), but from where I'm sittin', I don't think double-digit wins is off the table for us this year. I don't know what Oklahoma has coming back, but UGA is the only team we play that should be clearly better than us, talent-wise, besides possibly the Sooners, so 10-2 isn't unreasonable **IF** I'm right about Thorne.

Man, why ya gotta down the Dawgs? Mississippi State is a fellow land-grant university (i.e. cow college), and having visited there when a friend was in grad school, Starkville really isn't all that dissimilar from Auburn. It's smaller, and the stadium is smaller, and we smashed them on the weekend I visited, but the people (and not just the ones who were hosting me) were friendly before, during, and after, just like I've heard many opponents say of Auburn regardless of the outcome of the game. Now, granted, this was before 2010, and I understand there have been some misgivings between the two fan bases since the Cam fiasco, but I've always considered Miss State to be somewhat of a brothers-in-arms institution to our beloved Auburn.

Jaylin is one of the guys I was talking about. The other is Chad Baker, who strikes me as more the prototypical 3, while Jaylin is kind of a tweener between 3 and 4, but my comment was less about playing the particular role that Chuma did and more about being a breakout star whose season propels him to The League. Johni can't be that guy because he already got his first serious look from the NBA last summer; I don't think Aden is close enough to being ready that a great year would make him leave; and while Tre might be able to stick because of his size and defensive abilities, he's not flashy enough to think that he'd play his way into first-round consideration this year.

I'm not sure that Bruce's teams might not be better without a "true star". Maybe I'm remembering things wrong, but it seems like Chuma, the only player from the team that made the Final Four run who has become a star in the NBA, more grew into his role as a star than he was a surefire prospect, like Jabari and Okoro, and I think we've got at least a couple of players who could be that guy this year. But it's got to come about a little more organically, I think, for us to make a run in March/April. The players need to rely upon each other and pick each other up, like we've been doing, so that opponents won't be able to focus on any one player and shut us down.

I will preface this by admitting that I know little to nothing about the NBA, as I've not really cared to watch since Michael Jordan retired (the second time), and that was before the age where I could appreciate exactly how good NBA players are, which means that my primary exposure to NBA talent has been the guys Bruce has brought in, so somebody please correct me if I'm seeing things too orange and blue (which is admittedly fairly likely), but Jaylin seems to have worked his way into being a legitimate NBA prospect. I mean, I haven't seen him shoot much from NBA range 3s, but he's got a good 3-point stroke, and really seems to have a well-rounded game that could translate at the next level. He's obviously not Jabari because he doesn't have the same size, and as much as he's refined his shot well, he doesn't have the sweet stroke that JSJ did/does (at least, I presume he's still doing well in Houston, anyway). But I'd think Jaylin would be getting a serious look at least as a backup at the next level, because he's listed at 6'8 (and didn't seem more than 3 inches shorter than Jabari, whose official NBA height is 6'11). But, then, again, I don't really know. Would he be considered a bit of a tweener, a small 4/slow 3? And what about Broome? I know he didn't get a favorable enough report from the NBA workouts last summer to leave, but has he improved his game enough to be considered in the first round? If we have the great season we're all hoping to have, might he forego his last year even if he hasn't moved up the draft boards due to the seniors moving on? Then you think about our pair of point guards, one a five-star and the other matching him just about step for step. What are the chances they end up in the NBA, whether after an amazing run that propels them to it this year or after another year or two? That seems a bit more iffy for me because of the lack of size. Speaking of size, what about Denver Jones as a long 2? Could he earn a roster spot in the NBA? What about Chad Baker? We saw him make a huge impact off the bench a couple of games ago, and he's certainly got the length to get a solid look, I would think, if he can be more consistent. And how about Dylan Cardwell? About the only kind of shot he can make is a dunk... Still, he's got pretty good size, at least decent rebounding, and better-than-decent shot-blocking skills, plus the energy of a naked 3-year-old running loose in a supermarket... but is there any chance in hell all that adds up to NBA backup potential? We may or may not have any lurking NBA superstars on the team, but I'm curious what those who know more about basketball than me (which is probably a fair percentage of the board) think of our guys' prospects for playing at the next level.

Take your own advice, "little fella".

Auburn up to #25 in the AP Poll.

Except, you aren't the one who gets to make that judgement. That's the whole point. Trying to hammer home the point about the woman going now and sinning no more suggests that her actions have some bearing upon yours. It doesn't diminish the notion that you, as the bystander, are not to judge her actions, whether she continues to live in sin or not.

I have never once failed to stand at attention for the anthem, I'm merely defending a fellow citizen's right to choose to abstain. See, I actually believe in the things that this country was supposedly founded upon. I don't think that what the government has become in any way fits the founders' vision for governance of the people, but that's a conversation for another time. And, again, gently reminding is forcing the issue, whether you admit it or not.

"Gently reminding" a person to stand at attention for the anthem, however, IS forcing nationalism upon someone. I'm sorry that you don't understand that, but it's a fact of the matter. And I never said I hate the country. What I hate is people telling me how I have to go about worshipping the country through pledge and song reverence in order to be a good citizen. About how I should depart before daring criticize. How dare I? Can't have any of our subjects thinking for themselves, now, can we? 🙄