Dual-Threat Rigby

Im guessing Sears returned? I’d have them #1 in that case, but it’s pretty much neck and neck with KU. I’m basically rewarding the F4 exp, Grant possibly taking another step, and the POTENTIAL of the class they brought in. If those guys play to their potential, they can have one of the best benches the SEC has seen recently. KU’s returning value almost doesn’t even matter to me with how underwhelming those dudes performed last year, but Harris, Adams and Dickinson were the strengths so I’ll give them that. I like their class more than Bama’s. It’s more proven production. Probably a lower potential ceiling. Those two would be my #1 contenders

Wake Forest developed Hunter Sallis into a NBA guy this past season iirc. UCF was also pretty solid from what I recall

No new input on the players themselves but appreciate the effort in making these threads bro

The funny part about the consistency point is that Auburn finished tied with Bama last year in the SEC record. Bama flames out immediately in the SECT, Auburn does the same in the NCAAT. They had a rough patch with how many stellar teams they played in OOC and we couldn’t buy a road win in conference for the most part Those teams were both about as similar as you could really get lol. They also happened to be right by each other for most of the season metrically. They were both pretty consistent with each other

Anyone who cares to still argue the point 3 years after the guy transferred is a blowhard. You got one side who doesn't want to concede the guy improved after he left or was better here than he may've been perceived, and then you got another who just wants to prove they were right after he transferred out (which would be their real motivation, if we're being honest). There's no good actor here

Not a Bo hater by any means but how many rounds of Bo apologizing do we need Is he going to come back and win a few more games for Auburn if he gets a couple more sorries?

Are we the same person?

SEC could be anything between a 2 horse race to 5 legitimately elite squads. And I’m not even thinking about OU/UTa, who’ve been battle tested in the toughest conference for bball for decades. It’s gonna be a great season I agree

Oh yeah I’m in total agreement. If we went full court press on the SEC in basketball before Bama and A&M and some of these other programs got going, I feel like Pearl would’ve got a ring by now. Cooperating with the NCAA also stymied our depth for a few seasons too (looks like a bad idea in hindsight). Football program, in a fully merit-based world, wouldn’t be in the top 5 of sports we’d be running NIL into. We just had the biggest gymnast on the planet walk through AA (or Neville Arena, if you care to call it that), golf is apparently our best sport, even softball has been relevant more recently Unfortunately…we’re a footbaw school…just praying we finally get some ROI

Other than what I mentioned in the above post, I’ve also had the feeling for the last couple years that they want to do as well as possible with Freeze’s first few classes. You got that, you have Auburn obv being a football school, I doubt we have too many donors that are going to prioritize BB over FB, and it makes sense to me IMO.

Yeah this is why expectations for the Omier (or even RJ Godfrey) threads had to be tampered Auburn already has what’s basically a fully formed core and a star-level guy that’s probably commanding around a million. That plus sharing a pool with the football program is going to make it pretty hard for us to get a “great” option for backups

Feels like a pretty realistic spot for us. Don’t think we can really get any higher unless Sears is are still somehow undecided and chooses to dip out. We could then move up one spot, but that’d be about the extent of it realistically. Duke being 6th with Flagg goes to demonstrate how stacked some of these teams are

Yeah, Arkansas the last couple years has been the best reference point to me. A squad with virtually no continuity, all new dudes. And new dudes who are looking to make a mark for the league. It’s almost the same problem as building around one and dones, except you don’t have to deal with the acclimation to the college level That type of team looks real good if you can buy in, but if one or two rotation guys are just cancers and torpedo the season, you got a lot of vet guys who are risking their last shot at the league suddenly pissed.

Kentucky has been dropping the bag to get Pope's first class looking decent. I suppose you could look at that two ways - maybe they're tapped out to where we wouldn't get outbid or the way I think it'd go. I just looked at Achor's Kansas highlights for a reminder and he is of that hyper nimble stretch 5 build that we haven't had in abundance here (Thor probably is the closest I can think of)

Love Deion and think he’s good for CFB, but anyone who committed to that program…questionable decision Tarvarish (sp?) did have some good showings when he got PT for them though. Hope he lands somewhere more steady

For the guys that complain about NIL, this is the inevitable form of clarity needed. This is what leads to real regulation and professionalism (no pun intended) in this space

Dillingham’s system, Nix aside, was pretty legit. Hopefully he valued his time with Auburn enough to come back one day (if he continues his upward trend). Has had some honorable audio clips about his Arizona St experience

Not to be snarky but the date in the OP does say the visit is taking place on the 30th (this post is being made on the 29th)

I like Pearl’s recruiting ideology at this point. Try to retain a high floor core of older guys, replace departures with an equal blend of vets and HS guys. It just hasn’t worked for the guard spot the last couple years bc the HS guys hasn’t worked. But I don’t think he’s done it the wrong way, process wise.

Well I don’t think it’s an or thing. We seemed to be capped at about 2-3 high level HS players even when we shot for all of those guys. Which isn’t a bad thing, I think that’s just our reality. The defense thing also doesn’t make sense as Alabama has had MUCH better point guard defenders than we’ve had over that stretch. Like Wendell Green is the best defender Auburn’s fielded at the PG spot since the 2020s have began. Pettiford may actually be the first plus HS PG we’ve recruited, defensively (depending on what you consider Westry). I think you’re getting at an idea that we have a stricter requirement for who we recruit than Oats does, and I don’t know if that can be proven or disproven. I also get a feeling that you viewed my earlier post as a knock on Pearl/Auburn’s recruiting and it wasn’t meant to be. Just an observation

I don't think there's too many times since Oats has come there that Bama hasn't had the more talented roster on paper (off of the top of my head 2021-22 is the only time I think we had a definitely better roster). Auburn has competed well, even with Pearl having a slight losing record in the H2H. That's why I don't understand the doom and gloom or comparisons to their recruiting - Auburn may get less talented guys but Pearl's appeal is that he does more than less. Now, it'd be nice if we had more talented rosters so he didn't have to do that, but

Do you have notifications set for my posts?

Good god that Alabama class. Goodness

A lot of people would’ve been a lot less disappointed if they let themselves be this rational about the 2021 Iron Bowl. Oh well