TeamZero77

The AP poll came out today and we stayed at #1 and received 49 of the 61 first place votes. Gonzaga received the remaining 12 first place votes. Kentucky jumped from #12 to #5 by smoking Kansas at Kansas. The SEC got 4 teams into the top 25. Auburn at #1, Kentucky #5, Tennessee #22 and LSU #25. I believe this week is the least amount of teams the SEC has had in the top 25 all year. The most we've had this year was 7 I think. We are the only team in the top 25 to have 20 wins for the season. Closest to us is several teams with 18 wins. I read alot of comments on sports sites, opposing teams message boards, etc. and 99% of the comments about Auburn are very positive. Most everybody across the country that follows NCAA Basketball and comments about our basketball team have said we are legit and we will be very tough to beat in March Madness because we play great defense, we have size and we're very deep. I will add to that by saying we are very well coached too. WDE

I had a good laugh at his post. He is all doom and gloom and saying we're going to lose the #1 spot because of a Sports Illustrated cover jinx that isn't even a magazine cover. I thought most would see it wasn't legit just by reading everything on that "cover." 😂

Just think about this for a second guys; a top basketball coach chose Auburn over Louisville. That's HUGE for us!!! I can honestly say that this extension, along with our Final 4 run, is the greatest time in Auburn basketball history. Also, keeping Bruce until his retirement probably means his son stays as well and could possible take over from Dad when he decides to hang it up. We ALL know how much Bruce loves Auburn and we love you right back Coach!!! WDE

Did anybody else happen to hear the announcer during tonight's game say that Auburn has been ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll at some point during 4 of the past 5 seasons? If you would've told me 9 years ago that would happen, I would've told you to give your head a shake. Just unbelievable what Bruce Pearl has done at Auburn. WDE

They aren't in the top 25 are they?

I wish we could start out hot for a change. We seem to always start ice cold but make great adjustments

Just a look at the year by year buildup to this point. 2014) 15-20 overall....4-14 in SEC 2015) 11-20 overall.....5-13 SEC 2016) 18-14 overall.....7-11 SEC 2017) 26-8 overall....13-5 SEC Champs 2018) 30-10 overall...11-7 SEC Tourney Champs.....Final 4 2019) 25-6 overall.....12-6 SEC 2nd place regular season....No tourneys due 2 Covid 2020) 13-14 overall.....7-11 SEC 2021) 18-1 overall currently.....7-0 SEC AP poll #1 first time in school history To think back to that first season in 2014 and how KT Harrell hit a long 3 to send us to OT against LSU where we would win and advance to the semi finals of the SEC Tourney. Thinking back to 2017 when we finally cracked the AP top 25 and went onto the SEC regular season title and our first March Madness bid in 15 years. Then 2018 we win the SEC Tournament and knock off Kansas, UNC and Kentucky all in a row to advance to our first Final 4 ever. Chuma Okeke gets drafted in the lottery. 2019 we start out 14-0 and get up to #4 AP poll. We finish 2nd in the regular season SEC standings. This team was even better than 2018 team but no tourneys due to Covid. Issac Okoro gets drafted in the 1st round. In 2020 it was just a rollercoaster because Sharife Cooper had to sit the first half of the year and we could never get flowing as Powell went down with a severe concussion. We finish 1 game under .500 and Sharife Cooper is drafted to the Atl. Hawks. Now its 2021/22 and we open up at #22 in the AP. We have Jabari Smith who could be the #1 pick. Our UNC transfer Walker Kessler is an absolute machine, Allen Flanigan is back from an achilles and was voted All SEC 1st team, Wendell Green is absolutely amazing and we have arguably the deepest roster in the country. We just knocked off Alabama on the road, beat an undefeated LSU and smacked Kentucky to get us to our first AP poll #1 ranking EVER!!!! We have 3 players in our starting 5 that will be drafted this year and everybody in America knows about Auburn basketball again!!!! This is for Bruce Pearl and every single player that has ever put on that Auburn uniform. WAR DAMN EAGLE

Bruce Pearl just became the first coach in SEC history to get 2 SEC schools to the #1 ranking in the AP poll. February 2008, Tennessee was ranked #2 and played the #1 Memphis Tigers led by Derrike Rose and coached by John Calipari. Tennessee won that game and jumped to #1 in the AP poll. They would lose their very next game at Vanderbilt, who was also ranked. That would drop Tennessee from the top spot. Kinda funny how Bruce's teams had to beat a John Calipari led team both times to vault to #1. This is only the beginning in my opinion. WDE

I've seen Bruce talk about that certain backyard bbq and he owns it. It would've been a mild penalty, as you stated in your post, but I think Bruce left a few things out when interviewed by the NCAA so that's why he got the worst of it. He's a better man today because of it and he said it humbled him. Thank goodness Tennessee decided to part ways with him then or we would've never gotten him. Bruce would've won at least 1 Natty at Tennessee, if not more. Having Bruce and Pat Summit at Tennessee together, they would've done big things.

I'll be so happy when Auburn starts winning again so that these gloom and doom Harsin haters will go back into hiding because they've taken over most of these threads since the Mississippi State game. Funny how most of them rarely posted when we were 6-2 and had just beaten Arkansas and Ole Miss both by double digits. When we were 40th in recruiting and they all were negative and saying "I told y'all Harsin can't recruit the south" and then we ended up around 10th or 12th on early signing day, all they wanted to talk about then was how he still didn't get O-line guys and went to heavy on the defensive side of the ball. It never ends with these people. Anybody else notice how those certain members never chime in on the basketball threads? It probably kills them to see Bruce and our team kicking butt this year and for the past 5 years. But if he has a slip up and things even look a little bit bad, those gloom and doomed will be there ready to pounce!!!

I totally agree with you about the talent will win out over coaching most of the time. That 2001 Miami Hurricanes team is considered by many to be the greatest college team ever. The roster reads like a who's who of NFL greats. They went undefeated and won the Natty. Then in 2002 they were undefeated until Ohio State beat them in the National Title game. Larry Coker was the head coach of that team. Ed Orgeron has arguably the other greatest season in college history with LSU in 2019. Gene Chizik in 2010. Those 3 right off the top of my head prove that a team full of 5 stars or a team with 2 all-time greats like Cam and Fairley will make an average coach look great. Kirby Smart once said "There's not a coach alive that can regularly scheme around top talent."

I've seen, just in this thread alone, that you mention wanting a "rock star head coach" and you mentioned "rock star coordinator." So it's obvious you are wanting a rock star, big name coach whenever Auburn decides to hire another head coach. If you are expecting or wanting our PTB to do that, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed. When has Auburn EVER hired a rock star head coach in football? Shug Jordan wasn't a big name. Barfield was promoted from OC to HC Pat Dye was coaching Wyoming Terry Bowden was coaching Samford Tuberville was barely .500 at Ole Miss Chizik was about to get canned at ISU Malzahn had 1 season at Arkansas St. Harsin was 69-19 at Boise State So tell me why do you set yourself up to be disappointed wanting a big name HC at Auburn?

I'm pretty sure I have figured out why the Kentucky fanbase, former players and their radio announcer are pissed off and not showing any love to Auburn. For generations, Kentucky has owned SEC basketball. When another SEC team starts recruiting with them or starts beating them and the national media builds up the other team, Kentucky fans freak out like the SEC can ONLY go through Lexington. I saw the Ky fanbase lose their minds when LSU with Shaq were good, Florida with Billy Donovan winning 2 straight titles, Tennessee under Bruce Pearl, Arkansas under Nolan Richardson got a title and now Bruce has Auburn playing as good and better than Kentucky the past 5 years. The Kentucky fans are getting really paranoid because they know they're losing their stranglehold over the SEC and the SEC is getting 6 and sometimes 7 teams in the top 25 now. They know Bruce's attitude is contagious and that he will continue getting great players so this Auburn team isn't a flash in the pan but could stay neck and neck with Ky for several years. You saw Alabama fans freaking out like this when Urban Meyer was at Florida, in 2010 and 2013 with Auburn, LSU the past 15 years and especially when Dabo beat them 2 out of 3 times for the Natty. Both fanbases, Ky and Bama, have always been drunk with power and they REALLY don't like a team moving in on their spot. And trust me, if Kentucky fans weren't worried about Auburn and Bruce Pearl then you wouldn't see the hate from their fans like we are seeing. WDE

Serious question and I promise I'm not trying to argue with you but are you wanting Harsin to be fired after the 2022 season? The reason for me asking this is because the majority of your posts really come off that way. Almost like you have a serious axe to grind with him.

That's what he does best. Negative on most of his posts. Let's be honest, if Harsin and Will Friend were getting stud recruits for the O-line and also killing it in the transfer portal, then he would just move the goalposts and find something wrong with that. Or he would just jump to another position group like Special Teams and start complaining that they make too many errors, etc. There's a handful of those negative fans on this board and they just troll through every thread trying to find the right landing spot to spew all of their hate towards Harsin. Those same people never would post about terrible O-line recruiting while Gus was still here or about the nonexistent QB development under his watch. Those doom and gloom fans would make alot of people on this board happy if they would take their fandom to UCF message boards.

You're exactly right about the Kentucky fans excuses. They are the Alabama fanbase of college basketball. And not only has Auburn won more games the last 5 years than any other SEC team but we've done that even with a sub .500 team thrown in there last year. If last season had been a normal year for us like we are getting with Bruce, we would have a big win advantage the past 5 seasons. WDE

Before this season began, Bruce said he thinks this team can be the best team he has ever coached. Reminder that he had a Tennessee team ranked #1 in the country and an Elite 8 team at Tennessee, he's had a Final 4 team here as well as an SEC Championship team the year before our Final 4 team. Plus, he won a National Championship at Southern Indiana back in the 90's but it was a Division II team. For him to say this team can be his best ever says alot!!! This team can win any way they have to. We can go small, we can go big with Kessler down low, we can win ugly, low scoring games with our defense, we can win with our bench if we need to, etc. This team can win it all this season.

We won't add another QB in my opinion. We now have 5 QB's on the team; 3 are pro-style pocket passers and the other 2 are dual threat guys. I think this will be what Harsin and Austin Davis roll with for the 2022 season. I've even seen a few people on here that are surprised we even added a 5th QB. I would've loved to have landed Caleb Williams from Oklahoma or Gabriel from UCF but I understand if they saw our O-line for next season and how we don't have an Alpha, stud WR and just said thanks but no thanks.

Let's just say that the 4 team playoff was in effect in 2010. We beat South Carolina during the regular season in 2010 and then we faced them for the SEC Title. We were 12-0 and they were 8-4. (South Carolina ended the season 9-5 but won the SEC East). Now let's say South Carolina beat us in the SECCG by 1 point. They're the SEC Champs at 9-4 and we are 12-1 with our only loss being by 1 point. If the Playoff Committee had it setup like you want it with conference champions automatically getting in, then South Carolina would get in at 9-4 while Auburn wouldn't get in because they lost in the SECCG. Is that how you would prefer the 4 team playoff working? Also, if the rules were your way then Utah would get into the playoff this year at 10-3 because they're Pac 12 champs but Georgia wouldn't make it at 12-1 due to not being conference champs. I want the 4 best teams in the nation to make the playoffs. If that means 4 BIG10 teams get in or no SEC teams get in, I don't care. Just give me the 4 best teams.

I haven't seen any stats for Ashford when I look him up. Did he see the field any while he was at Oregon or was his time there similar to how Dee Davis was for us this past season? I know Ashford is raw but he has alot of eligibility left and could really turn out to be special down the road for us.

I told y'all when we got Calzada that he will be our QB and he isn't a "backup QB" because we're getting Caleb Williams. We were NEVER in the running for Caleb Williams, no matter what fans or "insiders" want to try and spin. The reason Bo Nix left and we could only get Calzada was because we struck out on getting any O-linemen through recruiting and the portal. This is also a reason we are struggling getting any WR's worth a damn because they know we don't have great QB play to get them the ball. And why don't we have a great QB? Because we don't have anything coming in on the O-line and no QB worth a damn wants to get sacked or run for his life all game long. You fans can look through your orange and blue glasses all you want and try to spin some elaborate story that everything will be fine on the offensive side of the ball but I'm telling y'all, it's gonne be bad next year on offense. And then at the end of next year, we lose our O-line to no eligibility left and 2023 O-line recruiting isn't looking great either.

You do know that is photoshopping right? It's been debunked already. Plus, you can go back and watch the replay of the game and go to halftime and watch this part. The ref has nothing on his shoulder. All photoshopped but its unbelievable how many people believe it's real.

I can guarantee you if Auburn had the season that Georgia had and then got beat in the SEC Title game like Georgia did, you would be at the front of the line screaming that Auburn still deserves to be in the playoffs. GTFOH with all that crap. If Auburn won the Natty without winning the SEC Title like Bama did in 2011 and 2017 and now Georgia has done this season, are you telling me you wouldn't count it? You wouldn't be happy? I'm no Alabama or Georgia fans at all but I'm also not going to be immature about what they accomplished and act like it shouldn't count.

All of the upperclassmen choosing to return can only be looked at as a positive in my opinion. I feel like it shows that they believe in the foundation that Coach Harsin and others are building here. I don't understand how fans can look at these O-linemen returning and say it's a bad thing. Just last night during the National Title game, Herbstreit said that the O-line is effected by veteran players more than any other position group. It's kinda rare to see an O-lineman start as a freshman in the SEC. These guys returning can only be a positive. If nothing else, it adds depth and they can mentor the incoming freshmen. My grandpa used to tell me when I was a young boy that "some people just choose to go through life being negative about everything. You could give those type people a $100 bill out of the goodness of your heart and they would complain because the corners were wrinkled on it."

Chizik was the DC at UNC for 1 season if my memory is correct. Larry Fedora was the head coach during that time. Chizik took over a defense back then that was pretty pathetic and instantly turned them around. The year Chizik was their DC I'm pretty sure they won like 11 games or so. I could be wrong. Anyway, it's really nice to see Chiz and Mack Brown back together. He was Mack's DC at Texas when they won the Natty in 2005. I agree with others here who say that Mack Brown will retire soon and this hiring of Chizik is to groom him to take over head coaching duties when Mack retires. WDE Coach Chizik