Men vs. Harvard - Game Thread

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Unless Purifoy is the 2nd coming of Jordan, we're in for another long season.

Really dude

[jared52 4,354]

Unless Purifoy is the 2nd coming of Jordan, we're in for another long season.

Was going to be a long season either way. Not sure why folks got all NCAA tournament happy. Roster turned over almost completely and that only works at UK where they get 3-4 super freshmen a year. AU might make a late season run if they figure out how to play together.

[jared52 4,354]

Yep, put this one in the books as a learning experience. Hope the boys enjoy the beach and build some off court chemistry spending all this time together.

[gravejd 3,270]

Awful awful awful loss. But hopefully they get better. Still hoping for NIT

[mustache eagle 2,403]

Was a tough game. Almost lethargic. Heck, I'm not sure how much to learn from this one. Just regroup, know the effort needs improve, gotta play smarter on both ends and get back to work.

[augolf1716 21,143]

Damn Harvard SMART ass guys

[autigeremt 6,616]

Awful awful awful loss. But hopefully they get better. Still hoping for NIT

It's a loss....Harvard has been to the NCAA's a few more times than not in the last few years. Well coached basketball team with some talent.

[wareagleguy 1,393]

Missed this one, was having to do some Santa assembly! War Eagle and let's get ready for the next one!

[FoundationEagle 637]

Awful awful awful loss. But hopefully they get better. Still hoping for NIT

It's a loss....Harvard has been to the NCAA's a few more times than not in the last few years. Well coached basketball team with some talent.

Not trying to be negative here...but if we get slaughtered by well coached teams with SOME talent, what does that make us? I don't even want to think about this team with Canty injured.

[NoALtiger 3,861]

Well we put on a clinic of what not to do. That was a total crap fest. At least they are in paradise though, not too shabby a trip.

[bigman334 56]

i'm sorry but i need to see better. We have better overall talent than last season. And enough IMO to at least showup against teams that arent elite. When we hired Bruce he was supposed to be a home run hire. It needs to get better before it gets worse. at least show some progression. that is all i ask.

[InfernoOrangeSS 321]

If you haven't seen progress, I don't know what to tell you.

[Jgarrett7 957]

#fire Bruce....is that how you do that? Good grief

[Wareagle1092 0]

Calm down this is a new team (only 4 returning players) and they are fighting a bunch of nagging injuries. I think they will do better and better as the season progresses. They just have to learn to play defense together, move the ball a little more on offense, and trust in the system. Pearl is a proven coach, but you have to look at what he inherited and this is only year two. Auburn was clearly the better team; they have to learn to play together consistently.

[Mikey 16,599]

Harvard has a younger team than Auburn. Today's was a disturbing performance and there's not any way to put a positive spin on it. Here's hoping we move on and up from this day, which hopefully was a low point.

[Wareagle1092 0]

They are young but their coach had time to established himself and his system (9th year) so he has his players. His team has faced much better competition this year than Auburn has so far. They played Kansas the #2 team in the country very tough only loss by 5 points. They have been battle tested, more depth, and less injuries. They beat a depleted Auburn team who was clearly fatigued.

[all4AU 379]

Our treat on Friday in the 3rd place game is a Hawai'i team that gave third ranked Oklahoma all it wanted and then some. It'll definitely be a tough game in front of the home crowd. We are definitely not the favorite to win, but I love the underdog role.

Game is 5:30 Central/1:30 Hawaii time on ESPN2. Maybe the locals will still be enjoying Christmas and it won't be a packed house...

[JDUBB4AU 5,121]

Good grief. AU should not have lost this game

[Jgarrett7 957]

Calm down this is a new team (only 4 returning players) and they are fighting a bunch of nagging injuries. I think they will do better and better as the season progresses. They just have to learn to play defense together, move the ball a little more on offense, and trust in the system. Pearl is a proven coach, but you have to look at what he inherited and this is only year two. Auburn was clearly the better team; they have to learn to play together consistently.

Not sure if this was directed at my post. I agree with you completely. I'm one of those crazy people that believes a coach needs time to get his players and implement his system. My hashtag was a jab at the many overreacting posters throughout AUFamily.

War Eagle

[AU64 10,122]

JDU..pls explain why AU should not have lost.....game I saw, Harvard won it fair and square.

[aujeff11 6,243]

JDU..pls explain why AU should not have lost.....game I saw, Harvard won it fair and square.

Yep. They had more talent down low, they were more fundamental and they made more shots. While on our offensive end, we couldn't get anything going and Canty, our only legit offensive threat, was having a bad day.

[AU64 10,122]

you can count on an Ivy league team being good fundamentally.....they always have less "talent" but usually seem to comport themselves well against more athletic teams.

[Wareagle1092 0]

Calm down this is a new team (only 4 returning players) and they are fighting a bunch of nagging injuries. I think they will do better and better as the season progresses. They just have to learn to play defense together, move the ball a little more on offense, and trust in the system. Pearl is a proven coach, but you have to look at what he inherited and this is only year two. Auburn was clearly the better team; they have to learn to play together consistently.

Not sure if this was directed at my post. I agree with you completely. I'm one of those crazy people that believes a coach needs time to get his players and implement his system. My hashtag was a jab at the many overreacting posters throughout AUFamily.

War Eagle

No it wasn't I was actually talking about Bigman 334's post.

[WarTiger 3,901]

i'm sorry but i need to see better. We have better overall talent than last season. And enough IMO to at least showup against teams that arent elite.

Based on that comment, it appears to me (and probably a few others) that you haven't seen a game at all.

When we hired Bruce he was supposed to be a home run hire. It needs to get better before it gets worse. at least show some progression. that is all i ask.

It WAS a HOMERUN hire. Come out of your negative nancy outfit and actually watch a game. We aren't going from the bottom to the top in less than 2 years. If you expect that, then you are being totally unreasonable. That's not how it works.

If you have actually watched more than a half of one game and don't think this team is improving and the program is improving then you probably should find something else to do with your time. This team returned only FOUR players from last years team. It takes time for a team to gel and know each others strengths and weaknesses. We are also playing a non-conference schedule that is LIGHT YEARS tougher than any schedule we played the previous 8-9 years under those coaches.

[InfernoOrangeSS 321]

i'm sorry but i need to see better. We have better overall talent than last season. And enough IMO to at least showup against teams that arent elite.

Based on that comment, it appears to me (and probably a few others) that you haven't seen a game at all.

When we hired Bruce he was supposed to be a home run hire. It needs to get better before it gets worse. at least show some progression. that is all i ask.

It WAS a HOMERUN hire. Come out of your negative nancy outfit and actually watch a game. We aren't going from the bottom to the top in less than 2 years. If you expect that, then you are being totally unreasonable. That's not how it works.

If you have actually watched more than a half of one game and don't think this team is improving and the program is improving then you probably should find something else to do with your time. This team returned only FOUR players from last years team. It takes time for a team to gel and know each others strengths and weaknesses. We are also playing a non-conference schedule that is LIGHT YEARS tougher than any schedule we played the previous 8-9 years under those coaches.

Very well said!

I would even go so far as to say this year is more like his first year since he was forced to use transfers and Jucos his first year that are gone now. He's basically starting with this team.