Men vs. Ole Miss - Game Thread

[alexava 6,973]

i know BP is one of the best but to the basketball novice (me) we appear to not be coached well. we have some talent, i think. i just can't put a finger on why we are so overmatched. I do think for us to have any success we need Bower to play well. he is more than capable and i agree that i have not seen an attitude problem. he doesn't play to his strengths, at least that is how it seems.

[AU64 10,122]

This was not the first game Cim has not listened to Coach BP. He really needs attitude adjustment and play team ball.

I feel for BP sometimes....coaching his butt off and guys only sometimes listening. JMO but that new rule about coaches not being able to call a TO during a live ball really hurts AU. BP is sitting there ...watching the offense going in circles and nobody doing anything (see post 84 above) and he can't call time out to get a play established....so just has to watch as a valuable possession turns into nothing.

Basketball is an unusual sport in that for most team sports the coach does not instruct individual players to the same extent during a game.. That seems to be part of game and if one or more players on the floor aren't "with the program"...neither the offense nor defense is going to be effective. As I watch more and more of our games, I'm inclined to be less critical of BP and more sympathetic to the situation he is in now.

[Tiger 8,827]

i know BP is one of the best but to the basketball novice (me) we appear to not be coached well. we have some talent, i think. i just can't put a finger on why we are so overmatched. I do think for us to have any success we need Bower to play well. he is more than capable and i agree that i have not seen an attitude problem. he doesn't play to his strengths, at least that is how it seems.

BP's style is to let players play confidently and with that comes some bad shots here and there (Canty for example rarely takes good shots, but he drills them quite often -- but when he's off it looks extra bad) and sometimes out of control ball when we don't have near comparable talent to what he had at UT. So in BP's philosophy what he lacks as a rigid, structured offense he makes up in high energy, chaotic (in a good way), long, and athletic teams that wear you down over the course of a game with the up and down offense and pressing defense. When you only have 7 guys and no PG on the team who can create for others while being severely undersized we are going to have games like we have been seeing on the road. But we have seen flashes of what our program will look like with BP when we finally get the bodies to run his system. Right now we just don't have that. Dunans, Canty, Harris, and Brown -- Which make up basically half of our rotation when fully healthy have only been on campus for one semester and a few weeks. That also hurts our cause.

However, something I find concerning is the lack of effort on 50/50 balls and/or rebounds. There was a play in last night's game where a long rebound if Canty just put forth 30% effort it looked like he could've grabbed the board. I know we don't have the bodies so Pearl doesn't have the luxury of really sitting guys out without the risk of us getting blown out but I HAVE to think this type of thing makes Pearl's blood boil.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Definitely a chemistry situation with Bowers, which could easily overflow into the locker room. Bowers seems to have authority issues.....just an assessment.

He's always seemed to have an attitude issue, but having no inside info on him, I've always been hesitant to claim it to be true. It certainly seems the case occasionally, but again it may be a misconception.

I don't get this assessment in the least. I've watched every basketball game our men/s team has played since Pearl arrived at Auburn and I see NOTHING from Bowers to indicated an attitude problem. He didn't do what his coach told him to do at the end of the half last night and sat most of the 2nd half because of it (we are assuming). This is the only time since Bowers has been here that I can recall him getting benched because of something. One incident does not translate into an attitude problem.

That's true but one incident....does not usually get a guy benched.... if that's what happened. For the time he was in the game in the first half, CB played about as he usually does in road games....missed some easy buckets but got some rebounds and I don't recall him taking any wild 3s for which I was grateful. But somewhere between the last minute of play and the opening of the second half....something happened. BP has not had the depth on the squad to crack down when players don't accept instruction...but sometimes enough is enough.

Interesting too in the "official" recap of the game by Charles Goldberg ....there is no mention of Bowers in the game write-up....no explanation about why he was missing most of the game....only an innocuous comment from BP about "that's what happens when you have 7 players" and lack of depth affecting the rebounding.

http://www.auburntigers.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/012716aaa.html

shoot, my high school coach would've benched me the second I didn't run to the right side of the lane on a play! Good coaches have high expectations of their players, and when you show any sort of "rebellious" nature, good coaches bench you!

[AU64 10,122]

Definitely a chemistry situation with Bowers, which could easily overflow into the locker room. Bowers seems to have authority issues.....just an assessment.

He's always seemed to have an attitude issue, but having no inside info on him, I've always been hesitant to claim it to be true. It certainly seems the case occasionally, but again it may be a misconception.

I don't get this assessment in the least. I've watched every basketball game our men/s team has played since Pearl arrived at Auburn and I see NOTHING from Bowers to indicated an attitude problem. He didn't do what his coach told him to do at the end of the half last night and sat most of the 2nd half because of it (we are assuming). This is the only time since Bowers has been here that I can recall him getting benched because of something. One incident does not translate into an attitude problem.

That's true but one incident....does not usually get a guy benched.... if that's what happened. For the time he was in the game in the first half, CB played about as he usually does in road games....missed some easy buckets but got some rebounds and I don't recall him taking any wild 3s for which I was grateful. But somewhere between the last minute of play and the opening of the second half....something happened. BP has not had the depth on the squad to crack down when players don't accept instruction...but sometimes enough is enough.

Interesting too in the "official" recap of the game by Charles Goldberg ....there is no mention of Bowers in the game write-up....no explanation about why he was missing most of the game....only an innocuous comment from BP about "that's what happens when you have 7 players" and lack of depth affecting the rebounding.

http://www.auburntig.../012716aaa.html

shoot, my high school coach would've benched me the second I didn't run to the right side of the lane on a play! Good coaches have high expectations of their players, and when you show any sort of "rebellious" nature, good coaches bench you!

Generally true ....but where there is no depth and people are expecting the team to win....coaches probably have a very hard time deciding how to make the best of a bad situation. And if a prominent player spends much time on the bench, the coach is the one that people question. And perhaps some players know where the leverage is at any given time. What do they call it...passive-aggressive behavior?

NBA for example....a coach could never get away with benching certain players no matter how they react to the coach.....such as the Cleveland situation where James and a couple others just ignored Blatt with impunity.

Whatever is going on....at this point my ambitions for this season have declined quite a bit.

[mustache eagle 2,406]

i know BP is one of the best but to the basketball novice (me) we appear to not be coached well. we have some talent, i think. i just can't put a finger on why we are so overmatched. I do think for us to have any success we need Bower to play well. he is more than capable and i agree that i have not seen an attitude problem. he doesn't play to his strengths, at least that is how it seems.

BP's style is to let players play confidently and with that comes some bad shots here and there (Canty for example rarely takes good shots, but he drills them quite often -- but when he's off it looks extra bad) and sometimes out of control ball when we don't have near comparable talent to what he had at UT. So in BP's philosophy what he lacks as a rigid, structured offense he makes up in high energy, chaotic (in a good way), long, and athletic teams that wear you down over the course of a game with the up and down offense and pressing defense. When you only have 7 guys and no PG on the team who can create for others while being severely undersized we are going to have games like we have been seeing on the road. But we have seen flashes of what our program will look like with BP when we finally get the bodies to run his system. Right now we just don't have that. Dunans, Canty, Harris, and Brown -- Which make up basically half of our rotation when fully healthy have only been on campus for one semester and a few weeks. That also hurts our cause.

However, something I find concerning is the lack of effort on 50/50 balls and/or rebounds. There was a play in last night's game where a long rebound if Canty just put forth 30% effort it looked like he could've grabbed the board. I know we don't have the bodies so Pearl doesn't have the luxury of really sitting guys out without the risk of us getting blown out but I HAVE to think this type of thing makes Pearl's blood boil.

I wonder if CBP has had to throttle back the intensity of practices ... even as far back as preseason ... worrying about depth. I.e. fierce rebounding drills or practicing diving for balls on the floor, etc... because we arent really doing that consistently. Heck our local high school team out hustles and out "wants-to" this college team. Another possibility is TSD and Dunnans being out. They were 2 of the more high energy guys, IMO. Particularly TSD. That dude was dang near reckless, in a good way.

I am still perplexed by the inconsistent rebounding. I just cant help but think it is mental. Obviously we are out sized in some games, but not all.

I am still very encouraged about the future. I also truly appreciate the guys that have come in for a year or 2.

[Tiger 8,827]

Totally with you, mustache eagle. We didn't really have enough bodies with our entire rotation healthy to have all out practices when you add the injuries I can see how we would have to protect the guys we do have. Also, we have still upgraded our overall talent from what we had prior to BP IMO and I'm glad that we have guys who are willing to help build the foundation like Harris, Dunans, Canty, Bowers. This wasn't going to be a 1 or 2 year turn around so it was a longer term project for BP. I think in a few years Spencer and Brown will be key contributors to a talented AU team that could be playing in the postseason.

[mustache eagle 2,406]

of course look at it this way ...

if Reed had worked the last 12 months with CBP and gained size/strength then bowers may not be needed as much inside.

if Dunnans was not hurt then we have a very very dyanmic athlete who was a very difficult match up. we really miss his ability to attack the basket with the ball and some rebounding. He even had a decent outside shot that kept his defender honest.

if TSD was not hurt, he was an incredible defender and raised the energy of the team on the floor. that was evidenced (to me at least) by the increased energy when he was in the game his last couple of games - even though his minutes were limited. He also would have allowed canty to play the 2. i dont recall them ever on the floor at the same time this year.

if you put those 3 guys back on our team ... i think the record is different and the outlook by us fans for this season would be dramatically different. injuries suck!

i think lang was off his game for a few games after his ankle turn. this has been a lot to overcome. thank goodness we have had harris. very consistent this season. not always spectacular, but rarely has he been worse than solid. having canty has been a masterstroke by CBP and canty himself. dude has had his reputation go through the roof this season. would not have had that at his previous stop. may help auburn with future transfers.

[Tiger 8,827]

You nailed it. I forgot to mention Lang in my last post. He can also be a threat for us in the future on O and D. I like his game.

[AU64 10,122]

You nailed it. I forgot to mention Lang in my last post. He can also be a threat for us in the future on O and D. I like his game.

I was a fan of Dunans....kind of gawky looking guy but a hustler and shooter JMO we miss him more than any of the other guys who are out now.

[Tiger 8,827]

I personally think a big part of our struggles are that we have to play a walk on at PG when Canty needs a breather and that is just my opinion. Not downplaying Dunans' absense because we miss him greatly and he's a good slasher and his size and length and quickness is a huuuuge plus for us. But even when Canty is out there we have trouble initating the offense - every game it seems commentators talk about how close to mid court we are having to start our O. But when Canty isn't out there we are at a tremendous disadvantage.

Dunans' presence would also help in that the opposing teams would have to commit a similar sized player to guard him instead of sticking a wing player on Canty because Canty struggles with bigger defenders on him and is a much weaker threat to defenses inside the 3pt line (whether it be scoring or dishing to someone who can score) than he is outside of it.

There's no right or wrong and you make extremely valid points, 64. I was a PG for my entire life so I may be biased towards the importance of PG play lol

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

Lots of good comments. I will just be happy when we can quit saying "things will look better in the future" and the future gets here.

[alexava 6,973]

i know BP is one of the best but to the basketball novice (me) we appear to not be coached well. we have some talent, i think. i just can't put a finger on why we are so overmatched. I do think for us to have any success we need Bower to play well. he is more than capable and i agree that i have not seen an attitude problem. he doesn't play to his strengths, at least that is how it seems.

BP's style is to let players play confidently and with that comes some bad shots here and there (Canty for example rarely takes good shots, but he drills them quite often -- but when he's off it looks extra bad) and sometimes out of control ball when we don't have near comparable talent to what he had at UT. So in BP's philosophy what he lacks as a rigid, structured offense he makes up in high energy, chaotic (in a good way), long, and athletic teams that wear you down over the course of a game with the up and down offense and pressing defense. When you only have 7 guys and no PG on the team who can create for others while being severely undersized we are going to have games like we have been seeing on the road. But we have seen flashes of what our program will look like with BP when we finally get the bodies to run his system. Right now we just don't have that. Dunans, Canty, Harris, and Brown -- Which make up basically half of our rotation when fully healthy have only been on campus for one semester and a few weeks. That also hurts our cause.

However, something I find concerning is the lack of effort on 50/50 balls and/or rebounds. There was a play in last night's game where a long rebound if Canty just put forth 30% effort it looked like he could've grabbed the board. I know we don't have the bodies so Pearl doesn't have the luxury of really sitting guys out without the risk of us getting blown out but I HAVE to think this type of thing makes Pearl's blood boil.

the lack of rebounding is terrible. when we seem to be in good position but don't box out it infuriates me. there are times we have three guys close and give up offensive put backs just kills us. like you sometimes it is effort/want to but sometimes it looks like a lack of technique or fundamentals. I understand the depth problem but i see this very early in games too. i still like to watch them, still optimistic in BP.

[AU64 10,122]

i know BP is one of the best but to the basketball novice (me) we appear to not be coached well. we have some talent, i think. i just can't put a finger on why we are so overmatched. I do think for us to have any success we need Bower to play well. he is more than capable and i agree that i have not seen an attitude problem. he doesn't play to his strengths, at least that is how it seems.

BP's style is to let players play confidently and with that comes some bad shots here and there (Canty for example rarely takes good shots, but he drills them quite often -- but when he's off it looks extra bad) and sometimes out of control ball when we don't have near comparable talent to what he had at UT. So in BP's philosophy what he lacks as a rigid, structured offense he makes up in high energy, chaotic (in a good way), long, and athletic teams that wear you down over the course of a game with the up and down offense and pressing defense. When you only have 7 guys and no PG on the team who can create for others while being severely undersized we are going to have games like we have been seeing on the road. But we have seen flashes of what our program will look like with BP when we finally get the bodies to run his system. Right now we just don't have that. Dunans, Canty, Harris, and Brown -- Which make up basically half of our rotation when fully healthy have only been on campus for one semester and a few weeks. That also hurts our cause.

However, something I find concerning is the lack of effort on 50/50 balls and/or rebounds. There was a play in last night's game where a long rebound if Canty just put forth 30% effort it looked like he could've grabbed the board. I know we don't have the bodies so Pearl doesn't have the luxury of really sitting guys out without the risk of us getting blown out but I HAVE to think this type of thing makes Pearl's blood boil.

the lack of rebounding is terrible. when we seem to be in good position but don't box out it infuriates me. there are times we have three guys close and give up offensive put backs just kills us. like you sometimes it is effort/want to but sometimes it looks like a lack of technique or fundamentals. I understand the depth problem but i see this very early in games too. i still like to watch them, still optimistic in BP.

Hard to figure the rebounding....a couple guys just don't make the effort but on the other hand, when there is a major push by the team to get rebounds we end up with a couple guys on the bench in the first half in foul trouble.....and no comparable players available.

The OM game was bad effort IMO because they are one of the few team where we were not out-sized and we held our own for the first half....then poof....that was it.

But I've seen Duke with the same issues.....only 7 players and they are getting beat to death on the boards trying to avoid fouls....a situation which never used to happen. Expect Bruce is pulling his hair out trying to figure out how to motivate them and keep a viable team on the floor at the same time.

[AuburnNTexas 7,150]

We have all beaten this horse to death.Our talents is better then in the past. Canty is a 2 guard having to play PG when he is super hot we have a chance to win. Harris has been most consistent player all year providing offense, rebounding and defense. We rely to much on the 3 because we only have Harris scoring regularly on the inside. Spencer is a project who has the tools and will get a lot better. Bowers plays hard every game but seems to either be very good or not so good it depends on the game.

A great point guard would help Bowers and Spencer a lot they would get some easier baskets as would Canty when the PG drove and dishes. Dunans was a guy who could create his own offense outside of the planned offense which would take pressure off of Canty and Brown. Shamsid-Deens as a true PG and an excellent outside defender plus the things that Dunans add and we would be a much better team. We might have similaar record but I don't think we would have the bad games.

The good news is the people returning next year Dunans, Lang, Brown, Canty, Spencer, Maybe Shamsid-Deen, and the addition of 3-6 players. Harper PG 4*, Heron SG 5*, McLemore PF 3*, maybe Cohen as walkon PG, Maybe Reed, Maybe Purifoy. If we get some of the maybe players we will have the depth we need to compete in the SEC with 2-3 true PG's allowing the offense to open up.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

10 bucks says we beat OSU and LSU coming up at home

[AU64 10,122]

10 bucks says we beat OSU and LSU coming up at home

OK...I'll take that....just a sec........let me get you my mailing address.....

Just kidding.....the way the team CAN play at home would seem to make any home game a possible win. Hope the crowd is over-flow again to push the guys along.