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Improved SEC and Impact on Auburn


AuburnNTexas

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I have been watching as many Auburn games as I can and even though the teams we have been playing are not great I have been very impressed by the improvement I have seen over last year. This current team would have won at least half of their SEC games against last years opponents. That said I have also watched a few of our SEC opponents and in most cases the SEC is vastly improved over last year, Mizzou was a doormat last year they will be near the top. Tenn is much better, KY is KY, Texas A&M looks like a top tier team, Arkansas will not be a pushover, LSU just had a big win, bama has looked good the other teams I have not seen.

My question for those who follow basketball more than I do will our improvement be enough to at least win 50% of our SEC games?  It is a two part question first part can we win 50% without Wiley and Purifoy and second part can we win 50% with Wiley.  I am not adding Purifoy not because I think we won't get him back but because we have multiple similar pieces to Purifoy on current team whereas we really don't have a true Big man without Wiley.

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I don’t do W/L predictions becuase too much changes. What if Heron’s back doesn’t fully heal? What if McLemore gets injured?

That said, AU needs Wiley or the SEC will run over AU. They can do just fine without Purifoy, and can make the NCAA possibly. Without Wiley, the NIT will be the goal. 

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2 hours ago, jared52 said:

I don’t do W/L predictions becuase too much changes. What if Heron’s back doesn’t fully heal? What if McLemore gets injured?

That said, AU needs Wiley or the SEC will run over AU. They can do just fine without Purifoy, and can make the NCAA possibly. Without Wiley, the NIT will be the goal. 

I wouldn't exactly characterize it as all of the SEC will "run over AU" without Wiley, but the top teams probably will, i.e. TAMU, KY, FLA, and TN. I think AU will hover around the .500 mark without Wiley, but will shoot over the .500 mark by maybe 3 games or so with him. Vandy and the Mississippi schools should be wins this year for AU, with good, close contests coming against the likes of Mizzou, Bama, Arkansas, USCe, UGA, etc. 

We definitely need Wiley to be a force in the SEC portion of the schedule. I think we'll be a pesky matchup either way, but we'll likely run out of steam down the stretch without him. 

 

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1 hour ago, tigeraddikt said:

I wouldn't exactly characterize it as all of the SEC will "run over AU" without Wiley, but the top teams probably will, i.e. TAMU, KY, FLA, and TN. I think AU will hover around the .500 mark without Wiley, but will shoot over the .500 mark by maybe 3 games or so with him. Vandy and the Mississippi schools should be wins this year for AU, with good, close contests coming against the likes of Mizzou, Bama, Arkansas, USCe, UGA, etc. 

We definitely need Wiley to be a force in the SEC portion of the schedule. I think we'll be a pesky matchup either way, but we'll likely run out of steam down the stretch without him. 

 

Agree. There are some SEC schools AU can simply score more and win without a big man in the middle. But the teams you mentioned, we need size and bulk inside to win the close ones late in game. Wiley is needed for that.

Murray can provide some of that because he plays strong around the basket, but i feel sometimes his Height will hurt him with those guys 6-8 and higher. So some games he will disappear down there.

I also think IF Wiley comes back, there will be some games early one that will hurt possibly our chance to win, b/c the only way to work WIley back into the offense sets is now put him out there in real SEC games (not a good way to start)...

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17 hours ago, steeleagle said:

Agree. There are some SEC schools AU can simply score more and win without a big man in the middle. But the teams you mentioned, we need size and bulk inside to win the close ones late in game. Wiley is needed for that.

Murray can provide some of that because he plays strong around the basket, but i feel sometimes his Height will hurt him with those guys 6-8 and higher. So some games he will disappear down there.

I also think IF Wiley comes back, there will be some games early one that will hurt possibly our chance to win, b/c the only way to work WIley back into the offense sets is now put him out there in real SEC games (not a good way to start)...

Wiley has supposedly been practicing with the team, and with his experience playing during the conference portion of last season, I don't think there will be much adjustment time. Also, he looks friggin jacked on the bench. Looks like he's made huge strides toward growing into his man-body since last season.

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  • 3 weeks later...

After watching some of the SEC openers. This is going to be a tough league to win in even with how we have improved. bama beating A&M, Arkansas beating Tenn, Ole Miss beating South Carolina, Kentucky being pushed by a good Georgia team.  We have improved a lot since last year but so has most of the SEC with the exception of South Carolina which lost some key players and Kentucky which has another crop of freshman Super Stars who may or may not gel into another great team.

With Wiley I would feel much more confidant as I saw a number of good big men on the other SEC teams. I hope our chemistry, athleticism, speed, depth,  etc. will be enough to overcome our size disparity. I felt better before I watched these games I hope we can hold our home court and surprise a team or two on the road. 

Tenn. will be great test as they are one of the few teams without the great big man but who are a really good team. Win or lose this game will be a great gauge of where we are.

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Can we go 9-9 without Wiley and Purifoy? I think we can because we're talented enough even on our bench. We don't see a massive dropoff in ability past our starting 5. Will we? I think that can't really be determined. Only having 9 scholarship players is asking a lot of this team. They have to stay healthy, avoid on-court suspensions (looking at you Spencer and Dunbar), and not have any off-field issues. My guess is 9-9 is about the best we can hope for in the SEC with the current roster just because we will be undersized in almost every game and there will be games when we play our best that still don't go our way.

With Wiley, I think we're better than a .500 team because he adds depth in the post on both ends plus overall depth on the roster.

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We need to get that .500 sec record.  Would be helpful to have it include a couple good wins.  

An away win vs a top 25 UTenn team would be a great place to start.  Before school starts.  Fan base back to work.  Game on a work night. Everyone home and hung over from New Years.  THis isn’t their first sec game to get excited for.  Maybe the lore of CBP coming back won’t bring UTenn people to the game.

in other words I hope there are crickets in their gym and little ole auburn b-ball can pull one out while nobody is looking.

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