Auburn checks in at #5 in the AP poll

[81spacetiger 157]

It doesn't matter too much, just win the last two to win SEC regular season

 

UT at 13

Ark at 14

ua at 25

Edited February 28, 2022 by 81spacetiger

[zeroforwinger 445]

Arkansas is very underrated. Also we’re definitely not the 5th best team right now. Green and Flanigan had better figure it out or we’re getting bounced early. 

[81spacetiger 157]

The final NCAA seeding may not get finalized until deep into the Conference CC.  Even so, there will be lots of great NCAA games all the way to the end.

[SumterAubie 3,033]

So Arizona loses at unranked Colorado by 16 while Auburn loses at number 17 Tennessee by 5. Yet Auburn drops 2 spots while Az doesn't move.

Auburn bias much? 

[zeroforwinger 445]

10 minutes ago, SumterAubie said:

So Arizona loses at unranked Colorado by 16 while Auburn loses at number 17 Tennessee by 5. Yet Auburn drops 2 spots while Az doesn't move.

Auburn bias much? 

I don’t see how anyone who’s watched this team the last 3 weeks thinks we’re better than our current ranking. 

[AUBwins 10,119]

17 minutes ago, zeroforwinger said:

I don’t see how anyone who’s watched this team the last 3 weeks thinks we’re better than our current ranking. 

I don't really think that matters at the moment with the entire top10 losing.  I agree we haven't been sharp, but as alluded to in other threads, we still had the best loss of the weekend so to speak to a team that has beaten many of the top 10 at their home court.  The statement above is just comparing the fact that Auburn dropped two spots while Arizona didn't move.  It's a bit absurd since they had the worst loss of anyone this weekend.  

To me it looks like voters pretty much went with record (providence can only jump so far in one week and moved up 11 spots) giving weight to who actually won this weekend. 

[SumterAubie 3,033]

1 hour ago, SumterAubie said:

So Arizona loses at unranked Colorado by 16 while Auburn loses at number 17 Tennessee by 5. Yet Auburn drops 2 spots while Az doesn't move.

Auburn bias much? 

 

1 hour ago, zeroforwinger said:

I don’t see how anyone who’s watched this team the last 3 weeks thinks we’re better than our current ranking. 

Seems you missed the point of the post though.

[zeroforwinger 445]

1 hour ago, SumterAubie said:

 

Seems you missed the point of the post though.

No I get the point, but it’s looking at the situations in a vacuum. Arizona lost for the first time in a month. Auburn had its third straight week with a loss. We’re lucky to be ranked as high as we are. This isn’t a woe is me, Auburn is always disrespected thing. 

[autigeremt 6,788]

Gotta win these next two and make a good run in the SEC's to get things back on track. I believe in this team. 

[NoALtiger 3,873]

It’s not just about the SEC at this point. We have managed to potentially lose a number #1 seed in the Big Dance with this regression we’ve had. I’d love to see us wrap up the regular season with a couple W’s and hopefully slide back in to a 1 seed. 

[MaxCohen216 514]

8 hours ago, 81spacetiger said:

It doesn't matter too much, just win the last two to win SEC regular season

 

UT at 13

Ark at 14

ua at 25

Our #5 ranking is very generous.  But...

Should a team (i.e. us) who's lost three of our past six games even be ranked in the top 10?

Edited March 1, 2022 by MaxCohen216

[81spacetiger 157]

Yes, without question

[Grumps 3,705]

1 hour ago, MaxCohen216 said:

Our #5 ranking is very generous.  But...

Should a team (i.e. us) who's lost three of our past six games even be ranked in the top 10?

If we had only played a 6 game season then NO.

[e808 3,028]

2 hours ago, MaxCohen216 said:

Our #5 ranking is very generous.  But...

Should a team (i.e. us) who's lost three of our past six games even be ranked in the top 10?

Definitely not. The team needs to get it together. Every loss is a mirror image of the last loss. Even the home games where they should have won by more but seem to have stretches of bad play. I can’t remember when the team played at least a semi clean game

Edited March 1, 2022 by e808

[MaxCohen216 514]

6 hours ago, Grumps said:

If we had only played a 6 game season then NO.

I'd just like to say that early season success is not nearly as valuable as late season success.

We had a lot of the former, but not much of the latter, considering we were ranked #1 at one point, and were viewed as a sure-fire #1 seed.  Now, we are no longer viewed as a #1 seed in any region.  And rightfully so.  Our brute force guard play that was effective early in the season has worked against us in the 2nd half of the season.

There has been a downward trend, as much as we all hate it.  Let's see what Bruce can do to get things right again.  He's the man, so I expect him to pull this team together and win the SEC regular season and hopefully the tournament.  Time will tell if he can do that.  There will be no excuses if he can't.

Edited March 1, 2022 by MaxCohen216

[Viper 3,142]

8 hours ago, MaxCohen216 said:

There has been a downward trend, as much as we all hate it.  Let's see what Bruce can do to get things right again.  He's the man, so I expect him to pull this team together and win the SEC regular season and hopefully the tournament. 

After 2019, I will never doubt Bruce. Greatest in-season turn-around of any AU team in bball or fball I’ve ever seen. After the 80-53 beatdown in Lexington in 2019, I gave up on the team. That was on 2/23/19…one week ago, three years ago. They then went on a historic 12-game win streak. Should have been 14 games.

So there’s still time for Bruce to bond this team and make a deep run. 

[Grumps 3,705]

13 hours ago, MaxCohen216 said:

I'd just like to say that early season success is not nearly as valuable as late season success.

We had a lot of the former, but not much of the latter, considering we were ranked #1 at one point, and were viewed as a sure-fire #1 seed.  Now, we are no longer viewed as a #1 seed in any region.  And rightfully so.  Our brute force guard play that was effective early in the season has worked against us in the 2nd half of the season.

There has been a downward trend, as much as we all hate it.  Let's see what Bruce can do to get things right again.  He's the man, so I expect him to pull this team together and win the SEC regular season and hopefully the tournament.  Time will tell if he can do that.  There will be no excuses if he can't.

I agree but we didn't have Arky or UT or UF on the road early in the season. We would likely have lost them early just like we lost them late. It's just that hard to win on the road against a good team. Our resume is still the best in the NCAA. Gonzaga is an easy #1 because everyone knows they will win almost all of their easy games. Voters vote for who they think will win instead of who they think is best.

[MaxCohen216 514]

8 hours ago, Viper said:

After 2019, I will never doubt Bruce. Greatest in-season turn-around of any AU team in bball or fball I’ve ever seen. After the 80-53 beatdown in Lexington in 2019, I gave up on the team. That was on 2/23/19…one week ago, three years ago. They then went on a historic 12-game win streak. Should have been 14 games.

So there’s still time for Bruce to bond this team and make a deep run. 

I agree.  Bruce has the genius, the players, the support staff, and the intangibles to right the ship, which has been listing of late.

He's an arrogant coach, and for good reason.  And he's now got the best team he's ever assembled.  Anything besides a spot in the NCAA championship game will be a failure, I think.  So we'll see what he can do.  He will be judged by his success going forward, instead of his successes in the past.

And that's the way it's supposed to be.

Because he made the Final Four with a lesser team a few years ago.

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by MaxCohen216

[Viper 3,142]

14 hours ago, MaxCohen216 said:

I agree.  Bruce has the genius, the players, the support staff, and the intangibles to right the ship, which has been listing of late.

He's an arrogant coach, and for good reason.  And he's now got the best team he's ever assembled.  Anything besides a spot in the NCAA championship game will be a failure, I think.  So we'll see what he can do.  He will be judged by his success going forward, instead of his successes in the past.

And that's the way it's supposed to be.

Because he made the Final Four with a lesser team a few years ago.

 

True he made a Final Four with another team, but I’m not sure it was with a lesser team. Bryce Brown & Chuma were 3-point assassins in the SEC & NCAA tourney when it mattered most. Harper the best PG in AU history.

I wouldn’t say not reaching the championship game would be a failure. I would say Elite Eight. They don’t have the consistency from the arc to expect a title game. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Viper

[AUBwins 10,119]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

True he made a Final Four with another team, but I’m not sure it was with a lesser team. Bryce Brown & Chuma were 3-point assassins in the SEC & NCAA tourney when it mattered most. Harper the best PG in AU history.

I wouldn’t say not reaching the championship game would be a failure. I would say Elite Eight. They don’t have the consistency from the arc to expect a title game. 

I'm hoping Bruce is just keeping Berman out so he can unleash his 3 point prowess come tourney time after opponents have forgotten about him.  He's proven to be excellent as a spot shooter. We need that off the bench.  He can hold his own enough defensively to not bleed points to the other team.  He'd be good imo to either widen a lead or to provide a spark on a comeback if needed.  

[Viper 3,142]

2 hours ago, AUBwins said:

I'm hoping Bruce is just keeping Berman out so he can unleash his 3 point prowess come tourney time after opponents have forgotten about him.  He's proven to be excellent as a spot shooter. We need that off the bench.  He can hold his own enough defensively to not bleed points to the other team.  He'd be good imo to either widen a lead or to provide a spark on a comeback if needed.  

That would be an awesome surprise. Not likely because practice shape is never game shape. But yes, a couple of quick hitter 3’s would be awesome off the bench since our bench production has vanished lately. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,830]

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-projecting-2022-march-madness-men-field?appearance=dark&appsrc=sc
 

auburn, Kentucky and Arkansas in the same region 

[steeleagle 2,945]

6 minutes ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-projecting-2022-march-madness-men-field?appearance=dark&appsrc=sc
 

auburn, Kentucky and Arkansas in the same region 

Geez, I hope not. There are 3 regions, and probably 6 SEC teams getting in, and they are going to put 3 of our top 4 in the same region? That's ridiculous.

[AUBwins 10,119]

35 minutes ago, steeleagle said:

Geez, I hope not. There are 3 regions, and probably 6 SEC teams getting in, and they are going to put 3 of our top 4 in the same region? That's ridiculous.

Palm currently has Bama as the 5 seed in our bracket as a 1. We would play in sweet 16 if met. They don't deserve the chance to keep us out.  

[81spacetiger 157]

I think there will be more shake up this weekend/conference championship week.  

I also agree it is BS to put 3 of the top SEC schools in the same regional but understand it is done based on seeding and pecking order within a seeding ranking.  I would love to see our top 4 SEC teams make the sweet 16; in fact I think we can put more than 4 in the field of sweet 16.  That would say a lot about our conference.