Men vs Vanderbilt Game Thread

[Quietmaninthecorner 1,949]

That was an exceptionally frustrating game for me to watch.   I still want to lash out and blame something.

[CR 2,447]

I dont think the plan was for Traore, Westry and Donaldson to be playing 10 min combined (all Donaldson at that) by this point in the season. Obviously things havnt went as hoped for in this freshman class to this point. If they come on by next season along with the HS signee and hopefully some portal help I think things will be much improved. Still think this is a bump in the road and the programs in great shape going forward.

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

2 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

I think some points get rehashed because some people refuse to acknowledge they exist or why they exist (thats because of decisions Bruce made). There's a group of people that just want us to be happy regardless of outcome on the court and stop pointing out our deficiencies and never criticize Bruce. It's not wrong to want more from BP and this team because of our past. It's a compliment to where many of us see the potential of the program because of Bruce.

And I've been watching Auburn basketball since the Ellis days. Any earlier than that and I was five.

Yep, I agree. Bruce has raised expectations for the program. But he isn't above reproach or questioning.  The fact is he did nothing to fix the guard deficiencies we had from last yr. That's why people are frustrated.  He is loyal to a fault at times. I've never heard of  a PG shooting 2-15 and continuing to play. 

 

 

 

 

[jluvah 673]

9 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Thank you fam. It is crazy how thin the line is for a lot of peoples moods being a lot different in here. I appreciate you being rational and not going crazy NEGA barner and being super emotional like a lot of folks are acting on here. Idk what to tell them. We just are cursed and snake bit in close games this year. No other way to put it or explain it. I just hate getting on here and seeing so much negative crap. It bums me out. Like this team isn’t very talented. They are getting everything out of what they have to work with. It’s why I think it is one of the coaching staffs better coaching jobs. I think we have a much better record than our talent level would dictate. We have no stars and a team of all role players.

We have no stars and a team full of role players and whose fault is that? Dude, this is one of Bruce’s worst coaching jobs. He’s been here 9 years and this is the team he puts out there?? 

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

33 minutes ago, jluvah said:

We have no stars and a team full of role players and whose fault is that? Dude, this is one of Bruce’s worst coaching jobs. He’s been here 9 years and this is the team he puts out there?? 

Yep. Spot on.   Bruce has elevated our BB program.  But,  It just amazes me that some cats on here think he can't be questioned about decisions and consequences.  

 

[e808 3,028]

11 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Yep. Spot on.   Bruce has elevated our BB program.  But,  It just amazes me that some cats on here think he can't be questioned about decisions and consequences.  

 

It’s because it seems how the program was in the past. Most are well aware of the past and not all of the past was bad. Most are focused on what’s happening now. Nothing more nothing less

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,819]

3 hours ago, CR said:

I dont think the plan was for Traore, Westry and Donaldson to be playing 10 min combined (all Donaldson at that) by this point in the season. Obviously things havnt went as hoped for in this freshman class to this point. If they come on by next season along with the HS signee and hopefully some portal help I think things will be much improved. Still think this is a bump in the road and the programs in great shape going forward.

CBP definitely missed out on a couple extra experienced guards (he’d say it himself), but he got bum luck with Westry and Traore not being rotational guys. That being said, he did have enough numbers returning to almost have a rotation just off of them, and you do have to ask yourself (as the coach), if those returnees were good enough to compose a rotation 

I think it’s like 60% bad luck, 40% mis-evaluation of the roster in terms of what got us here (since the recruiting cycle of 2021). The 40% is just louder than the 60% 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,819]

11 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

Thank you fam. It is crazy how thin the line is for a lot of peoples moods being a lot different in here. I appreciate you being rational and not going crazy NEGA barner and being super emotional like a lot of folks are acting on here. Idk what to tell them. We just are cursed and snake bit in close games this year. No other way to put it or explain it. I just hate getting on here and seeing so much negative crap. It bums me out. Like this team isn’t very talented. They are getting everything out of what they have to work with. It’s why I think it is one of the coaching staffs better coaching jobs. I think we have a much better record than our talent level would dictate. We have no stars and a team of all role players.

I’ve legitimately tried to be less negative as this season has wound up the way it is, just to try to help avoid this exact situation. I know Auburn as a whole has had a ton of negativity and many people (outside of this forum and in) use basketball as a haven. 
But no program/franchise that is successful can just have a happy go lucky sentiment forever. People pretty much took 2020-21 on the chin, and factored in all the things that made that team bad. There wasn’t very negative reaction, just a lot of malaise and waiting until the next year. 
But in a season like this one where we were supposed to be having an outside shot at SEC title contention? Pretty much ranked with all the second tier SEC contenders? There HAS to be some sort of emotion when you’re staring at a real NIT possibility and you’re getting handled by Vanderbilt and Georgias. 
It’s absolving the leader of the program and the one who’s paid to avoid these results to only say “hey the talent sucks, but Bruce is doing a good job of raising the platform of the guys he recruited” 

 

Most of us consistently acknowledge Auburn does not give CBP enough to be Kentucky or UTk, and we’re still there with them even considering. But Barnes and Cal (at least the last couple years) do not get a pass for mis-evaluations on their level, so I kinda feel like that has to apply to Bruce at this level too 

[NoALtiger 3,873]

5 hours ago, KansasTiger said:

I'm hearing we could have anywhere from 5-7 slots to fill. So that gives me hope you're going to see a near full roster turnover save maybe Broome and Green.

That would be awesome. A rinse and repeat of this roster would be maddening to have to endure.  

Edited February 19, 2023 by NoALtiger

[cole256 17,084]

On 2/19/2023 at 4:30 AM, GwillMac6 said:

This list needs to be pinned to the top of any game thread. This is the most accurate depiction of our team this year that I’ve seen.

Lol, even last year when I said it but you didn't agree then?

[cole256 17,084]

The luck chart is crazy 😂

We lose close games because we lack in leadership and talent at the guard position. These are the guys that dictate the pace and decisions at the end of games. It's not a curse or luck. 

We actually didn't close games the best last year either. We would have big leads and actually the games a bunch of times would get close. 

The thing about this board is there are people that explain stuff to a T on here.....the problem is nobody wants to hear criticism or anything deemed negative so when it's said it's ignored or people want to fight about it. 

If you read the threads on here you can literally find stuff last year that's talking every step of the way leading up to now. 

We have been lacking in talent in our backcourt

[Mikey 16,777]

17 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

 

 

Most of us consistently acknowledge Auburn does not give CBP enough to be Kentucky or UTk, and we’re still there with them even considering. But Barnes and Cal (at least the last couple years) do not get a pass for mis-evaluations on their level, so I kinda feel like that has to apply to Bruce at this level too 

Please explain this statement. What are we not giving the basketball program? The coach has a contract that rivals any of them. The facility is first class. The fan support is among the nation's best. What isn't being provided? Nobody else in the SEC is Kentucky, but there's no reason why we aren't equal to or above Tennessee and all the others.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Mikey

[TuscaloosaTiger 294]

5 hours ago, Mikey said:

Please explain this statement. What are we not giving the basketball program? The coach has a contract that rivals any of them. The facility is first class. The fan support is among the nation's best. What isn't being provided? Nobody else in the SEC is Kentucky, but there's no reason why we aren't equal to or above Tennessee and all the others.

It could be worse. Imagine how the Kentucky fans must be feeling with all their resources and expectations this year.

[Son of A Tiger 576]

Not much I can add to this thread except to note that the team hasn't shown a lot of improvement as the season nears an end. 

[keesler 5,932]

12 hours ago, Mikey said:

Please explain this statement. What are we not giving the basketball program? The coach has a contract that rivals any of them. The facility is first class. The fan support is among the nation's best. What isn't being provided? Nobody else in the SEC is Kentucky, but there's no reason why we aren't equal to or above Tennessee and all the others.

Bruce has a lifetime contract just as handsome as UK/UT and he has NIL backing equal to any program willing to work the NIL circuit.  He gets anything he wants and needs for his program and he gets better fan support than Calaparri’s getting right now.  Auburn takes care of basketball. 

[AURex 2,054]

On 2/19/2023 at 5:42 AM, GwillMac6 said:

Our luck ranking in Ken Pom after yet another unlucky loss dropped us to 306 out of a possible 363 teams. What does this all mean? We are a statistical anomaly and have been extremely unfortunate with all our close losses this season.

It's not "luck." Auburn just doesn't have the talent to win a lot of SEC match-ups -- or Quad 1 match-ups out of conference. As bad as the SEC is this year, I'm not surprised that Auburn received only 2 votes in the latest poll.

I yell for Auburn every game. But I have no illusions. Auburn is not a good team this year.

 

 

[GwillMac6 20,791]

3 hours ago, AURex said:

It's not "luck." Auburn just doesn't have the talent to win a lot of SEC match-ups -- or Quad 1 match-ups out of conference. As bad as the SEC is this year, I'm not surprised that Auburn received only 2 votes in the latest poll.

I yell for Auburn every game. But I have no illusions. Auburn is not a good team this year.

 

 

Law of averages tell us we should have got at least 1 and most likely 2 out of the USC, West Virginia, Tennessee, TAMU and vandy road games. You don’t continually be in close games on the road against what are mostly quality teams without being somewhat of a good team. Sometimes the ball bounces your way and luck is on your side. We won a slew of close games in 19/20 with a very similar team that was defensive oriented. We have seen much more talented and better teams than this one have a few games in a season where we got blown out on the road. Contrary to Bill Parcell’s  belief sometimes you aren’t what your record says you are. This isn’t a very talented team. We have all role players. But they are getting the most out of their limited talent and upside. A lot of people are being results oriented and not looking at the context. Now after having said all that I’m sure our last 2 road games we will get blown out now!!! Lol 😭😭

[AURex 2,054]

"law of averages"? Since when does "law of averages" win BB games? Auburn did not win those games because Auburn did not play well enough in those games to win. It has nothing to do with "averages."

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by AURex

[cole256 17,084]

Do you know what would happen to you if you ever came to a coach talking about the law of averages 😂

You play guys and you are either better than them or not. If the weakness of your team is only having a couple of legit ball handlers and even the ones you have aren't too strong that's going to lead to turnovers. If guys get nervous at the end of games that's going to lead to turnovers and missed shots and bad pacing. 

I think the problem is analytical fans look at the score at the end of games and naturally say if we had made one more shot.....when if you actually watch the game you see the game really wasn't as close as the score seems or just missed variables completely.

Example, I've seen many here say we lost to Virginia in the final four because they didn't call double dribble or whatever. From my perspective we lost that game because samir wasn't disciplined on defense. The entire year he would make little dumb mistakes like that but it never cost us.....until it cost us a championship. I doubt many agree with me but I literally remember making a few posts about him doing that through out the year so it fresh in my mind. I get mad about it to this day when I think about it....but I saw people who really loved samir and constantly give him praise.....it's just how basketball works out sometime I guess

[DAG 34,034]

On 2/22/2023 at 3:54 PM, cole256 said:

Do you know what would happen to you if you ever came to a coach talking about the law of averages 😂

You play guys and you are either better than them or not. If the weakness of your team is only having a couple of legit ball handlers and even the ones you have aren't too strong that's going to lead to turnovers. If guys get nervous at the end of games that's going to lead to turnovers and missed shots and bad pacing. 

I think the problem is analytical fans look at the score at the end of games and naturally say if we had made one more shot.....when if you actually watch the game you see the game really wasn't as close as the score seems or just missed variables completely.

Example, I've seen many here say we lost to Virginia in the final four because they didn't call double dribble or whatever. From my perspective we lost that game because samir wasn't disciplined on defense. The entire year he would make little dumb mistakes like that but it never cost us.....until it cost us a championship. I doubt many agree with me but I literally remember making a few posts about him doing that through out the year so it fresh in my mind. I get mad about it to this day when I think about it....but I saw people who really loved samir and constantly give him praise.....it's just how basketball works out sometime I guess

Lot's of good perspective you are adding. I very rarely frequent the basketball forum because I am an NBA guy and do not particularly pay attention as much as I should until March Madness time. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoy reading post discussing the X and Os and analytics of the game. What I find very concerning however are the posters making it out that others should not heap criticism just because Auburn USED to suck at basketball. Gone are those days, specifically since Auburn has made it an emphasis to support their brand. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by DAG

[GwillMac6 20,791]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Lot's of good perspective you are adding. I very rarely frequent the basketball forum because I am an NBA guy and do not particularly pay attention as much as I should until March Madness time. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoy reading post discussing the X and Os and analytics of the game. What I find very concerning however are the posters making it out that others should not heap criticism just because Auburn USE to suck at basketball. Gone are those days, specifically since Auburn has made it an emphasis to support their brand. 

You mean you don’t even watch Auburn basketball until march or just college basketball as a whole? Don’t go breaking our heart now dag!!! A lot of people in here me included would be upset and just sad if that was the case that you didn’t watch Auburn basketball!!! 😭😔😢☹️

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by GwillMac6

[DAG 34,034]

1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

You mean you don’t even watch Auburn basketball until march or just college basketball as a whole? Don’t go breaking our heart now dag!!! A lot of people in here me included would be upset and just sad if that was the case that you didn’t watch Auburn basketball!!! 😭😔😢☹️

 

 

Haha. I honestly cannot get into college basketball until SEC tourney and March Madness time. It was much different when there was prominent players, who stayed longer in the game. Now, I tend to not become hyper-focused on its entirety, if anything, due to the fact, you gain a lot more about the team towards the conclusion of the season. 

[cole256 17,084]

8 hours ago, DAG said:

Lot's of good perspective you are adding. I very rarely frequent the basketball forum because I am an NBA guy and do not particularly pay attention as much as I should until March Madness time. With that being said, I thoroughly enjoy reading post discussing the X and Os and analytics of the game. What I find very concerning however are the posters making it out that others should not heap criticism just because Auburn USE to suck at basketball. Gone are those days, specifically since Auburn has made it an emphasis to support their brand. 

I almost didn't get into this year because I figured we were going to be pretty bad. I mean so bad that you don't want to watch.

I love Pearl too to be honest. It's hard for me to criticize him because of the things he's done and also to, you know how the rumours go on here so I don't know what to believe.

It's hard for me to believe he saw the guards that we have here play last year and would come to the conclusion that he's going to promise them he's not bringing anybody else here.....but at the same time then why would he pass on Mark?

Mark literally did a movie as far as his career, people doubted him, he goes on the aau circuit dominates it, literally go head up against some guys who were chosen over him and beat them, go to Ohio, put the team on his back win player of the year there, then after proving himself here we are in need of a guard literally just like him and we don't get him? Then have to watch him go to bammer, lead them over all these good teams until they are number 1? And then watch him beat us......

If I saw this somebody on staff certainly should have. Even take Mark out of it, I was talking about our guard talent when Cooper and Powell was here. Saying coop needs some help and Powell wasn't a PG and we are masquerading trying to play him at point (that really pissed a few guys off on here) and here we are. That seems like forever ago....

And yet here we are I feel like we wasted that year we had jabari and we are wasting this year because we didn't upgrade our guards. I know we didn't get scoot but nobody should've thought he'd be here for too long. If we only had him last year though.....you can't tell me we wouldn't have a banner. 

Meanwhile at bammer they lost 3 of their main guards and they just reloaded. That once guy came back and he was on a few all American list. He was a 5 star...you know what he's doing now? He's backing up Mark and the other 5 star freshman they brought in.....if they have 5 star pre season all Americans not getting promises why would we be making promises to guys that wouldn't even start at other sec schools??? 

It just doesn't make sense to me.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

On 2/19/2023 at 4:08 PM, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

I’ve legitimately tried to be less negative as this season has wound up the way it is, just to try to help avoid this exact situation. I know Auburn as a whole has had a ton of negativity and many people (outside of this forum and in) use basketball as a haven. 
But no program/franchise that is successful can just have a happy go lucky sentiment forever. People pretty much took 2020-21 on the chin, and factored in all the things that made that team bad. There wasn’t very negative reaction, just a lot of malaise and waiting until the next year. 
But in a season like this one where we were supposed to be having an outside shot at SEC title contention? Pretty much ranked with all the second tier SEC contenders? There HAS to be some sort of emotion when you’re staring at a real NIT possibility and you’re getting handled by Vanderbilt and Georgias. 
It’s absolving the leader of the program and the one who’s paid to avoid these results to only say “hey the talent sucks, but Bruce is doing a good job of raising the platform of the guys he recruited” 

 

Most of us consistently acknowledge Auburn does not give CBP enough to be Kentucky or UTk, and we’re still there with them even considering. But Barnes and Cal (at least the last couple years) do not get a pass for mis-evaluations on their level, so I kinda feel like that has to apply to Bruce at this level too 

 

On 2/23/2023 at 1:29 AM, cole256 said:

I almost didn't get into this year because I figured we were going to be pretty bad. I mean so bad that you don't want to watch.

I love Pearl too to be honest. It's hard for me to criticize him because of the things he's done and also to, you know how the rumours go on here so I don't know what to believe.

It's hard for me to believe he saw the guards that we have here play last year and would come to the conclusion that he's going to promise them he's not bringing anybody else here.....but at the same time then why would he pass on Mark?

Mark literally did a movie as far as his career, people doubted him, he goes on the aau circuit dominates it, literally go head up against some guys who were chosen over him and beat them, go to Ohio, put the team on his back win player of the year there, then after proving himself here we are in need of a guard literally just like him and we don't get him? Then have to watch him go to bammer, lead them over all these good teams until they are number 1? And then watch him beat us......

If I saw this somebody on staff certainly should have. Even take Mark out of it, I was talking about our guard talent when Cooper and Powell was here. Saying coop needs some help and Powell wasn't a PG and we are masquerading trying to play him at point (that really pissed a few guys off on here) and here we are. That seems like forever ago....

And yet here we are I feel like we wasted that year we had jabari and we are wasting this year because we didn't upgrade our guards. I know we didn't get scoot but nobody should've thought he'd be here for too long. If we only had him last year though.....you can't tell me we wouldn't have a banner. 

Meanwhile at bammer they lost 3 of their main guards and they just reloaded. That once guy came back and he was on a few all American list. He was a 5 star...you know what he's doing now? He's backing up Mark and the other 5 star freshman they brought in.....if they have 5 star pre season all Americans not getting promises why would we be making promises to guys that wouldn't even start at other sec schools??? 

It just doesn't make sense to me.

I agree with your sentiments. I love CBP and will generally give him the benefit of the doubt given what he has done and accomplished at AU. But he decided with the additions of Westry and Donaldson that he had what we needed at the guard spots and it hasn't panned out. Yes Westry got hurt, but even with that relying on KD or Zep as a primary contributor at the 2 in hindsight seems like a bad plan. You add in Traore's slow development and basically getting benched and we have no 2 guards producing, and a back up 4 that gives us very little in Moore. That is 40+ minutes per game of player time with very little production to show for it. That is basically like us playing 4 on 5 for an entire game. It appears he's locked in to this rotation, and shortening the playing time for the bench, but I'm holding out hope CBP finds a way to tweak the rotation to find some better chemistry. 

[KansasTiger 3,261]

@cole256, @DAG, @JwgreDeux, @AURex 😅feels like I'm fighting the 'Law of averages' groups' brilliant analysis by myself over in the nest's thread, sometimes.