We're just not very good

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

24 minutes ago, keesler said:

Lack of effort is more frustrating than anything else IMO.  Loafing and low effort or attention to detail will undoubtedly fire up the coaching staff.  

As well it should 

[johnjacob 44]

2 hours ago, arktiger1975 said:

Sounds like he is aware of the grumbling!

I am sure he is grumbling too. He knows how good this team can be when they run things like they are coached to do. 

[keesler 5,924]

3 minutes ago, johnjacob said:

I am sure he is grumbling too. He knows how good this team can be when they run things like they are coached to do. 

I’m not sure I’d want to be anywhere near the court during practices this week.  The visible lack of effort and urgency yesterday would make a personality like BP explode.  I firmly believe he will get the attention to detail and focus corrected in short order. 

[Exit310 0]

We need a win at all cause attitude and this team doesn’t have it right now.  Hopefully Bruce can fix it.

[TigerOne 1,142]

15 minutes ago, Exit310 said:

We need a win at all cause attitude and this team doesn’t have it right now.  Hopefully Bruce can fix it.

Just hope there is not some internal problems that are impacting the team chemistry. During the win streak it was beautiful one team mentality. Then the climb up the rankings seemed to create  a different team. Maybe the coming big fall in the poll will wake everyone up.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Of course, bamr and State also roles in the losses too. Reminds me of George Pickett's response to a question about the failed assault on the third day at Gettysburg. "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it." State and bamr had something to do with Auburn losing. It just wasn't all Auburn.

[keesler 5,924]

1 hour ago, TigerOne said:

Just hope there is not some internal problems that are impacting the team chemistry. During the win streak it was beautiful one team mentality. Then the climb up the rankings seemed to create  a different team. Maybe the coming big fall in the poll will wake everyone up.

Apparently a couple of discipline issues forced lineup changes.  Violation of team rules never come at a good time in the active season.

[cole256 17,080]

You guys do this every year.... Nobody can convince you all to stop it though

[cole256 17,080]

On 1/27/2024 at 9:46 PM, TitanTiger said:

Of course. That’s not the same thing as “we didn’t offer him.”

No we didn't offer, and we didn't really try to get him out of the portal, we have been paying for it ever since. But it's just a lesson on making sound decisions and judgements.

If anybody had actually paid attention it was easy to see he was better than anybody we had. Also you would know you have a guy for at least 3 years to develop. They have to start playing chess instead of checkers.

Say what you want about bammers coach but if he doesn't know anything else he knows how important it is to have quality guards and he's hasn't been caught lacking and he had transfers and NBA departures as well. He recruited Mark and he had guards coming out his ass we didn't and Mark was better than every guard on our team when he was a sophomore. 

[TitanTiger 20,482]

7 hours ago, cole256 said:

No we didn't offer, and we didn't really try to get him out of the portal, we have been paying for it ever since. But it's just a lesson on making sound decisions and judgements.

If anybody had actually paid attention it was easy to see he was better than anybody we had. Also you would know you have a guy for at least 3 years to develop. They have to start playing chess instead of checkers.

Say what you want about bammers coach but if he doesn't know anything else he knows how important it is to have quality guards and he's hasn't been caught lacking and he had transfers and NBA departures as well. He recruited Mark and he had guards coming out his ass we didn't and Mark was better than every guard on our team when he was a sophomore. 

You'd be in a position to know if we offered him.  The only thing I'll take issue with is that Bama took him even though they had plenty of guards.  They didn't.  Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison declared for the NBA Draft and Keon Ellis graduated. 

Quinnerly was their only returning guard of any consequence.  

They added Sears, Dominick Welch and Nimbi Burnett in the portal.  Signed Jaden Bradley. 

I think it's reasonable to argue that on paper at least, Alabama felt a stronger need to grab some guards in the portal than Auburn felt.  Now, I won't argue that Pearl's confidence in Wen and Zep's progression ended up being misplaced.  We clearly could have used Sears.  But going into 2022-23 by comparison, Auburn had this set up:

Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team.

Signed #7 PG Chance Westry
Signed Tre Donaldson

I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated.

But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

[NWALA Tiger 3,535]

35 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

You'd be in a position to know if we offered him.  The only thing I'll take issue with is that Bama took him even though they had plenty of guards.  They didn't.  Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison declared for the NBA Draft and Keon Ellis graduated. 

Quinnerly was their only returning guard of any consequence.  

They added Sears, Dominick Welch and Nimbi Burnett in the portal.  Signed Jaden Bradley. 

I think it's reasonable to argue that on paper at least, Alabama felt a stronger need to grab some guards in the portal than Auburn felt.  Now, I won't argue that Pearl's confidence in Wen and Zep's progression ended up being misplaced.  We clearly could have used Sears.  But going into 2022-23 by comparison, Auburn had this set up:

Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team.

Signed #7 PG Chance Westry
Signed Tre Donaldson

I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated.

But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

Wen zep and kd weren't the reason we won An SEC reg season Championship.  That would be  Jabari Smith LOL. And for Bruce to say they should have recruited Sears harder. That's stretching the truth. They didn't recruit him at all, cause like it was posted BP didn't want to recruit over,  Green, Zep and KD head. It's a colossal  failure of talent evaluation.  For all the good BP has done for AU, this isn't one of them and it's fair to criticize him over it.

 

[TitanTiger 20,482]

4 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Wen zep and kd weren't the reason we won An SEC reg season Championship.  That would be  Jabari Smith LOL.

I didn't argue otherwise.  I simply pointed out we had three returning guards from a team that went 28-6 and won an SEC title and that Alabama was in a much more dire position on paper at the guard position going into the 2022-23 season where Sears was in the portal.

 

4 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

And for Bruce to say they should have recruited Sears harder. That's stretching the truth. They didn't recruit him at all, cause like it was posted BP didn't want to recruit over,  Green, Zep and KD head. It's a colossal  failure of talent evaluation. 

Which I acknowledged.  He had way too much confidence in the progression Wen and Zep in particular would make with a full offseason.

 

4 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

For all the good BP has done for AU, this isn't one of them and it's fair to criticize him over it.

I didn't say anything to the contrary.

[cole256 17,080]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

You'd be in a position to know if we offered him.  The only thing I'll take issue with is that Bama took him even though they had plenty of guards.  They didn't.  Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison declared for the NBA Draft and Keon Ellis graduated. 

Quinnerly was their only returning guard of any consequence.  

They added Sears, Dominick Welch and Nimbi Burnett in the portal.  Signed Jaden Bradley. 

I think it's reasonable to argue that on paper at least, Alabama felt a stronger need to grab some guards in the portal than Auburn felt.  Now, I won't argue that Pearl's confidence in Wen and Zep's progression ended up being misplaced.  We clearly could have used Sears.  But going into 2022-23 by comparison, Auburn had this set up:

Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team.

Signed #7 PG Chance Westry
Signed Tre Donaldson

I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated.

But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

Yeah we brought back 3 guards that couldn't get the job done with a generational talent and we stood pat. There was literally one guard that was younger than all 3 that could do all the things in one player and we stood pat. 

Jaden was a top 2pg coming out quinnerly was a all American they didn't think let's just find a couple of bench people to fill out the roster, they want after the best guard available. Doesn't matter what you have if you see somebody that's good you get them, if nothing else so your rival don't get them. That's the chess part. It's not checkers. You have one or two shots for a championship.... We literally let jabari year go to waste .... Do you know how many trash players we have on the roster? I not trying to be mean but that one guy on the team is like a favorite on this board.... As soon as he looked at Mark you blinked Mark had scored like 7 on him. Let that guy be a walk on! 

 

But that's the game, you make decisions and have to live with them. I understand that some type of logic had to be used to make a decision to pass.... Still the wrong decision. The best people make the best decisions. This particular one cost us 4 years of having a stable PG to lead this team. Hope we do better in the future.

[cole256 17,080]

1 hour ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Wen zep and kd weren't the reason we won An SEC reg season Championship.  That would be  Jabari Smith LOL. And for Bruce to say they should have recruited Sears harder. That's stretching the truth. They didn't recruit him at all, cause like it was posted BP didn't want to recruit over,  Green, Zep and KD head. It's a colossal  failure of talent evaluation.  For all the good BP has done for AU, this isn't one of them and it's fair to criticize him over it.

 

And I love his effort but let's be completely honest, who in their right mind would think zep would become anything more than a defensive effort type. There's no sophisticated basketball mind thinking he could be a starting sec guard that can make a run in the tournament.

[WillMunny 1,377]

1 hour ago, cole256 said:

.... Do you know how many trash players we have on the roster? I not trying to be mean but that one guy on the team is like a favorite on this board.... As soon as he looked at Mark you blinked Mark had scored like 7 on him. Let that guy be a walk on! 

 

Yes, and thank you.

Edited January 29 by WillMunny

[Viper 3,132]

On 1/27/2024 at 4:35 PM, arktiger1975 said:

Thought we would at least win one this week.

2018-19 Men's Basketball Schedule

Jan 19 (Sat) / Final

Auburn, Ala.Neville Arena - Basketball

 

vs #12 Kentucky

L, 80-82
 

Jan 22 (Tue) / Final

Columbia, S.C.

 

at South Carolina

L, 77-80
 

Jan 26 (Sat) / Final

Starkville, Miss.

 

at #22 Mississippi State

L, 84-92

[GTNupe11 2,034]

On 1/27/2024 at 8:14 PM, SumterAubie said:

I guess Kansas sucks too

Iowa state 79 Kansas 75

And Oklahoma

Texas Tech 85 Oklahoma 84

And Baylor

TCU 105 Baylor 102

And Kentucky

South Carolina 79 Kentucky 62; Texas A&M 97 Kentucky 92

No, those teams don't suck. Neither does our team. However, I watched all of the above games except the South Carolina and Kentucky. Those teams acted like they wanted to win in those respective games. Our team did not from the minute the game started on Saturday...that is the distinction. 

[GTNupe11 2,034]

6 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team.

Signed #7 PG Chance Westry
Signed Tre Donaldson

I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated.

But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

Damn, I forgot about Westry... what could have been...

I wonder if Bruce gets an upperclassmen portal PG after the season is over. Not sure it makes sense if both Tre and Aden come back and we assume they improve from year to year. Neither is pro ready but the portal giveth and taketh so who knows if they'll remain...

[TitanTiger 20,482]

Just now, GTNupe11 said:

Damn, I forgot about Westry... what could have been...

I wonder if Bruce gets an upperclassmen portal PG after the season is over. Not sure it makes sense if both Tre and Aden come back and we assume they improve from year to year. Neither is pro ready but the portal giveth and taketh so who knows if they'll remain...

The way Pettiford is shooting up the rankings and how he's playing, whatever he does he's not scaring him off.

[ArgoEagle 1,788]

I believe BP is giving Berman and Chris too much playing time & it is costing us minutes for other guys more viable to winning games.

I would like to see BP change this philosophy to just giving the 2 of them 4-5 token minutes a game to fulfill whatever loyalty or whatever else he 

feels he owes to them.

I would like to see CBM slide into that 5th starting spot in lieu of C. Moore & finish out a 9 Man rotation with the 2 Johnsons, Dylan & Tre & just leave whoever the hot hand is at the time that it comes to substitute the other 4 in.

It's time to do whatever needs to be done to cut out deficiencies & win games.

[HAPvsOA 287]

On 1/27/2024 at 6:50 PM, TitanTiger said:

Some perspective ($1 to Justin Lee):

 

Only two teams in the top 17 have less than 2 road losses. 

Exactly. And how did we respond after losing to App State? If we can learn from these two games and get better, then it will be exactly what we needed before playing a team like Tennessee and for playing in tourney games. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,148]

On 1/27/2024 at 7:07 PM, LPTiger said:

Wendall shot 36% last year and Zep shot 33%.    Aden is sitting at 33% rn.

Tre is at 52% maybe he needs to play more especially at end of games, at least until Aiden figures it out. 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,669]

11 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

You'd be in a position to know if we offered him.  The only thing I'll take issue with is that Bama took him even though they had plenty of guards.  They didn't.  Jaden Shackleford and JD Davison declared for the NBA Draft and Keon Ellis graduated. 

Quinnerly was their only returning guard of any consequence.  

They added Sears, Dominick Welch and Nimbi Burnett in the portal.  Signed Jaden Bradley. 

I think it's reasonable to argue that on paper at least, Alabama felt a stronger need to grab some guards in the portal than Auburn felt.  Now, I won't argue that Pearl's confidence in Wen and Zep's progression ended up being misplaced.  We clearly could have used Sears.  But going into 2022-23 by comparison, Auburn had this set up:

Returning guards Wen, Zep and KD from an SEC Championship team.

Signed #7 PG Chance Westry
Signed Tre Donaldson

I can see Pearl's dilemma there a bit, while still acknowledging he misevaluated.

But Bama was in a much more desperate position in terms of guards going into that season.

Yeah, not getting Sears isnt the biggest cause of point guard problems - it’s the guys that we did have virtually locked down (or actually locked down) that didn’t stay. Sharife was a comparable floor general to Sears as a freshman. Scoot was just better. Trey Alexander would’ve been a multi year starter. Those are all guys that played for Auburn or were virtual locks we lost for circumstance. 
 

Not finding another vet guard during Sears’s transfer cycle is a couple spots lower on that rung of issues, but definitely a problem 

Edited January 30 by Dual-Threat Rigby

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,669]

4 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

The way Pettiford is shooting up the rankings and how he's playing, whatever he does he's not scaring him off.

I imagine they’re pretty much assuring him that guard spot opposite Tre/Aden. I don’t think we have the juice to have him wait behind either Tre/Aden and Denver/KD. They’d chase one of the three guys not named Aden away before they’d do that 

[cole256 17,080]

2 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

Yeah, not getting Sears isnt the biggest cause of point guard problems - it’s the guys that we did have virtually locked down (or actually locked down) that didn’t stay. Sharife was a comparable floor general to Sears as a freshman. Scoot was just better. Trey Alexander would’ve been a multi year starter. Those are all guys that played for Auburn or were virtual locks we lost for circumstance. 
 

Not finding another vet guard during Sears’s transfer cycle is a couple spots lower on that rung of issues, but definitely a problem 

So once again that's the chess checkers. Sharieff leaving after one year a surprise but thinking only two years at most. So you prepare for that. Scoot shouldn't have been expected but if you lucky you get him one year.

Also even when scoot was here he was the only guy that could dribble. You needed more than just him. You need more than one guy. You bring in Mark as well and now all the other guys you mentioned doesn't even matter. That's chess. There's no having too many guards in college basketball.

Trey isn't a point guard really he would've given you another scorer but he wouldn't been a probably a better Wendell.

But you never wanted to say we needed him and that's cool. I just don't understand why so many of you don't want to say we missed on him. It's ok. Hell people missed on ja Morant. It happens. Actually I do know why Mikey and the other guy say it

But I disagree with you on the transfer stuff. To me missing him early was stupid but like I said it's part of the game. When he transferred though.... We saw we were in desperate need and still decided to chill. That's mind boggling to me. Actually too the year he brought the 3 guards he brought in I'm sure he knew he could have gotten Mark if he wanted. Now this is before Mark went crazy at Ohio his sophomore year but he still was all freshman and all tournament his freshman year and that was enough to see he was talented. 

It's crazy for us to be as big as we are and have gone like 3 years having a hole on your team as far as not even having guys that can handle a press don't you think? I mean a top 15 school going 3 years in a row turning the ball over at the end of games is wild to me. That would piss me off coaching in high school. I would think I know I can find a kid somewhere around here that can dribble. 

That's been my only problem and complaint. We could really use some shooters too but ball handling is mandatory to me. These dudes wouldn't give jabari the ball sometimes you remember that? 

I'm sorry I'm ranting. But with all that being sad we aren't close to a bad basketball team. We just shouldn't have the same problems in consecutive years. That's all. We should be passed that as far as a program by now.