Bruce short on bama

[aubiefifty 16,807]

 

[AURex 2,011]

He's going to challenge his guys to step up.

 

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,674]

In attempting to get past the usual salesjob that Bruce is as good as it gets at, they really are nuts offensively. The margin between them and UConn or Purdue (2 and 3 in offensive efficiency) is something else. Even adjusted for opponent (using KenPom), their OffEff is only .2 off from #1 Purdue. And then it's almost 1.5 points greater than #3 in UConn. 

He has gassed their defense quite a bit, but metrically, they do often win big when they win, so that helps the case a bit. I would say beating SCar by 27 is probably one of the 3 best wins in the SEC so far, and putting up 82 in Starkville is a big W. 

Beating a top 7 team in KenPom/NET handily could do sooooooooooooo much for validating Auburn's season to date 

[Tiger 8,827]

There has been a lot of people complaining about Bruce lately, and for the most part it's from people who just started watching AU bball during the Final Four run. 

But I'd say I have one bone to pick with Bruce, and it's that he's too damn nice and complimentary of Bama basketball way too often. Nate Oates talks **** and throws jabs at us thru the media and I'd personally prefer if Bruce dug deeper into the rivalry instead of being so nice. They're an actual threat now. It was one thing to compliment Avery Johnson to play politics etc, but Oates has thrown gas onto the rivalry and I don't feel Bruce is reciprocating. 

Edited February 6 by Tiger

[Mikey 16,625]

58 minutes ago, Tiger said:

There has been a lot of people complaining about Bruce lately, and for the most part it's from people who just started watching AU bball during the Final Four run. 

But I'd say I have one bone to pick with Bruce, and it's that he's too damn nice and complimentary of Bama basketball way too often. Nate Oates talks **** and throws jabs at us thru the media and I'd personally prefer if Bruce dug deeper into the rivalry instead of being so nice. They're an actual threat now. It was one thing to compliment Avery Johnson to play politics etc, but Oates has thrown gas onto the rivalry and I don't feel Bruce is reciprocating. 

If I was the AU coach, I'd fire back just as you suggest. However, we've got to let Bruce do it his way.

[gravejd 3,270]

The stupidity of Bruce complaints this year have been on another level. I blame it on the sad state of the football program that we have some of the knuckle draggers finding their way over here. These are the "fans" that only pay attention when we play bama. They complain loudly about everything if we lose to bama. If we beat bama you never hear from them. 

We've lost 1 neutral site game, 3 road games and are a top 25 team in the country. In the discussion of teams that have the potential to make a run in the postseason. And you got people on the board acting like Barbee or Lebo are back in charge. Frustrating to read from the people who actually follow the team and season more than checking scores on espn.

EDIT: To be clear i'm not referring to anyone who has posted in this thread so far

Edited February 6 by gravejd

[HAPvsOA 287]

There are not many Tony Barbee memes out there and I guess for good reason. But this one will suffice and gets straight to the point! 

Anyone complaining about Bruce needs to go back and watch the talent and schemes on those Tony Barbee teams. 

[ArgoEagle 1,790]

Yall, it's a pretty simple concept to beating Alabama.  They want to shoot a bunch of 3's & make a bunch of 3's.  When they see 3's start going in, they get energized & go on scoring runs and it then takes the wind out of the opponent's sails.  They hit 11  3's and we hit 5 in the 1st game.  By my math that is a 6 point advantage & we lost by 4.

If I were coaching against Bama, I would come up with some kind of defensive strategy to try to contest every 3 point shot the turds attempt.  It may even take a gimmick defense, but whatever it takes.

If we can get their made 3 balls down from 11 to say 7, and we shoot better in our own gym, so I think we hit more than 5 this game then we will have our best shot at beating them.

I honestly think they won't be as hot shooting in The Jungle as they were in Turdtown, and I believe we win by at least 6 tomorrow night.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

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Midway through conference play, the SEC's best big man is Johni Broome

Broome is playing some of his best basketball as Auburn attempts to make a run at an SEC crown

Nathan KingFeb 5th, 10:40 AM

Auburn knew Johni Broome had the potential to be the best big man in the SEC this season. And halfway through the conference slate, there’s little argument against not only Broome currently holding that title, but also being one of the best players in the league — and in college basketball.

Make it four straight games now where Broome has tallied at least 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. His latest performance: 16 points, nine boards and a career-high seven assists in the Tigers’ 91-77 road win over Ole Miss.

“At the end of the day, who's the biggest, baddest boy on the block? It was Johni,” Pearl said postgame.

As has often been the case this season, Broome did his best work after halftime. He’s had three scoreless first halves in SEC competition so far — including Saturday’s win at Ole Miss, where he shot 0-of-4 from the floor. But Auburn is always keen to get Broome involved to pick up the offense out of the locker room, and the Tigers did so in Oxford, as Broome made 7-of-9 shots after the break, including the team’s first two buckets.

JOHNI BROOME IN SEC PLAY (9 GAMES)

First halves: 39.1% shooting (18-of-46), 4.6 points

Second halves: 71.5% shooting (37-of-52), 9.9 points

The only first half in SEC competition this season that has seen Broome hit double-digit scoring was when he dropped 16 points at Alabama on 7-of-11 shooting. 

Broome has seemingly accepted the torch the past few games from his frontcourt running mate, Jaylin Williams, after Williams was the Tigers’ go-to score in the early stages of the SEC slate. And even with Broome’s absurd production, Williams is still plenty effective, with 37 combined points on 65 percent shooting over Auburn’s past two games.

But of late, Broome has flexed his improvements in overwhelming fashion while leading Auburn on both ends of the floor. He’s not just Auburn’s best player; he’s one of the best in the conference. Midway through the conference slate, Broome presently leads the SEC in:

Overall efficiency (PER)

Total rebounding

Defensive rebounding

Block rate

2-point field goals made

Overall plus/minus

Defensive plus/minus

Overall win shares

Defensive win shares

The zoomed-out numbers tell the story for Broome, as does his recent tear: Auburn’s big man has a legitimate case for the program’s first SEC Player of the Year since Chris Porter in 1999.

At the moment, there are two other names at the top with Broome: Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Alabama’s Mark Sears. Knecht has set the league on fire and is the unquestioned frontrunner right now. And it might be Broome ahead of the pack if Knecht hadn’t transferred in from Northern Colorado. The 6-foot-6 wing is a walking bucket, averaging an absurd 29.6 points per game over his last seven contests. He’s already scored 30 points in four SEC games.

Sears, meanwhile, is not only averaging 21.3 points per game in league play, but is also, efficiency-wise, the best offensive player in the conference, with the most offensive win shares and points produced per game (19.4).

Awards aside, though, Broome came back to Auburn after serious NBA draft consideration to improve upon a second team All-SEC campaign. He bet on himself that, in his second season in the conference after transferring from Morehead State, he could continue to evolve on both ends of the floor.

Broome has done just that. From last season, he has improved in scoring, field-goal percentage, 3-point shooting, rebounding, assists, turnovers, and, perhaps most impressively, free-throw shooting.

Moments after Auburn’s 2022-23 season came to a close with a Round of 32 loss to Houston, Broome was in Auburn’s locker room with a towel draped over his head, slamming his hand into a locker during interviews and burying his face in his hands. That 6-of-16 performance at the foul line ate at Broome in the offseason, and he attacked that weakness in his game.

Not only is Broome 6.4 percentage points better than his free-throw rate last season, but in SEC competition, he’s been one of the best foul shooters on Auburn’s entire team. In SEC play, Broome is 76.7 percent from the line on 3.3 attempts per game. 

“I’m not trying to jinx his free-throw percentage,” Pearl said last week. “... But look, he’s shooting in the mid-80s, I think, from the free-throw line in SEC play. What does that tell you about his focus, his concentration and his effort?”

Ole Miss was a big win for a number of reasons. For starters, Pearl described Auburn’s final 10 games of the regular season as perhaps the toughest stretch he’s seen as the Tigers’ coach. It began with a win, of which Auburn probably needs a few more to secure an NCAA tournament berth.

But Auburn is, of course, reaching higher than that. Part of the team’s frustrations with the two straight road losses at Alabama and Mississippi State was the fact that the Tigers believe they can compete for an SEC regular-season championship, and the last thing they want to do is lose games they’re capable of winning. The response? A breezy home win over Vanderbilt, and their first Quadrant 1 win of the season on the road a few days later.

Those Quad 1 opportunities aren’t slowing down, though. It’s not just Alabama and Florida that also fall into that category this week; Auburn’s next six games are all currently Quad 1’s. Starting with the Ole Miss victory, even a 4-3 record in those seven games would go a long way for Auburn’s NCAA tournament resume. Something like 5-2 would have the Tigers well positioned for a great seed in the Big Dance, not to mention likely contention for an SEC championship down the stretch.

Two weeks ago, Broome was a “monster,” as Alabama coach Nate Oats described him, with 25 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, while shooting 64.7 percent from the floor. The Tigers came up just short in a 79-75 loss, though, their first of the season in the SEC. And Broome had to watch the final moments from the bench, as he fouled out for the second time in as many trips to Coleman Coliseum.

So there was only one thing he needed to say about the rematch against the Crimson Tide on Wednesday after Auburn took down Ole Miss: “It’s personal.”

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Jason Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

[arktiger1975 518]

3 hours ago, Mikey said:

If I was the AU coach, I'd fire back just as you suggest. However, we've got to let Bruce do it his way.

Yeah, I would be more along the lines of Coach O- "Roll what? --- them!

[Viper 3,132]

They’re a good team, but best in the country?? C’mon Bruce. They’ve lost six, including getting sandblasted by 20 to TN just 2 weeks ago. This bammer team isn’t anywhere as good as last year’s bammer team and they lost as the #1 overall seed to a #5 seed. Their best win in a true road game was at MSU.

bammer is about to find out what playing in a true road game is all about.

[arktiger1975 518]

14 minutes ago, Viper said:

They’re a good team, but best in the country?? C’mon Bruce. They’ve lost six, including getting sandblasted by 20 to TN just 2 weeks ago. This bammer team isn’t anywhere as good as last year’s bammer team and they lost as the #1 overall seed to a #5 seed. Their best win in a true road game was at MSU.

bammer is about to find out what playing in a true road game is all about.

Yep, maybe the SEC just isn't as good as a lot of people think this year. 

[Viper 3,132]

16 minutes ago, arktiger1975 said:

Yep, maybe the SEC just isn't as good as a lot of people think this year. 

bammer has lost to good teams. So has AU.

They score a lot. So has AU.

They beat who they’re supposed to beat at home. So has AU.

But they haven’t had a true road win against a Top 25 team. AU just got one.

If bammer wins at The Jungle tomorrow night, I will give them their due, but I don’t see it. Not the way AU played them at bammer recently. AU should win this by 8+ points.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

4 hours ago, Mikey said:

If I was the AU coach, I'd fire back just as you suggest. However, we've got to let Bruce do it his way.

why would we give them any bulletin board crap to fire them up? i just do not understand it.

[WillMunny 1,378]

I feel good about the game, but I'm nervous too.  We need to win to avoid the indignity of seeing Nate Oats strut on his way out of our gym.

The only real criticism I have of Bruce is the playing time he gives to Berman in close games against good teams.  I don't understand it, but I'm not the coach.

I wouldn't trade Bruce for anybody.

[ArgoEagle 1,790]

1 minute ago, WillMunny said:

I feel good about the game, but I'm nervous too.  We need to win to avoid the indignity of seeing Nate Oats strut on his way out of our gym.

The only real criticism I have of Bruce is the playing time he gives to Berman in close games against good teams.  I don't understand it, but I'm not the coach.

I wouldn't trade Bruce for anybody.

And also, why is Chris Moore still starting & getting significant minutes

[cole256 17,084]

6 hours ago, Tiger said:

There has been a lot of people complaining about Bruce lately, and for the most part it's from people who just started watching AU bball during the Final Four run. 

But I'd say I have one bone to pick with Bruce, and it's that he's too damn nice and complimentary of Bama basketball way too often. Nate Oates talks **** and throws jabs at us thru the media and I'd personally prefer if Bruce dug deeper into the rivalry instead of being so nice. They're an actual threat now. It was one thing to compliment Avery Johnson to play politics etc, but Oates has thrown gas onto the rivalry and I don't feel Bruce is reciprocating. 

I just never got the oh we suck every single year..... And you know I'm one to point out flaws but every year it seems there's a point and always at least one player that our fan base has to crap on

[BizEagle 79]

7 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

Yall, it's a pretty simple concept to beating Alabama.  They want to shoot a bunch of 3's & make a bunch of 3's.  When they see 3's start going in, they get energized & go on scoring runs and it then takes the wind out of the opponent's sails.  They hit 11  3's and we hit 5 in the 1st game.  By my math that is a 6 point advantage & we lost by 4.

If I were coaching against Bama, I would come up with some kind of defensive strategy to try to contest every 3 point shot the turds attempt.  It may even take a gimmick defense, but whatever it takes.

If we can get their made 3 balls down from 11 to say 7, and we shoot better in our own gym, so I think we hit more than 5 this game then we will have our best shot at beating them.

I honestly think they won't be as hot shooting in The Jungle as they were in Turdtown, and I believe we win by at least 6 tomorrow night.

Yeah, 3's are key to the bammer offense.  If we can get them out of their favorite 3 shot spots we'll reduce their 3 production. Every player has their favorite spot(s) on the court for shooting 3's.

We should still be confident about a win because we were within 1 point at their place, when the zebra decided to call a foul on Broome instead of a held ball when KD and Johni  had Sears pinned in the corner after an inbound.  That game could have gone either way on that call.  A held ball would have set up AU with 12 seconds left on the clock, under our own goal.  Instead, Sears got to shoot free throws.  That was a cheap win for bammer and they know it was a lucky break.

Edited February 7 by BizEagle

[gr82be 14,433]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

why would we give them any bulletin board crap to fire them up? i just do not understand it.

They can’t read so we’re covered there. 

[gr82be 14,433]

I think as long as we avoid a slow start we’ll be fine. We can’t get down like we did last time against them. It takes so much effort and energy to climb back in it. Ole Miss didn’t have an answer because they had no bench scoring. Bama will. I still think we can win by 10 if Jaylin can just have his normal game of late. He just didn’t do much against them last time. 

[cole256 17,084]

As far as beating them it should be very simple. Get the ball out of Mark's hands. Make their other guards make decisions and make shots. 

I would double Mark all night

[Viper 3,132]

2 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

And also, why is Chris Moore still starting & getting significant minutes

Bruce likes Baker-Mazara giving the 2nd wave a shot in the arm. The key is who’s on the floor in a tight game the last 5 mins, not the first 5 mins, which he is and Moore is not.

[aubiefifty 16,807]

1 hour ago, gr82be said:

They can’t read so we’re covered there. 

that is great......

[NCAubs 377]

6 hours ago, ArgoEagle said:

And also, why is Chris Moore still starting & getting significant minutes

Thanks, Coach Calipari

[NCAubs 377]

4 hours ago, cole256 said:

As far as beating them it should be very simple. Get the ball out of Mark's hands. Make their other guards make decisions and make shots. 

I would double Mark all night

Sounds about right.