Lost recruiting classes stymie Auburn basketball

[MDM4AU 336]

Lost recruiting classes stymie Auburn basketball

By Phillip Marshall, Senior Writer

Posted Jan 29, 2010

Copyright © 2010 AuburnUndercover.com

Auburn basketball has been a struggle for a long time. Certainly, there have been good times. You can make the case that the Cliff Ellis' 1999 SEC championship team was the best team ever in this state. Sonny Smith took five consecutive teams to NCAA Tournaments, going to the Sweet 16 twice and the Elite Eight once.

But we are far removed from that.

Last season, the Tigers took a major step forward, winning 24 games and going 10-6 in the SEC. But the guts of that team left, and Jeff Lebo's sixth Auburn team is in a bad way going into today's game against Alabama at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum

What happened? It really isn't hard to see. Out of the 2006-7 and 2007-8 signing classes, Auburn has exactly two players - seniors DeWayne Reed and Lucas Hargrove. The other three seniors on the team are junior college transfers. There are no juniors on scholarship. Not one.

The only signee who got into school in 2007 was Sylla Boubacar. He was gone before the season was over. That means there was one recruiting class that was a zero and another that provided just two players.

It goes without saying that it's very difficult to win in a situation like that.

Why has it happened? Obviously, Lebo is accountable as the leader of the program. But it's not that simple. To go into all the reasons it is and has been difficult to recruit at Auburn would take too long.

But the bottom line is this: If Auburn is to win, it's going to take more than a $90 million basketball arena. It's going to take players - and enough of them - that are on the same level as those against whom they play 16 times a year in the SEC.

Until that happens, it's going to be an all but impossible task.

AuburnUndercover.com

[Mikey 16,728]

Marshall makes a great point. I think we have one player, Frankie Sullivan, that was a mainstream, heavily recruited prospect. The rest of them, (and I appreciate their play and efforts for Auburn) were players Lebo managed to pick up from "off the radar".

We need seven or eight players on the roster that other SEC teams would like to have, not one player.

[IndyTiger 3]

Marshall makes a great point. I think we have one player, Frankie Sullivan, that was a mainstream, heavily recruited prospect. The rest of them, (and I appreciate their play and efforts for Auburn) were players Lebo managed to pick up from "off the radar".

We need seven or eight players on the roster that other SEC teams would like to have, not one player.

I know Andre Malone was pretty highly ranked out of high school. Kenny Gabriel was also ranked around the same as Sullivan. This next recruiting class is going to be pretty good as well. We have some good role players, but no real game changers. Lebo needs to be able to recruit 1-2 game changers every year, the only player I have seen in the last few years with that ability was Vot and he was hit or miss.