7-1 Heading into Diamondhead Classic

[AUrx14 5]

I may be the only that's completely stoked about this group of guys wearing Auburn jerseys this season, but we aren't looking too bad here to start off.

It seems free throws are being made more consistently, we are getting more boards than normal (but could still use more offensive boards), and we are making a fair amount of 3P shots. Frankie will rush a three every now and again, but defense has been pretty stingy. Every once and awhile we'll blow a defensive scheme and opponents get the easy bucket, but not near as much as Auburn teams in the past have.

Many will say, look at who Auburn has played so far. I'll gladly point you to the 2010-11 Auburn Tigers that were 3-5 in their first 8 games.

Free throws have improved. At one point in the South Florida game, Auburn was 10/10 from FT line and even the commentators were in disbelief.

I'm not saying this is a Final Four squad but I am saying there is a rekindled sense of teamwork between the players. We have 5 good starters and the bench is starting to develop to the point that starters can stay out longer. Chubb has his moments but Kouassi has proved that he will be valuable once he develops into a confident player. Ward is nasty on the three when he is wide open and Denson isn't afraid to take it to the lane.

Whether you are on the Auburn Basketball bandwagon yet or not, you have got to like the fact that we are no longer dropping home losses to Samford and UNC Asheville.

Another stat I personally like is that we're 7-0 at home. This shows me that our brand new 45 bajillion dollar arena is slowly beginning to serve its purpose. Its slowly becoming our 6th man on the floor and the team is starting to feed off the crowd (even if it is 80% students). Barbee turns around and thanks students after the home wins now on twitter. Barbee sees the crowd starting to add to his team. I have never witnessed an AU player pump up the crowd like the football players will do. I've seen that at most home games this time around.

So in a nutshell, we look better and we are starting to become a better program. Under Barbee we will eventually see some postseason play but SEC games will be the true test of how ready our team is.

Barbee also tweeted that the team is practicing right now 12:30 CT in Hawaii. I like the commitment and I believe Barbee has us heading in the right direction.

[Mikey 16,603]

Great post! I think Coach Barbee can take our program a long way. His teams are fun to watch and he's bringing in better recruits. Let's hope that our fans fill the arena up after the holidays are over.

[AUtiger98 24]

It is realistic for this team to have 10 wins headed into conference play. If they can play .500 in conference we are looking at around 18 wins for the season. That would be great for this team and the future.

[autigeremt 6,630]

I am having a great time watching them for sure!

[WarAJEagle 5]

Really hope we get to play Xavier in this Tourny. Would be a fun game to watch. I'm actually planning to stay up and watch the Hawaii game on ESPNU at 1AM on Friday morning. How's that for dedication?

[bigsixfive 327]

Do you hope we play them with or without their suspended players?

[WarTiger 3,901]

One of the big things I like about Barbee is he's not satisfied with just winning. We are 7-1 and several of those games, he was NOT pleased. He wants perfection, he wants hustle on both ends of the floor and he's not going to settle for less. We have a pretty good core of players. Ward is impressive, Kouassi will be pretty good with some experience One thing we have this year that we didn't have last year is a deeper bench. We now have quality players that can come off the bench and contribute consistently. We are going to be a pretty good team, I think. I will be up tonight at midnight watching our game vs. Hawaii.

[WarAJEagle 5]

Do you hope we play them with or without their suspended players?

Umm..... lets do without. Probably a better chance of winning.

[AUrx14 5]

With their full team they're 5-4. If we hadn't travelled 4 time zones to play them I would have said bring on their full team.