re: Auburn Basketball 2021 - 2022 28- 6 (15-3) SEC CHAMPS!

I thought it was interesting on Pearl post game he said he thought about coming out w a different lineup to start the 2nd half. He said we played poorly to start the game and their plan was to pull Kessler out from post which allowed their 4 guard lineup to get inside a lot and neutralize Kesslers strengths.

I believe his lineup before the half included Cardwell and Franklin.
I was very impressed w Cardwell defense and rebounding and of course Jaylins scoring and rebounding.
Do any of u remember what our lineup was before the half?

It’s easy to look back but that 2nd start.

It’s a flex cut offense and late clock ball screen offense. It’s not a ball movement, motion offense. Different philosophy. Bruce wants to take the first good look you get. Motion offense wants you to move the ball until you get a great look. Bruce’s system is great when you have shot makers but we only had 1 or 2.

Yep.

If u look at our shooting % for the year vs the U.

Miami’s starting guards were all shooting in the mid to high 40%.
Auburn only had 1, Jabari who was hitting low 40’s and ALL our guards were shooting more around mid 30’s.
And it showed our weakness on our shorter guards even down the stretch in league play.

Pearl HAS to find better shooters to make his offense go, and at least some taller guards.

Well weirdly I don't think this team had many built-in adjustments that could have been made mid-season. A lot of our potential even when we were winning in Nov/Dec to me rested on Flanigan being close to what we expected him to be.

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That's a perfect explanation. So my next questions is why didn't Bruce adjust (not changing philosophies because that would be hard to do late season) after going multiple games struggling to score the ball?

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Because two of our three guards don't have good handles. Zep's is decent.

When Arkansas started doubling the ball in the second half of our game in Fayetteville, our expectations of a Final Four run were toast. We never were able to adjust to doubling the ball, and every team did this to us down the stretch. That is the book on our current guards. They don't handle the ball well and they don't have the size and length to pass over the double team.

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One thing I hope Bruce reconsiders is his recruiting philosophy. He seems to filter out guys that he thinks can't play defense at high level and then try to find shooters from that remaining group and there are just so few shooters who are gifted defensively.

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#Support

What's most frustrating about this is that at the college level, you can be a plus defender just by hustling / locked in mentally. Bryce Brown at 6'1 and with TRex arms was a very solid to good back court defender when engaged



We also need someone who can be a reliable ISO scorer. When it is nut crunching time, we need to have a go to option we trust with the ball in his hands. Not sure down by 1 in the NCAAT I'd trust a Wendell drive or Jabari spot up just trying to shoot over a guy

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In one of the press conferences at the NCAAT KD mentioned his hand bothering him since the injury at UGA and it effecting his shot. He kind of threw it in as a side comment and it did not just sound like excuse making to me. The stats are interesting.

In the first 22 games (prior to UGA injury)- he was 36-104 from three (34.5%). That included 5 road games, 12 home games, and 5 neutral site games. In the final 12 games (after UGA injury)- he was 9-51 from three (17.6%). That includes 5 road games, 4 home games, and 3 neutral site games. At first I thought maybe it was just him not shooting it well away from home late in the season but he only shot 18% at home in those last 4 home games.

The 34.5% in the first 22 games definitely lines up more with how he shot the three in his Fresh year at UGA (38.7%).

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Borrowed from another thread/ site

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Yohan Traore has decommitted from LSU.

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We have a good shot at him?

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quote:
In one of the press conferences at the NCAAT KD mentioned his hand bothering him since the injury at UGA and it effecting his shot. He kind of threw it in as a side comment and it did not just sound like excuse making to me. The stats are interesting.

In the first 22 games (prior to UGA injury)- he was 36-104 from three (34.5%). That included 5 road games, 12 home games, and 5 neutral site games. In the final 12 games (after UGA injury)- he was 9-51 from three (17.6%). That includes 5 road games, 4 home games, and 3 neutral site games. At first I thought maybe it was just him not shooting it well away from home late in the season but he only shot 18% at home in those last 4 home games.

The 34.5% in the first 22 games definitely lines up more with how he shot the three in his Fresh year at UGA (38.7%).

Borrowed from another thread/ site

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I remember KD having that injury a while back, but nothing was reported by the media, and certainly not from Coach Pearl.

If that is something that still was lingering with him, it definitely is going to affect a long range shot w/ emphasis on the pushoff from his hand.

It does seem like with that much difference in shooting %, it must have been a legit reason for the large decrease.

Very good chance at two of them.