Started By
Message
re: Big game today. Bball @ Tennessee
Posted on 2/1/26 at 10:53 am to jangalang
Posted on 2/1/26 at 10:53 am to jangalang
quote:Maybe so, maybe not.
Yall are making a mountain out of a mole hill over Pett's minutes. Many PGs have done his minutes at a high level. It's a testament to conditioning levels.
Everyone is different regardless of equal conditioning. Just as there's varying levels of endurance among short duration athletes there's also varying degrees of endurance among the more long event guys. Some guys simply are built better for several time a week hour long activities than others. The different is how long is he (himself) being pushed past his comfort level and not how well another player responded.
It's a valid point but comparison alone can't answer this question.
1
Posted on 2/1/26 at 12:18 pm to awestruck
quote:
The different is how long is he (himself) being pushed past his comfort level and not how well another player responded.
The difference seems to be the effort the player is putting in off the court in terms of conditioning, and apparently the level of excuse making some are making for Tahaad.
Walter Clayton averaged 32.6 min a game last year, 30.9 and 30.3 before that. Jared Harper did 33 his junior year, 30.5 his sophomore year. Mark Sears was at 33.6 and 32.3 per game his last two seasons at Bama. Braden Smith from Purdue has averaged like 34 for his career.
It's more common than not for PGs to have the number of minutes per game Tahaad is averaging per game, pretty much all the All Americans do regularly.
The problem is Tahaad, not some made up excuse about his minutes. Tahaad is struggling in the early part of games just like he is in the end of games. He was struggling when we had Magwood just like he is struggling now with Magwood in the doghouse.
Hall is able to average 2 more minutes per game more than Tahaad and play at an All-sec, borderline All American level. And Hall plays about the most physical style of offense possible going into the paint all the time, not like he is jacking up threes constantly.
But poor Tahaad, he doesn't have a a backup PG. And Magwood sucked when he played anyway, statistically he's barely better than the walkon you guys are complaining about.
Our team definitely has depth issues, but our main two issues are that our PG play sucks and we can't shoot threes worth a damn. And Tahaad is a major part of the problem for both issues.
Posted on 2/1/26 at 12:30 pm to auyushu
quote:
The problem is Tahaad, not some made up excuse about his minutes. Tahaad is struggling in the early part of games just like he is in the end of games. He was struggling when we had Magwood just like he is struggling now with Magwood in the doghouse.
Yep exactly..
Why are we having issues getting true PG? Petti & Holloway both were said to he better at 2 than 1
Posted on 2/1/26 at 1:16 pm to Fearless_and_True
“True PGs” are a dying breed. Every guard needs to be able to shoot and score. Tahaad is fine at handling the ball and makes good passes… it’s the scoring he’s struggling with.
Posted on 2/1/26 at 1:43 pm to lowspark12
quote:
Tahaad is fine at handling the ball and makes good passes… it’s the scoring he’s struggling with.
The heck he is. His assist to turnover ratio is 1.38, which is absolutely horrible. A decent PG should have a 2:1 ratio. Tahaad ranks 341 in the country in assist to turnover ratio, his passing and decision making suck.
I'll agree with you on his scoring probably being even more of an issue, but that just highlights how bad our PG situation has been. And honestly, I knew he'd been really bad at PG this year, but I didn't realize quite how bad until I looked up the stats just now. He's bottom 10 in the country in assist to turnover ratio.
Posted on 2/1/26 at 2:13 pm to Fearless_and_True
quote:
Hall played the same amount of minutes.. why does Petti get the stamina excuse?
Fair point. But Hall shot like shite last night too, though not as poorly as Pett.
ETA:… But I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we need a better option to relieve Pettiford than Muschalek. He’s a practice squad player .
This post was edited on 2/1/26 at 2:16 pm
Posted on 2/1/26 at 2:24 pm to auyushu
We don't have a PG on the roster. Pettiford is a tiny 2.
A true PG and a true big man have to be added for next year.
A true PG and a true big man have to be added for next year.
Posted on 2/1/26 at 2:55 pm to auyushu
This only assumes his performance is conditioning related...
And ignores the possibility (or consideration) that Tahaads's simply being asked to do something that's not in his wheel house. That what we're seeing is a response from him getting frustrated, which is resulting in poor ball handling, bad passes, and the rush to take an awkward shot.
And your numbers (even a hundred more) don't prove your assertion that it's a conditioning issue. Because that's just as likely subterfuge to hide personal bias. It's very much like saying he's bar hopping too much without knowing if he's skirt chasing, a frequent drunk, or socializing to relieve the pressure. It's all speculation yours, mine, and the next guy.
And ignores the possibility (or consideration) that Tahaads's simply being asked to do something that's not in his wheel house. That what we're seeing is a response from him getting frustrated, which is resulting in poor ball handling, bad passes, and the rush to take an awkward shot.
And your numbers (even a hundred more) don't prove your assertion that it's a conditioning issue. Because that's just as likely subterfuge to hide personal bias. It's very much like saying he's bar hopping too much without knowing if he's skirt chasing, a frequent drunk, or socializing to relieve the pressure. It's all speculation yours, mine, and the next guy.
This post was edited on 2/1/26 at 4:46 pm
Posted on 2/1/26 at 5:16 pm to awestruck
quote:
It's all speculation yours, mine, and the next guy.
Okay, sure man, we have personal bias against Tahaad. The guy 99% of this fanbase including myself loved coming into the season and thought was a complete dawg. Literally everyone thought he would be a major reason we would be a solid team this year. Coaches don't call out their star player and sit them as a starter in a game like Steven did earlier in the year to Tahaad if the player is doing what they are supposed to off the court. Whether it was bar hopping or lack of effort or whatever, something was or is going on. You can stick your head into the ground on that if you wish. I personally don't have any insight as to what he did myself. But one thing there is no speculation about is the fact Tahaad has sucked as a PG, regardless of the reason. Make whatever excuses for him you want, that's a simple fact. Hopefully he gets his crap together and improves as the season goes on.
This post was edited on 2/1/26 at 5:17 pm
Posted on 2/1/26 at 5:45 pm to auyushu
the
nothing more - but's that okay too
quote:was your unwavering assertion that it must be conditioning
personal bias
nothing more - but's that okay too
Posted on 2/1/26 at 7:42 pm to awestruck
Auushu doesn't seem to be pegging Tahaad's issues to conditioning. He flat out says Tahaad is struggling early and late, I agree with him and I dont think conditioning is the problem why he struggles.
Tahaad is struggling and we can just chalk it up to a sophomore slump.
Tahaad is struggling and we can just chalk it up to a sophomore slump.
Posted on 2/2/26 at 9:15 am to jangalang
quote:
Auushu doesn't seem to be pegging Tahaad's issues to conditioning.
Hmmm...
quote:
( quote: Auushu )
The difference seems to be the effort the player is putting in off the court in terms of conditioning. . .
And so I suggested two other possibilities for a total of three. Without going too over the top. To which he got butt hurt and bent out of shape. Which is certainly his prerogative. But doesn't change the fact his list of numbers and names .... was just subterfuge to hide personal bias.... Because it didn't prove his opinion, as it was only throwing up a (big) wall of names and numbers, for the second time.
This post was edited on 2/2/26 at 9:20 am
Posted on 2/2/26 at 9:26 am to awestruck
quote:
The problem is Tahaad, not some made up excuse about his minutes. Tahaad is struggling in the early part of games just like he is in the end of games. He was struggling when we had Magwood just like he is struggling now with Magwood in the doghouse.
He is clearly more concerned about Tahaad and doesnt care for excuse making.
AKA blaming Pearl because Magwood is still suspended as if Magwood was giving Tahaad viable minutes of rest.
Posted on 2/2/26 at 10:07 am to jangalang
A rando got his AI engines revved up to disect our losses and newsflash it is our guards that are the issue. Consider the quoted content stolen
More often than not when we lose under the Pearl regime since 2017 the losses are more than likely are heavily on the guards..This is the end of my thoughts.
-A true alpha creator at guard
In the Tennessee game you essentially had “committee” creation: multiple guards taking turns, but none who could win a switch, get two feet in the paint, and either score through contact or spray to shooters at a high assist-to-turnover ratio.
Across the schedule, the best playmaker and assist leader has often been a big (Broome-type profile in prior seasons), which is a red flag for a guard-centric system that wants to flow out of guard penetration.
-Reliable perimeter shooting from the backcourt in big games
Auburn’s season-long shooting numbers are solid, but in the losses the guards’ three-point percentage plummets; against Tennessee they were 22.6 percent from three, with most of the misses from the backcourt.
When the initial ball screen is contained and the defense shrinks, the offense needs guards who can punish “under” coverage and late contests; right now those shots are streaky, so good defenses load up on the paint and on the bigs.
-Point-of-attack defense and rebounding guard
Pearl’s pressure scheme assumes that on-ball defenders can heat up the ball without getting straight-line beat; in the losses, elite guards turned the corner, forced help, and created scramble situations that exposed .
-Auburn’s size and depth on the boards.
Auburn is slightly negative on the glass overall this season, which is unusual for Pearl when he has plus rebounders at the 1–3 spots; they’re missing that 6-3/6-4 guard who can check the other team’s best perimeter scorer and still grab 5–6 boards.
Late-clock and late-game package built around the guards
In close losses (Georgia OT, Texas A&M, Tennessee until late) the offense flattened out into difficult, guarded jumpers or over-drives with limited counters, a sign that the team doesn’t yet have a polished 2-for-1 / ATO package that puts guards in their best spots.
Championship-level guards live in that space: snake the ball screen, get to the nail, and hit the pull-up or lob; Auburn’s guards are still more straight-line drivers or spot-up guys than three-level closers.
More often than not when we lose under the Pearl regime since 2017 the losses are more than likely are heavily on the guards..This is the end of my thoughts.
quote:
Step up in weight class. Six of the eight losses are to top-25 caliber opponents (Houston, Michigan, Arizona, Purdue, Tennessee plus at least one SEC road loss versus a ranked team), and the margins balloon in true road/neutral games.
Guard efficiency collapses in these game. Against Tennessee, Auburn’s guards shot 10-35 from the field and 3-18 from three while accounting for the majority of turnovers; the frontcourt (Freeman/Jovic) was relatively efficient but under-used.
Opponents put Auburn in rotation, then win on the glass. In the losses to Arizona and Purdue the Tigers were beaten by double digits and out-rebounded, a pattern that matches the cumulative stat profile where Auburn is slightly negative on the glass despite good overall record.
Late-game execution. Two SEC losses (Georgia in OT, Texas A&M by two) come in one- or two-possession games where Auburn coughed up leads or failed to execute cleanly in final possessions, consistent with a backcourt that doesn’t have a high-level closer yet
quote:
How Auburn wants to play?
Bruce/Steven Pearl’s system is built to be pressure-based and downhill, then flow into quick-hitting motion:
They prefer to play fast, force turnovers, and generate early-offense threes and rim attacks; when forced into the half court they use flex and ball-screen motion to create cuts and drive-and-kick threes.
Offensively this year they are efficient overall (near 47 percent from the field, with a positive turnover margin), but that efficiency is front-court driven rather than guard led.
The system hums when you have a guard who can collapse the defense at 17 seconds or less in the clock, make the right read, and shoot it at 37–40 percent from three off the bounce.
quote:
What’s consistently missing?
-A true alpha creator at guard
In the Tennessee game you essentially had “committee” creation: multiple guards taking turns, but none who could win a switch, get two feet in the paint, and either score through contact or spray to shooters at a high assist-to-turnover ratio.
Across the schedule, the best playmaker and assist leader has often been a big (Broome-type profile in prior seasons), which is a red flag for a guard-centric system that wants to flow out of guard penetration.
-Reliable perimeter shooting from the backcourt in big games
Auburn’s season-long shooting numbers are solid, but in the losses the guards’ three-point percentage plummets; against Tennessee they were 22.6 percent from three, with most of the misses from the backcourt.
When the initial ball screen is contained and the defense shrinks, the offense needs guards who can punish “under” coverage and late contests; right now those shots are streaky, so good defenses load up on the paint and on the bigs.
-Point-of-attack defense and rebounding guard
Pearl’s pressure scheme assumes that on-ball defenders can heat up the ball without getting straight-line beat; in the losses, elite guards turned the corner, forced help, and created scramble situations that exposed .
-Auburn’s size and depth on the boards.
Auburn is slightly negative on the glass overall this season, which is unusual for Pearl when he has plus rebounders at the 1–3 spots; they’re missing that 6-3/6-4 guard who can check the other team’s best perimeter scorer and still grab 5–6 boards.
Late-clock and late-game package built around the guards
In close losses (Georgia OT, Texas A&M, Tennessee until late) the offense flattened out into difficult, guarded jumpers or over-drives with limited counters, a sign that the team doesn’t yet have a polished 2-for-1 / ATO package that puts guards in their best spots.
Championship-level guards live in that space: snake the ball screen, get to the nail, and hit the pull-up or lob; Auburn’s guards are still more straight-line drivers or spot-up guys than three-level closers.
Posted on 2/2/26 at 10:14 am to jangalang
quote:
What would make this style fully work?
For the way Auburn wants to play, the missing ingredients look like:
A primary guard who can:
Run 30+ minutes without major defensive drop-off,
Create efficient shots late in the clock,
Shoot league-average or better from three off the dribble, and
Maintain a positive assist-to-turnover ratio against top-25 defenses.
One more big, physical perimeter piece: a 3-and-D wing or bigger combo guard who can switch 1–3, rebound at a plus rate, and hit open threes so teams can’t gang-rebound off him.
Posted on 2/2/26 at 1:10 pm to awestruck
quote:
suggested two other possibilities for a total of three. Without going too over the top. To which he got butt hurt and bent out of shape.
I'm not particularly butt hurt about anything, though I've definitely been disappointed in Tahaad's play this season. But you need to work on reading comprehension if you think my post that you responded to said Tahaad's problems were conditioning only. Jang already quoted that same post where I said the opposite.
I really don't care if Tahaad is looking sloppy due to poor conditioning, frustration, or lack of effort. The end result is the same, poor PG play.
I personally think it's a combination of:
A. Tahaad just doesn't have the skills to be a good PG, he's a good 2 guard scorer in a point guards body.
B. He was the only guy coming back, got a huge NIL deal, and got a bit of a case of big man on campus/bighead. Which resulted in him maybe not putting as much work this off-season, and it's showing on the court. This sort of thing is hard to fix mid season.
There is also the possibility he has been partying and not putting in the work off the court like the rumors have said. No clue on that, but Steven calling him out in a press conference and sitting him the beginning of that one game says that something was going there that is effort related.
Whatever the case is, he was having the same issues with Magwood as he has without him, so trying to blame his performance on Steven sticking to his guns on Magwood is silly, which was my main point with what you quoted. Most studs in cbb play at least 32-33 minutes a game, you want your best players on the court as much as possible.
This post was edited on 2/2/26 at 1:28 pm
Posted on 2/2/26 at 2:40 pm to jangalang
quote:
Shoot league-average or better from three off the dribble, and
quote:
wing or bigger combo guard
This more than anything else is the issue to me. Whenever we had top of the SEC success under Bruce, we typically had at least three good 3 point shooters (guys who could fill it at a 36%+ clip). That's when Bruce's offense really hums.
Our falloff at the end of the 21-22 season was mostly due to Wendell and KD going cold from 3 at the end of the year after being good at the beginning of the year (or defenses adjusting to them at any rate). The 19-20 team was the only exception really, but was kinda an anomaly with Okoro's defense and the COVID year.
And if you add a guy that can drive the lane and dish out to those shooters it's really hard to stop and you have a final four quality team when you combine it with a Pearl defense. In 2018 we had Okeke driving the lane and dishing out, in 2023 and 24 we had Broome doing the same.
Posted on 2/2/26 at 2:44 pm to auyushu
quote:
Our falloff at the end of the 21-22 season was mostly due to Wendell and KD going cold from 3 at the end of the year after being good at the beginning of the year (or defenses adjusting to them at any rate).
I am pretty sure I am thinking of the same year but I believe this is the year where Wendy and KD started off hott but Cambridge did not and kept bricking. I have a suspicion that seeing a teammate brick like that can affect the psyche around them.
guard play also killed any chances of winning with Jabari and kessler
This post was edited on 2/2/26 at 2:52 pm
Posted on 2/2/26 at 3:02 pm to jangalang
quote:
this is the year where Wendy and KD started off hott but Cambridge did not
Yeah, that would be that year, which was the Jabari year. Cambridge transferred to ASU after that year.
Posted on 2/5/26 at 9:36 am to auyushu
quote:
you need to work on reading comprehension
This is exactly what you wrote:
quote:
The difference seems to be the effort the player is putting in off the court in terms of conditioning, and apparently the level of excuse making some are making for Tahaad.
Walter Clayton averaged 32.6 min a game last year, 30.9 and 30.3 before that. Jared Harper did 33 his junior year, 30.5 his sophomore year. Mark Sears was at 33.6 and 32.3 per game his last two seasons at Bama. Braden Smith from Purdue has averaged like 34 for his career.
It's more common than not for PGs to have the number of minutes per game Tahaad is averaging per game, pretty much all the All Americans do regularly.
The problem is Tahaad, not some made up excuse about his minutes. Tahaad is struggling in the early part of games just like he is in the end of games. He was struggling when we had Magwood just like he is struggling now with Magwood in the doghouse.
Hall is able to average 2 more minutes per game more than Tahaad and play at an All-sec, borderline All American level. And Hall plays about the most physical style of offense possible going into the paint all the time, not like he is jacking up threes constantly.
But poor Tahaad, he doesn't have a a backup PG. And Magwood sucked when he played anyway, statistically he's barely better than the walkon you guys are complaining about.
Our team definitely has depth issues, but our main two issues are that our PG play sucks and we can't shoot threes worth a damn. And Tahaad is a major part of the problem for both issues.
Which is a claim that Tahadd is lacking in conditioning (a page of why) and how anyone who questions this is making the wrong excuses.
The problem isn't reading my comprehension... it's your comprehension of what you've written.
And your subsequent failure to own up to what you've posted when questioned.
Page 7 of 8
Latest Auburn News
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News