re: #tAuburnBasketball Thread

Greg Brown Top 5:


Auburn makes final 5 for 5-star power-forward

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Auburn's basketball recruiting has reached new heights under coach Bruce Pearl. These days, it's fairly common for the Tigers to be in the running for an elite recruit.
So, it isn't a shock to see Auburn listed as a finalist for standout prospect Greg Brown.

He's a 5-star power-forward from Austin (Texas) Vandegrift and Tuesday he named a final five of Auburn, Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina and Texas. Brown, who is 6-feet-9, 195 pounds, is the No. 1 power-forward and No. 8 overall recruit nationally in the industry generated 247Sports Composite for the class of 2020.

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After making an unofficial visit to Auburn in June, Brown raved about the trip.
“I was just visiting the school and seeing what it is like and I hung out with the guys,” Brown told Mark Murphy of Inside the Auburn Tigers. "It was great. I learned a lot about the school. I met the person over sports (Athletic Director Allen Greene). He is a real nice dude and I talked to a lot of the players.”
In April, this is what Brown told Jason Caldwell of Inside the Auburn Tigers about his interest in the Tigers: "I’m interested in Auburn a lot. I just got a feel for Auburn when they came for the in-home visit. I’m looking at them tough right now.”

Here's more from that article, which was published April 29 ...
Over the weekend he showed off that skill set while playing for the Texas Titans in the Atlanta Nike EYBL. In his first game he set the tone with 24 points and 14 rebounds in only 23 minutes of action.
It’s that kind of production that has made Brown one of the hottest players anywhere, currently the No. 5 player nationally on 247Sports and the top power forward in the country. With colleges from coast to coast trying to get into the mix to land the versatile big man, a program that has made a huge move recently is Auburn.

Coming off the first Final Four in program history that saw the Tigers beat Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in successive games, Coach Bruce Pearl’s team won 30 games and captured the attention of the country.
They also captured the attention of the Texas prep standout who saw enough from Auburn to welcome them on an in-home visit when the contact period began. Getting to know the coaches and more about the Tigers, Brown said they’re definitely on his radar now.
Also, here is Caldwells analysis of Brown:One of the most impressive players physically in attendance at the Atlanta Nike EYBL, Brown is a dominant player around the basket because of his ability to play well above the rim. A high flyer and also a quick leaper, Brown should be a threat to be a double-double machine as he continues to develop and with an improving outside shot he will be a scoring machine on the next level that also has the ability to protect the rim on defense.

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Was there anything to the Cooper scuttlebutt?

Sam Blum
@SamBlum3
NEWS: The
@AuburnMBB program had long kept private their severe self-imposed sanctions from Sept. 2017-April 2018, until now. During that time, Auburn didn't conduct any recruiting. No visits of any kind. No contacts. No phone calls. No evaluations.

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In the aftermath of the September 2017 arrest of former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person, Auburn imposed a long list of previously unreported self-imposed sanctions. Those sanctions included restrictions that limited unofficial visits, official visits, contacts, evaluations and phone calls.

In fact, Auburn did not conduct recruiting of any kind from September 2017-April 2018, Auburn Athletics told AL.com. There were no official visits, no unofficial visits, and no contacts or phone calls made to any recruits during that time.

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl made a somewhat ominous comment on a July 29 podcast, when he said, "We took some real strong penalties, a lot of which have never been made public — at some point will be.”

Now we know that Auburn, during its incredible and unexpected run to its first NCAA Tournament in 15 years, wasn’t conducting any recruiting at the time.

Interview requests for Pearl, compliance director Rich McGlynn and athletic director Allen Greene were not granted. The Office of the General Counsel did not respond to a request for official documents pertaining to these sanctions. When AL.com followed up with Pearl directly, he responded by saying, via text, “If it’s OK with you, I’m leaving those subjects alone and refer you to compliance.”

While it has long been known that Auburn held out Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley for the entire 2017-18 season — and Purifoy an additional nine games — AU had never announced any further sanctions.

That decision was a proactive one by Auburn. Both players likely would have been ruled ineligible at a future date, and more severe penalties, including the vacating of wins, could have been enforced.

But there were more self-imposed sanctions in addition to Purifoy and Wiley’s suspensions. And while it is impossible to prove any direct correlation, Auburn did not have any true freshmen scholarship players on last years roster, despite having multiple open scholarships.

The program is no longer under any self-imposed penalty.

All of the self-imposed sanctions and possible NCAA sanctions come as a result of Person’s crimes. The former assistant coach was charged, and later pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the bribery scheme, which included direct payments to Wiley, Purifoy and their families. Auburn University tried to distance itself from Person’s actions in a Victim Impact Statement sent to the court before his sentencing.

In the Victim Impact Statement, AU said it expected to receive a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, and that it carries the potential for further NCAA sanctions. Pearl reiterated that expectation on Rothstein’s podcast.

“I am anticipating that we are not finished completely,” Pearl told Rothstein. “I am anticipating because we have gotten through a lot of things with the NCAA, obviously with the federal government, that case is closed. But I would [anticipate] that we would have to finish some things up. I do feel like the worst is behind us.”

When asked if Auburn had received a Notice of Allegations, an Auburn Athletics spokesman said he couldn’t comment and referred AL.com to the Victim Impact Statement.

AL.com has learned from a source, though, that the Auburn has not yet received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA.

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An 8 month recruiting hiatus is no joke. AU Compliance handing out worse sanctions than the NCAA

Damn. I'm going to say kudos to our compliance department as well as good trust in Bruce. That was a big time "bet on ourself" move banking on our teams doing well enough to basically recruit for themselves.

I can't believe we kept a secret

Purifoy posted on insta about losing weight and working hard.

Maybe he can show out

The Akingabola updates have always made me laugh

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A poster on 247 reports reports that Akingabola is back in the United States. Guess his visa issue or whatever is cleared up.

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Stephen Hooks who is one of the biggest boosters of the program & an insider just replied in that thread FWIW...

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Plenty will be released soon.... : )

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Him smiling should be good news for AU, at least it better be.

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Anybody have the notes on PM's article about Auburn and the NCAA?

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Nothing major. Apparently Pat Forde wrote yet another hit piece on AU & PM blasted him a bit for it. The truth mentioned was basically actual past sanctions.