re: #tAuburnBasketball Thread

MBB now ranked 21

Kind of lame we dropped after an OT loss to #17 UConn and dominating Syracuse. Figured we'd hold at 19.

I get it this early in the season so I'm not complaining, but I thought with how many writers were talking about how good we looked that we were impressive enough to hold.

And some good commentary from SI: LINK

quote:

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Jabari Smith gains traction as a top-two pick

The major subplot to everything happening in Vegas last week was the continued emergence of Auburn’s Jabari Smith, who put together a trio of strong performances at the Battle 4 Atlantis and is building a legitimate argument as a potential No. 1 pick. While I wouldn’t venture to label anything as a consensus right now, I do think there’s increasing steam behind Smith's taking his place as the No. 2 prospect in the minds of many of the league’s decision-makers, which was reflected in his placement in last week’s mock draft. Based on the buzz in Vegas and what we saw in the Duke-Gonzaga game, the prospect with the best chance to usurp Banchero at No. 1 is Smith, not Holmgren.

Smith is an entire year younger than Holmgren. He’s big and skilled. And he plays both ends. The composure and competitiveness Smith has displayed through his first six college games is an extremely positive indicator for what may be coming. I thought Smith’s 22-point performance in Auburn’s double-overtime loss to UConn last week spoke volumes. He played a poor first half and picked up his third foul on a mental mistake in the closing seconds. He bounced back with an admirable performance the rest of the way, finishing 12-of-12 from the foul line and contributing heavily to his team’s efforts. The Tigers fell short, but most teenagers playing under the type of microscope Smith has on him would have a difficult time bouncing back like that.

The level of focus and competitive intensity he’s brought to every game has won him a lot of fans in front offices. It’s easy to nitpick his shot selection, but I’m not all that concerned yet—not only is he shooting 43% from three and 84% from the line, but he’s made the most of a situation where his guards tend to be a bit sticky with the basketball. He's also been so much better defensively than expected.

The smart money remains on Banchero going first—the odds are he’ll offer whoever wins the lottery far too much star upside and bankable floor to pass on. Still, I’ve spoken to a number of high-ranking individuals around the league who think Smith offers the most upside of any player in the draft, Banchero included. Imagining scenarios where a GM with tons of job security—say, Sam Presti—wins the draft lottery, it’s not out of the question that Smith could be the guy.

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Can't remember the dudes name, but I saw a ballot from a writer with the Des Moines Register that left off both Auburn and Alabama. Apparently some of these writers just hate the whole state

At first I thought maybe there was some leftover bad blood towards Bruce for the situation with Illinois that happened when he was an assistant at Iowa. Which I thought was weird, bc I've only heard of Illinois fans holding that grudge, not Iowa fans (and I have family that are Iowa fans). Then I noticed Bama was missing too and figured he was just a clown with an agenda.

Syracuse working hard for the Auburn resume today. Beating a good Indiana team late in second half

If Syracuse could just grab a rebound this game would’ve been over 45 min ago.

Well the 'Cuse won. So big bump for our RPI or BPI or whatever the damn power rating is now

Purdue is really good and could hold onto #1 for a while… they won’t go undefeated bc of the depth of the big 10, but they’re the real deal.