ATLtiger12

He was driving the best I’ve seen all season the past few games leading up to A&M. He had been shooting poorly from 3 l, but made a huge impact driving and dishing against Ole Miss and Kentucky. We did not see that tonight though. Probably was partially because he was shooting lights out from 3. But I agree, when he slows it down and drives it brings a dynamic that nobody else does this team. We didn’t see that tonight, but that’s what we need going forward, mixed in with a few 3’s to boot.

No need to overreact to this game. Awful sandwich game missing a key piece of our defense. This was a huge game for them on senior night with us down key pieces. Like others have said, if we beat Bama at home on our senior night (which is our entire team) this will be a blip on the season and we may hold onto #1 ranking to end the season. Duke may even lose to a hot UNC team that desperately needs a win to clinch a tournament bid.

With that being said, I was still very impressed with our offensive performance. We out shot them in every way from the field and free throw line. Entire difference of the game was their offensive boards which were stupid. We need Broome to get his mojo back for sure, but nobody else in the nation can do what they did on the boards tonight. Let’s reset and go on a 10 game win streak now.

We fell from +36.9 to 36.65 I think. Fell like 7 spots in defensive efficiency. Texas had like 60 points with 4 minutes left before some tough fouls/techs went against us and definitely some clutch shots from Texas. Duke had a major leap for sure to close the gap.

At the end of the day, this is the best Auburn basketball team we’ve had since our final four season, and may be one of the best I get to watch in my life time. I’m not going to nitpick the final minutes of a road game against a solid Texas team. We are going to get everyone’s best shot and it’s we aren’t going to get perfection in every game for 40 straight minutes. Learn from it and keep on winning. This team is too much fun to get down about how it played out.

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He got benched because their offense imploded, and when that happens the first move is to go to the backup QB as a scapegoat move. The literal same thing happened here with Thorne being "benched" for Brown. OU's backup was worse than Arnold, and Arnold was inserted back into the starting lineup to end the season.

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All of this is accurate. I’m not saying Arnold is guaranteed to solve our issues. But it sounds like Arnold is may be Hugh’s favorite at the moment. And it’s not crazy, as currently there is no can’t miss QB in the portal. Arnold at least was a 5 star, with clear talent and potential, and has played against SEC competition. With Arnold, or any QB we go after, you’re going to be banking on our WR talent being legit next year, Freeze being able to scheme them open, and plugging some holes on the OL through the portal. If all that happens, I don’t think it’s crazy to think Arnold could live up to his high school hype. With guys like Murphy, Mensah, and others your taking risk on all the forementioned plus a huge jump in competition.

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Depressing yet encouraging at the same time

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This. The stats show that poor red zone play, and turnovers early in the season killed us. We moved the ball great between the 20’s and could not finish drives. How many games did we outgain opponents and lose? Also, penalties, sacks, and garbage time yards skewed some of the stats, as well as some general bad luck.

This team really should be a 7 win possibly 8 win team if not for completely improbable losses against Oklahoma and Mizzou. But we also lost games to teams we clearly out talent which concerns me. Still at the end of the day, if we go all in and can find a Cam Ward type QB in the off-season my expectations would be playoff next year with our schedule.

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Don’t forget both of the eggs we recently laid on the road were quick turnarounds after super emotional games against Bama.

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This right here. I saw a tweet from someone the day of the Florida game that said his favorite bet of the week was UF over AU. The only note he had was fade teams on the road coming off emotional rivalry games. Two days later he tweeted the same thing about the Kansas game at Texas Tech and they went on to lose by 30. When you look at the fact that we lost a hard fought game to Alabama on the road and then lost two others on the road after emotional games against Alabama it really is understandable.

Bama also finishes with road games at Kentucky, at Ole Miss, and at Florida, and a home game against UT. Losing two of those is very possible. I lean toward us and Bama finishing tied at the top of the conference at 14-4. As long as we are able to secure a 3 seed in the tourney I'll be excited.

I don't think it's a coincidence that all of the top ranked teams currently are playing outside of the SEC and the Big 12, the two best conferences by far this season. They just don't have nearly as many of these really tough in conference road games and are stacking up more wins because of it. The SEC and Big 12 teams all continue to have these troubles on the road, and it just proves that winning in a road environment against good tournament teams is really tough. Hopefully, it does benefit us how much we have been tested in these environments against tourney type teams during the year. But I do agree that our guards are going to have to take it up another level and we are going to have to start making 3's again in order to make an E8 or F4 run.

On a separate note, I think South Carolina could be in for a rough finish down the stretch themselves. I do really like their team and think they are physical, well coached team. And they probably have the best road win in all of conference play against UT. But outside of that win, they have really been the beneficiary of a much easier conference schedule so far. Their next 3 toughest games so far in conference have been Miss State, Ole Miss, and Kentucky, all at home. They also got killed by Bama on the road. They have also played Missouri and UGA twice already, Vandy, and Arkansas. They finish with 4 road games down the stretch against tournament teams, and have to host UT and UF. I think they will fall back to reality a little bit during that stretch and we should be the start of that.

The good news is, I'm pretty sure I saw a stat this week that we are the #1 defense in the country at points allowed in the paint. Our defense has always been solid under Bruce, but it really feels like it is on another level this year. We aren't just creating turnovers, but we are defending at every position at a very high level. We are #1 in the SEC in defensive efficiency, effective field goal %, 3 point %, and turnover rate.

No doubt this will be the biggest challenge we have faced offensively, but it sure does make me feel good going into this game. Also, I know that fouling has been issue for us in the past, especially at Alabama, but it really hasn't been an issue this year. We are so deep, and guys play such limited minutes because of it, that it is really difficult to get in serious foul trouble even if the refs are trying to screw you. And in most cases our backup can fill in with very little drop off. This team is as equipped as ever to keep up the good play with the defense and depth.

That's fair, I think really good defensive teams and good rebounding teams are always going to be tough for us. That is what A&M did to us at home and that was a battle. Could definitely see something similar against Ole Miss or Miss State, especially on the road if we have an off night shooting. As you mentioned, Alabama will be tough for anybody if they get hot from behind the arc.

I think at the end of the day, we win at least one of these games comfortably and maybe have to scrap out a tough win in another one.

I don't think it is a good idea to compare Hugh Freeze and this Auburn team to Nick Saban and Alabama. And we are not in a position to go 12-0 next year. But there are plenty of examples of coaches starting off their first year with a below average season and working up from there, and the level of recruiting from this year is a huge step in the right direction.

Hugh Freeze won 7, 8, 9, and then 10 games his first 4 seasons at Ole Miss. Mike Norvell won 3, 5, 10, and then 13 games his first 4 seasons at FSU. Lane Kiffen also had a below .500 season his first year at Ole Miss. Eliah Drinkwitz took until his fourth season. Now most of those guys aren't even recruiting at high level, and maybe Drinkwitz is a one hit wonder this year, but most of them hit the portal hard and it took them a few years to get the right pieces in places.

All of that to say there is good reason to have patience with a coach that is recruiting at a high level and has proven he can win at his other stops. We have to keep the momentum going in 2024 though and win at least 8 games in my opinion. Getting the coordinators correct though is a big deal, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We need to find some stability there.