Favorite team:Auburn 
Location:The FloraBama
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Registered on:10/1/2014
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This team will never be good on defense. It has actually improved some over the season, but high level offense/oriented teams are going to make us look silly. Overton gives effort but routinely gets beat physically. Hall is seemingly out of position half the time. Note whenever there is a free run at the basket or swing pass to an open shooter, its usually Hall trying to recover to that spot.

After the NC State game, Pearl talked about the high ball pressure and our guard's inability to handle it. His take was that we actually want that pressure as we should be able to break it with a simple pass, playing 4 on 3 at the basket. Well, we struggled with it again against Arizona. Tonight's strategy was for Pet to dribble around it. We don't have the ball handlers this year to deal with ball pressure and the result is that we are not running ANY offense. The shot selection is terrible, taking mostly jacked up 3s and low % 2s. Even Murphy doesn't get many high % 2s as he doesn't take the ball to rim strong. Does he know how to dunk?

This team will win some SEC games with streaky shooting and hopefully some home court help, but I think it will be a struggle to get to .500 in the league and questionable to make the tournament without some heavy coaching and improvement at many levels.
Keep throwing Magwood out there. The game is still moving too fast for him, but he'll settle down with more minutes. And, it's not like we have other options.

But this is not a Pegues situation. Magwood can play. Dribbling across half court into that double team was rough though.
A couple of random thoughts from watching the game live...

- I was expecting more from Murphy. They only ran a couple of plays for him, but he does not look comfortable with the ball. When he had other opportunities (flow of the game, or put backs, etc...), he did not go up strong except for the dunk at the end of the game. He's an adequate defender and rebounder and we badly need him on the floor because ->

- I'm not sure how much Jovic can contribute. He's a below average rebounder, extremely weak with the ball, and makes bad decisions (boneheaded turnovers, bad fouls, lane violation, etc..). It forced Hall into action playing the 5 on Defense late in the game (who looked lost a couple of times), resulting in some easy points for Houston

- Defense plays with intensity but just flat out blows many possessions. Houston had 5+/- undefended wide open 3 Point shots, and 5+ break away lay-ups/dunks either down the middle or from the baseline with no back side rotation. There were several times when the back side defender was guarding both the driving ball handler and a shooter sitting in the corner (impossible). We were not expecting this team to be great on D, but hopefully it can come around. Too many free uncontested points given up tonight.

Also many, many positives.. But would like to see Murphy be more assertive. I'm not holding my breath for any production out of Jovic, but maybe he can develop this year, as we badly need some minutes from him.
quote:

Current Odds for Auburn's Next Head Coach

The following table outlines the betting odds for potential candidates to become the next head coach of Auburn football:

Coach Name Odds



Same betting outfit currently has Nick Saban as betting favorite to be LSU's next coach.
It may be nitpicking, but it always seemed strange that Riley left Oklahoma just prior to coming into the SEC. Like he didn't want the heat. Now he finds himself unexpectedly in the Big-10, and with a 7-2 record with somehow no big wins and a coming off of a 7-6 and 8-5 seasons. I don't know what to think.
Unless he plans on transferring out for next year, everyone involved (coaches and Daniels) should want Daniels to play. Way too many unknowns about next year. New coach may bring a QB with him or have a portal guy he likes (likely). New coach may have an entirely different scheme. Duece (if he sticks) may be ready (not as likely imo).
quote:

Jackson was pristine for 29 minutes against Georgia. He has the can-do.


I would describe Arnold's history more of one not doing it, and his resume grows every week.

Every game counts, but there is 1 game on the schedule every year where you are throwing everything you have into it. Extra game planning, some special or different plays saved up for this game, etc. Bye week to prepare, huge recruiting weekend, coming back off the road, and night game at JH to boot (bonus). UGA was this year's game and that helped Arnold looked more competent than usual in the first half. Then UGA made some adjustments at half time (took the perimeter stuff away, etc...), and it all reverted to what we have seen all year. If he can't snap the ball and throw to 1 pre-determined spot, something bad is going to happen. Freeze isn't helping, but Arnold just doesn't have the capacity to help himself. He certainly isn't winning any SEC games for Auburn (would have been 0-5).

re: Play Deuce

Posted by TigerTime Burrito on 10/5/25 at 2:01 pm to
quote:

But nothing will get better if JA still can’t turn the ball loose.


Sure the the offense stinks. But there is this glaring issue on top. We probably win the OK game if Arnold can just let the ball go a few more times. If this is fixable, then Arnold is clearly the best option.. It it's not fixable, then we are not going to win another meaningful game, and they should be using the off week to get the next man up ready.

I think Arnold is probably broken, but would love to be wrong.
quote:

Couple that with Jackson not being about to see the field and you’re seeing the discombobulation on the field.


This is one of many problems, but a significant one. On every pass play, I pray Arnold throws to his first option quickly, even if it's just heaving it up to a receiver without making any reads. These at least have a chance of an on-time completion. Otherwise, he basically just holds the ball until the protection breaks down, or he may run out of a still clean'ish pocket because he gets antsy. But for whatever reason, Arnold either cannot see the field or get's paralyzed and cannot cut the ball loose. I personally think he's toast and we should use these 2 weeks the get the next man up ready to play. I do not think we can win with Arnold.
If AU can pressure AND mostly contain Baylor QB, then watch out!

AU 31-17

quote:

The in stadium experience needs to be more than a hot aluminum bench and piped in music.


Old man rant engage: The stadium sound experience is a reason I go to less games. The incessant artificial sound is too loud, fills in every empty moment, plays over the band! It's just too much. I miss the days when the stadium would gradually build to a roar without being told to 'get loud', the booming voice of the stadium announcer giving down and distance, just a chance to enjoy the scenery and ambiance of the stadium while hearing the sounds of the game.

I went to a high school playoff game in Tuscaloosa in the early 2000s? and they were playing sound and music between every play, and it was a terrible experience. They were evidently just further down this road than Auburn at that time.
quote:

.....once the stadium is looking empty and lethargic.


This is what to watch for. AU Football can endure a few bad seasons, a bad hire, some booster meddling, a scandal or 2, etc... It has real institutional strength and can take some punches. But this 4-6 year run has taken a toll in a way that stands out to me from the past 4 decades. Harsin was devastating. Gus was Gus, but we had moments. We've now had entire graduating classes come through without a single memorable moment inside Jordan-Hare stadium, but many gut punches. My son's best home football moment at Auburn (I kid you not), was Caddy's win against Tex A&M!. I was at last year's Arkansas game, when the stadium emptied at the end of the 3rd quarter down less than 2 scores. Younger fans are quickly losing connection to what a winning program looks like without the history to fall back on. And recent graduates have never known a winning team.

I'm pulling hard for HF, but I'm not convinced he knows how to win. Still, give the man 2 more years to prove what he can do for better or worse.
Rebounding!

I was really encouraged by Broome's rebounding in both Atlanta games. I hope he's ready to go on Saturday. Cardwell was outstanding. Chaney was good for the most part, but he also had some plays where he didn't tag his guy and gave up a few rebounds that should have been his. UF is relentless and it will take everybody doing everything right to secure those defensive rebounds.
Get out to an early lead and then drop the intensity level. It's been a story to some extent all year. Let's see what happens.

re: Alabama State head coach

Posted by TigerTime Burrito on 3/19/25 at 2:17 pm to
quote:

Was curious what happened to this guy. He just finished his 4th season as HC at Central Michigan, with a record of 49-75. The same record he had at Auburn



It must be the shoe/apparel licensing deal holding him back there too. Otherwise I'm sure he would be killing it.
I would like to know the full story on Pegues. I mean surely he had something to offer this team in a backup role. He showed enough before the season to warrant a starting spot after all. He (1) very clearly lost confidence at some point early, and (2) looked overmatched against stronger opponents. It could be that 1 contributed to 2 in a big way, or maybe he was just exposed as playing above his level. Was he shut down to give the other guards all the minutes? Or did he quit? Was playing CMB at backup point really a better option that Pegues when Denver was out?

re: Defensive Rebounds

Posted by TigerTime Burrito on 3/11/25 at 4:57 pm to
quote:

Maybe overall we aren’t a good rebounding team. Bruce’s teams have always gave up rebounds on defense because of how intense the defense plays man up. They play all they way through the shot with basically all defenders trying to block the shot and if they are in the paint the bigs help with a shot block attempt. We block a lot of shots. But we also give up rebounds.


I get that's the way we play.. But it worked better earlier in the year when the unit as a whole was playing with more intensity. My point being that Broome isn't bringing that energy, so we are now getting it both ways. The last 2 games, drivers have been attacking Broome with more success but he's still out of position if the shot misses so 2nd chance opportunities are frequently there. Not sure if you have been watching, but not being a good rebounding team is beginning to cost us games. We are in the part of the season where losing games for these reasons will have... more of a lasting impact.

Defensive Rebounds

Posted by TigerTime Burrito on 3/11/25 at 11:07 am
Pearl harps about rebounding but AU has consistently given up a large number of offensive rebounds, especially later in the season. We always give up some rebounds from challenging shots at the rim and giving up good rebounding position. This of course creates contested shots and blocks, but the block numbers are down (another discussion) and it seems we are getting more fouls lately.

Broome IMO is struggling across the board on this end of the floor. I'm sure it's due to injury and fatigue, but it's very low energy compared to earlier in the year and he's getting killed by teams that really make an effort to throw bodies at the glass.

Chaney has been getting pushed around the last couple of games and I think it's affecting other parts of his game.

Cardwell - Good but needs help

Turtle - not the help Cardwell needs

Howard - Can actually rebound

We play a winning strategy against Bama (running them off the 3Pt line) but still lose because we don't rebound IMO and Broome plays soft against their drives letting them see too much rim. It's becoming a viable game plan against Auburn to just get balls up and send bodies to crash. 2nd chance points often come with fouls, and a reason whey we have been playing with foul trouble lately. This team is good enough to cover up some deficiencies, but defensive rebounding needs to tighten up. I'd like to see more disciplined interior defense to maintain optimal rebounding position. Then we just need more from both Broome and Chaney.
Chaney was not able to hold his spots against T A&M or Bama, getting pushed around. I thought he was stronger than that.
This Auburn team just beats teams like this. KU averages 26 3-pt attempts per game. AU holds them to a mostly contested 17, with only 4 makes. This is why we are going to beat Bama next weekend too. It doesn't matter that we basically had zero contribution from Broome/Chaney/Cardwell. 93 points just went to other parts of the roster. Great team win given the setting, Broome's struggles, and Denver's injury.. But we were getting this one.
These games will all be hard fought, but I really like our chances vs KU and at home vs BAMA. Auburn matches up great against teams that need to shoot the 3 to win or rely on fast break points, as they have shown all season the ability to take those points away. I thought Bama had the best secondary plan for this and made a decent game of it, but they are not going to get the same calls on the road. Our record at KU speaks for itself, but this veteran AU squad will not let the ghost of Adolph Rupp slow them down. I am most concerned about the A&M game. IF they show up, it will be a down and dirty slugfest.