Auburn preview

[DawgatAuburn]

If you clicked this thread looking for hope....buddy you're in the wrong place. Given the trajectories of these two teams over the last three weeks, I'm not sure there is much to feel good about. Yeah, we have a win over UT and Auburn doesn't have a single Quad 1 win yet. Yeah we both lost close games to Bama. Yay. But aside from those two isolated facts, Auburn has been superior to us in practically every facet of the game. You can see it with your eyes if you watch the two teams play, or you can look at the team statistics. Auburn is better than us, period. They are looking like a Final Four contender although the same was true at this stage of the season two years ago with Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, but Pearl found a way to watch that team flame out early in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

If you want something to cling to, I'd suggest the home court advantage, such as it is. Auburn has become nearly invincible in Neville Arena and my hope was that our $50 million could transform the Hump into something similar. Alas, I am afraid we sank that money into a renovation that will be an albatross around our neck for a couple of decades. We really should have sucked it up and just built a new place. Thanks Cohen. But back to the game....Auburn has only played four true road games this season. They lost two of them.

• A 69-64 loss at Appalachian State
• A 79-75 loss at Bama

In those games, the three point shooting struggled. As a team, Auburn is still only a less than stellar 33% from three. But it was really bad in those two losses.

• At App State, 3-27 from three, 11%
• At Bama, 5-25, 20%

Defense is more than guarding threes. It's the whole gamut, and we are just lost defensively right now. Last year we were constantly in the passing lanes, getting deflections, helping out on time, closing out....this year we are just a half step behind in all of that. I'm sure it is driving Jans crazy. Especially knowing we aren't built to win games in the 70s or above. We are losing games in the first half with our terrible defense. Giving up 40+ in a half is just not a good plan for us, and we've been doing it regularly in the first half recently.

• Florida 43
• Kentucky 47
• Alabama 40
• Tennessee 22...but 50 in the second half. 50!

If we want to have a prayer tomorrow, the defense has to show up early and stay late. If Auburn has 40 or more in the first half, find something to do in the garage because that one will be over. Auburn is hard to defend because they have so many guys who can score. Broome may get most of the publicity, and he's a very good college player, but Williams and Donaldson are steady and dependable, KD Johnson is a spark waiting to happen, Baker-Mazara can make shots from all over, and Aden Holloway didn't get 5 stars next to his name for nothing. Pearl routinely plays 11 guys so you'll hear some additional names, but typically the rest are role players. Doesn't mean one of them won't hit a big shot or make a big play of some sort, but I'd be surprised to see any of them have a big scoring game. Overall though, Pearl has put together a dangerous squad, and if we aren't ready to roll, we could get blown out.

 

[Baddog11]

Thanks for the honesty. I worry about our defense vs the 3pt shot. Sometimes the best defense to the 3 especially early in the game is hard fouls and giving the 3 free throws.

 

[L4Dawg]

I'm actually pretty happy with what we did to the Hump. The seating bowl has always been good. Compared to most arenas there really isn't a bad seat in the place. The concourses were THE problem, and that has mostly been vastly improved. The north end is what it is there. It would be a massive undertaking and would obliterate the road between the Hump and the baseball stadium to do anything there. It could still be the snake pit it used to be, but that's going to have to be refounded from scratch. Some ill advised treatment of the old guard fans and years of terrible basketball eliminated any real connection with the old snake pit days.

 

[57stratdawg]

Thanks D@A. Seems like a big game. Should be a nice crowd.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

I'm actually pretty happy with what we did to the Hump. The seating bowl has always been good. Compared to most arenas there really isn't a bad seat in the place. The concourses were THE problem, and that has mostly been vastly improved. The north end is what it is there. It would be a massive undertaking and would obliterate the road between the Hump and the baseball stadium to do anything there. It could still be the snake pit it used to be, but that's going to have to be refounded from scratch. Some ill advised treatment of the old guard fans and years of terrible basketball eliminated any real connection with the old snake pit days.

I somewhat agree. The sight lines are fine but compared to Auburn and Ole Miss the seats feel a million miles away. Maybe they aren’t. It feels like those places are set up to build a home court advantage for even an average team whereas the Hump MIGHT be an advantage when we are really good.

 

[L4Dawg]

I somewhat agree. The sight lines are fine but compared to Auburn and Ole Miss the seats feel a million miles away. Maybe they aren’t. It feels like those places are set up to build a home court advantage for even an average team whereas the Hump MIGHT be an advantage when we are really good.

The Hump was a huge advantage through thick and thin for at least 3 decades. I was a season ticket holder for most of those years. Home court advantage is entirely due to culture, not a building. We lost the culture at the Hump. The culprits are Gregg Byrne and Rick Ray. Gregg kicked the old guard out, and Ray's terrible teams killed the student culture. The result is absolutely no cultural memory of the snake pit years.

Cue up the "old guard was not kicked out, they made a choice" crowd. Whatever.....the RESULT was the same no matter what the truth is there.

I would love to hear the sound that resulted from a Wilson 3, a Rhodes dunk, an Austin three or dunk, a Lawrence play in the paint, a Varnardo block, a Dampier physical domination, a Bowers three, or even a Chuckie Evans dish in a mostly empty building again. The old guard was still there and appreciative even during Chuckie's years.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Auburn by 8 points.

I'm not too fond of it, but 8 points.