Something we all hoped for this year. I think haad needs to eventually start at the 1.

Denver with zero, JP with zero. Tahaad carried with 20.

Very tough environment. Had some careless turnovers against a great team. I'm concerned about JPP.

here is what AUr pulling guards looked like against bama.

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which is that his NIL deal is $6MM over 4 years (vs. our apparent best and final of $3.5MM), put me in the category of preferring to deploy that money in the Portal.

At this highest level of recruiting, nobody really loses a player anymore; they simply get outbid. My guess is that FSU severely overpaid Kromah as they desperately needed some type of win on NSD; their class has been gutted, and they are outside the top 20 in recruiting on the heels of a disastrous season. Arnoux might be in that same category.

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Dear Harsin,

Your time at Auburn was an abject failure.

Bite the bullet and move on.

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Need more points from these two in big games if we’re going to win..

Both played great defense though..

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-each-position-are-actually-getting-paid/amp/


https://sportsnaut.com/college-football/lists/highest-paid-college-football-players/amp/

Nm

Dept of Music putting in work, Nashville runs through Auburn.

What a game. What an incredible place to play. As an AU fan I hate taking the L. We would beat them at Neville and likely on a neutral court. If we could have tied it up any one of the several times we were down 2 with the ball, I think we pull it out.
And I think #3 for Duke just drained another 3.

But as a CBB fan, just an incredible experience and a great game IMO.

in front of the Hilton Midtown NYC. Believe it was a targeted hit.

nm

We will destroy these bitche$ in Neville

Bunkerites - Just sending out a final announcement regarding the Bunker pre-game this Wednesday before we take on the Duke Blue Devils in round ball. The good folks at https://thetaverndurham.com/ have welcomed us with open arms. I will be there at 5 PM ET, but feel free to arrive anytime. This is an informal gathering where we can get to know each other, drink some drinks, eat some eats and have some fun. The location is one of the closest bars to Cameron Indoor (https://g.co/kgs/vNX7rzM) and we can even catch the first half of the UAT-UNC game there. Round up your folks and swing on by.

Also, there are some members who took offense to my hate for Hugh Freeze as our professional football coach and may boycott such an event. That is your call, but you will miss out on hanging with some cool people and having a good time before we take on a very challenging opponent. Yes, even in 2024 you can hate someone in a role and not hate them as a person. I know the media and others make that hard to digest, but it is not impossible and actually is healthy to discuss and understand other's points of view. I welcome everyone including haters. Bring it and let's whip Duke's ass.

"You can see his talent, his ability to score, his courage."

Tahaad Pettiford showed again why he's one of the best freshmen in college basketball in No. 2 Auburn's close loss at No. 9 Duke.

TALENT

To dispel some of these threads being posted here is where we stand in the Freeze ERA.

Since 2000 the best Auburn has done with respect to TOP 150 recruits for a 4 year cycle is 22 by Gus. 6 in any year was also his best.

The reason the TOP 150 is important is because Saban made it so by taking recruiting to a higher level than ever.

His rosters included about 70% TOP 150sh recruits, Kirby followed and is around 60-70%. They made the standard. The standard is not what the services tell you cause Saban made a mockery of those.

So if you want to compete with them they have shown you the way.

Enter Clemson and Dabo. Dabo, not being able to recruit as well as bama tried a different approach. His approach filled every position with a TOP 150 recruit plus another 10-12 for substitutions. That means a team can have 11 offensive players and 11 defensive players (22) with another 10 subs and you still have an elite squad. What you don’t have is 30 players sitting on the bench waiting a few years to get their chance. Players sitting on the bench don’t hurt you……..so Clemson’s model, with careful position management, played just like a bama or UGA team. With a couple elite QBs they even won a few NC games.

Auburn can compete with bama and UGA by using the Clemson model. They need about 8 TOP 150sh players per year over a 4 year recruiting cycle.
That’s 32 total. It also takes good position management and an above average QB or better.

In his first 3 recruiting cycles HF has signed 26 TOP 150 recruits. This means he is doing by far, better than any HC in recent Auburn history and is actually in the elite range. His 2026 class already has 3 TOP 150 recruits so he is well on his way towards the 32 mark.

This is far superior to what Auburn fans are use to. However, there are some caveats.

1. It takes at least 2 1/2 season so that your young recruits become SEC level players. What freshman comes in an immediately looks awesome?
2. HF screwed up by not getting an elite QB earlier because now he is forced to fill that position out of the portal and likely to pay 2X as much to guarantee he gets his man. If he doesn’t get one then IMO his days at Auburn are over……Unless Deuce is a first year wonder.
3. HF has also not filled our OL with TOP 150 recruits. We have a couple but not enough and I don’t believe we have a LeftOT. This needs to be fixed too.

So as far as high school recruiting goes Auburn is in the top, very exclusive, elite group over the past 3 cycles.

But as far as NIL goes I still have my doubts that HF knows how to negotiate or throw around money to obtain these top players.
Because of this I am not sure he will represent Auburn in the portal very well either. I just don’t think he is comfortable in dishing out millions to 18-22 year olds and I don’t know whether he is much of a riverboat gambler either.

Make no mistake, if Auburn wants to play with the Big Boys then some of these high profile recruits MUST go our way. This is perhaps the biggest auction in the world and it is no time to try to be penny-wise. We must keep our paddle up and outbid some of these a Big Time schools.

But as far as high school talent Auburn is in great shape.

PORTAL TARGETS

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only going to add players who have enterred the portal

added green highlight borders to the guys i think could be close to an offer



DEPTH CHARTS:

OFFENSE:

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DEFENSE:

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only going to take guys off this list when they enter the portal

this year ive added BOLD OUTLINES to players that are at or above SEC AVERAGE pff grades for players at that position

for offense that is =

1.) Simmons 2.) Coleman 3.) Lew 4.) Wright 5.) Cobb

for defense that is =

1.) Faulk 2.) Blocton 3.) Crawford 4.) Champ Anthony 5.) Kaleb Harris

honestly think thats pretty fair

PORTAL NEEDS

offense


DEFENSE:



ROSTER TOTALS:



need a lot more spots to open up based on what we need. expecting about 10-12 more to portal out




@steamroller76 @94WDE @jolivesr @wareaglegsu @lovelady2530 @stutsman23 @Ruxpin @Bob Mapplethorpe @Boisgreat @alphatiger08

We were on the verge of getting blown out, but held steady, and came all the way back.

As bad as we played, and as bad as the refs effed us, that kid hitting 6 straight 3s changed the entire game. We were having our way, until he went off.

Oh well, if you're gonna lose, this is a good loss. We'll lose again. But we fine.

it keeps getting asked

he averages 7.3 fouls per 40min and its going to go up after tonight


why didnt he play last 2min?

because we needed back to back stops without fouling (you can argue about letting him foul out or just play 4v5 defense and stuff but thats the logic)

him and chaney specifically have to clean it up against good teams cause we need them out there. its more on the players than it is on bruce…

Actually seemed pretty reasonable. We got away with a lot of contact. There were a few bad calls (the flagrant in Dylan being the worst), but we got away with some too. So I think it evened out.

We didn’t play a great game. Four guys had all but 5 of our points. Zero from Dylan and Denver (and of course from JPP too, but that’s a given at this point). We never really got comfortable except in spurts.

I feel like we should’ve tried to ride Miles hot hand earlier in the game, but maybe Duke just defended him better.

Tahaad is a big game player. Period. You want guards that can create and score in March? Thats him. And Miles Kelly too.

I felt like Broome had an off night. And I think he did. If he hits the shots he normally does, he has probably 28. But he still had 20 and 12. He is that good.

This would’ve been a great win to get, but we needed to play better. Not perfectly, but better. And we brought our B- game. It will be fine. With this schedule we were bound to lose. Winning there would’ve been a great feather in our cap, but it isn’t a killer. We are still a national title contender and, I think, the best team in the country (though Tennessee will probably get to #1 next Monday).

This is going to be a fun season, but probably not for my blood pressure. So many great games left, especially in what will be a brutal SEC. If we win the SEC, we will be very ready to win games in March. We are already probably the most battle tested team in the country.

We beat them 15. Playing in Durham and having a 27-12 free throw disparity. And two offensive goal tending calls to add an 4 more.