The main weakness (and theres not many on this team) is the overall defense. we've been tracking in the 25-30 range all season so far when you eliminate preseason ranking bias from torvik/kenpom.
but theyre very elite at some things and very weak at others
2024 Auburn "Scouting Report"
STRENGTHS:
in terms of limiting opponents assists per game, i dont think ive seen anything like this. we are #1 ni the country at limiting assists (30.8% per game)
we're elite at forcing opponents to shoot late in the shot clock. thats a very good sign
we are extremely good at chasing opponents off the 3 point line + defensive rebounding (extremely rare for a pearl team) + block% + 2pt %
a lot of people think we foul too much but this might be the most disciplined pearl team in recent history in that regard. its really only 3-4 players right now
Fouls Called per 40minutes: 1. Tahaad (6.2) 2. Chaney Johnson (4.1) 3. CBM (4.1) 4. Dylan (4.0)
we can build off this and build an elite defense IF we use next month to fix our flaws
FLAWS:
THE TURNOVER PROBLEM
right now we're only forcing 14.9% turnovers. usually bruce teams force anywhere from 18-24%. it might not seem like a lot, but thats 3 extra possessions AND usually theyre easy buckets on the other end leading to transition possessions
heres past 5 years of auburn defenses and their turnover rates particularly
on STL% - usually we have 2 guards around 3% steal rate and 1 PF thats 2.5-3%. the past couple of years 1 of those has been kd + wendell or kd + zep and jwill. the final four team it was samir + chuma + malik.
right now we have tahaad at 3.0% but he cant stay on the court cause hes fouling. hes gotta keep the steals going without fouling so tough task ahead. chaney on defense is way too aggressive for blocks and needs to focus on getting in passing lanes. dylan is at 2.8% but also not starter level minutes. we need 1 more guy to step up on defense
NON STL% - we are nearly last in the country here. these are DRAWING OFFENSIVE FOULS, forcing bad passes, travel calls, ballhandling errors. these almost all come from perimeter guarding. denvers shutting down one of their guys per night but the other isnt having any issues getting in the paint. we gotta learn to stay in front without fouling somehow.
would not be surprised if we implement some ZONE or other defensive strategies in the next 6 games to install before SEC PLAY
get our TURNOVER CREATION up to "average" and we are on track for an ELITE DEFENSE to pair with this offense!
team is playing at an EXTREMELY ELITE LEVEL but we still have room for growth which is a great sign. definately dont want to be playing our best basketball in december! WDE
