Steam of consciousness:
- Jared Harper is so good. Auburn is a team loaded with great athletes. Harper is a fine athlete, but he's more skilled than he is bouncy. Dude just understands how to play the game. That is so damn important with this team -- gotta have someone who unlocks the immense potential. He's that guy. And he finished with 19 points and went 4-of-6 from long range.
- Nice bounce-back game from Dunans. Six points, five boards, two blocks, two assists. He very badly wants to be a scorer, but he's more valuable as an all-around catalyst who enables other players.
- Georgia State is good. They have some players. They struck me as a team that's still trying to get on the same page, but they'll win a lot of games when they get going in December or January.
- Mustapha Heron was 1-of-7 from the floor Monday, but nonetheless added 10 points and eight rebounds. His work rate is stupid good.
- Ronnie Johnson finished with five assists and one turnover in 13 minutes Monday. That'll do.
- Auburn out-rebounded GSU 39-35, but don't expect to see much of that moving forward. These Tigers have some real strengths, but bulk in the post is not one of them. They won't out-size many teams. Keep in mind that Villanova went 35-5 and won the natty last season with an average (in NCAA terms) rebounding margin. Pearl's team is hell in transition, has several shooters and three off-the-dribble creators in Ronnie Johnson, Dunans and Heron. They will make up for the rebounding in other ways.
- Georgia State and North Florida the other night almost exclusively dedicated themselves to zoning the Tigers. Auburn needed some time in both games to adjust, specifically moving thoughtfully away from the ball, but figured things out during the second halves. Expect Auburn to make some progress to that end during the coming weeks. They have the personnel to counteract zones; the current problems are a function of inexperience more than anything else.
- Auburn (2-0) resumes play Thursday night against Eastern Kentucky, which lost to UNC Wilmington in overtime Monday. The Colonels are 1-1.
