That was a hard fought game and we came up short. Still, it had that competitive energy for 40 minutes and it was fun to watch. I believe we are better than Tennessee (and Alabama and pretty much everyone else) at our ceiling, but we're not so much better than these teams when we're not at our best.
We won these games early in the year and we are losing some of them now. I don't believe it indicates we are broken as much as it's a law of averages thing. This group could have lose to Iowa State and Houston. Could have lost at Georgia and South Carolina. Could have lost at home to Tennessee. Now some of those toss up games are going against us and you're seeing some panic. We're still the same team and we still have a real shot at this thing.
Back to the game...both teams were so well prepared early and that's why you saw the flurry of scoring from the jump. Then the two elite defenses adjusted and the scoring stopped. We went to switching everything and Chaz Lanier pretty much went away. It causes some rebounding and foul issues, but I think we are better when we switch it all. Giving up 70 isn't bad and I thought we defended well.
Scoring 65 isn't ideal. Somewhere this year, we stopped running and pushing the ball. This accommodates Johni meandering slowly up the floor, but it hampers our guards from getting going. Transition threes are often the most open threes and we just don't bother with it anymore. Free throws (obviously), missing 3-4 chippies at the rim, and then 2-3 WIDE OPEN 3 pt misses at the end cost us. I still wish our guards would kick the ball out more. We may be the only team in the country that doesn't create closeout to attack. Tahaad had a stinker, CBM was average, Chaney still didnt give much. But Auburn fans need to understand all of those things could have gone our way. And back to law of averages, they probably will next time
Tennessee-Florida will be interesting today to see where we stand. There's only about five groups capable of winning it all and we aren't currently playing the best out of those five. Currently doesn't really matter, though. The next three weeks are the most exciting in sports and I'm excited to watch us be right in the middle of it.
We won these games early in the year and we are losing some of them now. I don't believe it indicates we are broken as much as it's a law of averages thing. This group could have lose to Iowa State and Houston. Could have lost at Georgia and South Carolina. Could have lost at home to Tennessee. Now some of those toss up games are going against us and you're seeing some panic. We're still the same team and we still have a real shot at this thing.
Back to the game...both teams were so well prepared early and that's why you saw the flurry of scoring from the jump. Then the two elite defenses adjusted and the scoring stopped. We went to switching everything and Chaz Lanier pretty much went away. It causes some rebounding and foul issues, but I think we are better when we switch it all. Giving up 70 isn't bad and I thought we defended well.
Scoring 65 isn't ideal. Somewhere this year, we stopped running and pushing the ball. This accommodates Johni meandering slowly up the floor, but it hampers our guards from getting going. Transition threes are often the most open threes and we just don't bother with it anymore. Free throws (obviously), missing 3-4 chippies at the rim, and then 2-3 WIDE OPEN 3 pt misses at the end cost us. I still wish our guards would kick the ball out more. We may be the only team in the country that doesn't create closeout to attack. Tahaad had a stinker, CBM was average, Chaney still didnt give much. But Auburn fans need to understand all of those things could have gone our way. And back to law of averages, they probably will next time
Tennessee-Florida will be interesting today to see where we stand. There's only about five groups capable of winning it all and we aren't currently playing the best out of those five. Currently doesn't really matter, though. The next three weeks are the most exciting in sports and I'm excited to watch us be right in the middle of it.
