Maybe the last great mystery of this basketball season. We buying the Tigers?

They're a volume win team in the sense that they've won so many games you can't just write them off, but, their best two wins are one great one (@Tennessee, #13 on KenPom) and one solid one (at home vs #37 Arkansas). Their next best win is #53 Middle Tennessee.

They play at Alabama tonight, which will be a solid test.

They're criticized for they're SoS, but I think the MTSU and Murray State wins are bigger than the rankings give them credit for.

They're a good team. Can't imagine how much better they'd be if Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy had been ruled eligible by the supreme dictators at the NCAA.

They have some very talented players. Not buying just yet though. Need to see them win a couple more games against legitimate competition.

OP...I think they've already been bought.

GE said:

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They have some very talented players. Not buying just yet though. Need to see them win a couple more games against legitimate competition.

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That's kind of where I am. They're certainly an impressive offensive team, but I'm not sure I'm buying them as a top 20 team at this point.

Who cares about em. We suck.

Auburn has Bruce Pearl; beat both Miss and 10-E-C.
Havin a much better yr than Aggies. SEC season has a way to go.
KU & John C are always at top of SEC as KY fans expect.
Aggies where usually since Coach K.

Not sure what the mystery is. This team is chalked full of talent and employees a good coach. Pearl wasn't gonna stink forever.

I said at the start of the year that Kentucky, A&M, And Florida were way overrated. That Auburn and Tennessee were underrated.

Savior Jimbo said:

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Who cares about em. We suck.

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Thank you for contributing to what is attempting to be a quality basketball conversation.

I'm not ready to buy Auburn just yet. Like you all have said, they have won a lot of games, but I'm not so sure they're an all around great team. I'll be interested to see how they fare in the coming weeks.
My gut tells me they'll be a team that wins almost all of their home SEC games and may struggle on the road. I realize 2 of their conference wins have been on the road, it's just the feeling I have about them, don't really have anything to back up that feeling.

Double Diamond said:

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Not sure what the mystery is.

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The mystery is just how good is this team. They're one of the few teams in the country that even though we're to mid-January, I don't think really has enough data points to be very sure.

They're currently ranked 17 in the coaches poll and 20 in the AP, but I don't really think they're that good. Like personally I'd be a bit surprised if they end the regular season in the top 25.

I wouldn't be shocked if Auburn wins the SEC. stacked with players Peal can coach.

Topher17 said:

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It's just the feeling I have about them, don't really have anything to back up that feeling.

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Yeah, that's where I am also. I didn't get to watch them against Tennessee because it was the same night that we hosted Florida, but that's really the only data point that they're a top 15-20 caliber team. Was that win a fluke, or is it really indicative of how good they are?

We will find out soon enough I guess. They have set themselves up very nicely at this point though.

Going into their game tonight, I thought Alabama might beat them at home. But then Sexton is a late injury scratch

Mikesyracuse1

I think they're this seasons So Carolina from last year. I expect a pretty gaudy record as, has been mentioned, they have a good coach and good players. Plus, they only get Kentucky, Florida and A&M once (UK and A&M at home even). If I had to guess, though, it'll be a mid seed (5-8) and out first weekend.

I'm curious about this thread though. I've heard consistently that good coaches win right away, or at most, after two years. Pearl is in year four and the best they've done is 11th I think. Oddly confusing.

Bama up 10 in the second half without Sexton.

Mikesyracuse1

SEC is legit this year. Lot of parity.

Auburn is getting a ton of fouls down the stretch here.

That one at 29 seconds was a joke

39 sec left in Gainesville and Arkie down 14 is fouling.

CapCityAg89 said:

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I think they're this seasons So Carolina from last year. I expect a pretty gaudy record as, has been mentioned, they have a good coach and good players. Plus, they only get Kentucky, Florida and A&M once (UK and A&M at home even). If I had to guess, though, it'll be a mid seed (5-8) and out first weekend.

I'm curious about this thread though. I've heard consistently that good coaches win right away, or at most, after two years. Pearl is in year four and the best they've done is 11th I think. Oddly confusing.

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The thing that has always seemed so confusing for the little cadre of BK defenders (you, hop, mallen, gap, pump, tobias, ge) who loved to crap on buzz/pearl/frank martin is that
#1 the claim was never that these were GREAT coaches, simply that they were/are much better coaches than BK that were attainable, and
#2 BK took over a top 35 program and made it a terrible (125-180 rpi) team for 3 years and only made 1 ncaa in 6 yrs while those 3 guys took over terrible (100+) type teams and each of them basically took 1 year longer than expected to get them dancing (and in the case of Martin that wait was rewarded with a final 4).

How in the absolute hell does Auburn still have two timeouts

I think everyone you call a defender is on record asking for a change. My point was after Y3. BUT the AD opted not to do that. And so that group and quite a few others have worked hard to enjoy a sport and team we love. The incessant noise about how miserably horrible he is just makes that harder.

Literally the only ones who heat that crap are those who love the team. They want us to be competitive and (I believe) all of them think BK won't get us there, they just don't want to spend the whole time *****ing.

Very curious what Pearl will do here. Play? Or run up the court and chunk it up. The latter I have seen a BUNCH of this year.

Undefeated no more!

Mikesyracuse1

End of that game was a mess but a Sexton-less Alabama wins.

STFU. There was nothing about BK on this thread and you threw out your Pearl troll to invite my exact response that you wanted. The pearl vs BK and Martin vs BK stuff was all over this board for years with Hop and others repeatedly claiming that BK was a better coach than Martin because of 2016 only (ignoring what Martin did at KSU while excusing 15 yrs of BK sucking at multiple stops).

The SEC is really, really rough this year. The only gimme left on our schedule is Vanderbilt; every other team can beat us.

I'm afraid we've dug ourselves too big a hole with our 0-5 start. We've got to go 8-4 just to get to 0.500 in conference, and based on our play against Ole Miss and Tennessee, I'm not sure we can do that. @Georgia, @Auburn, @Mizzou, @LSU, and @Ark are all rough , and then we have several tough home games too.

Don't accuse me of crapping on Buzz. I am a big fan of Buzz. Not a fan of Pearl because he is a cheating scumbag and don't like Martin because he is completely unbalanced emotionally.

That's simply not true about Frank Martin. And how does Pearl cheat?

Double Diamond said:

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That's simply not true about Frank Martin. And how does Pearl cheat?

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Have you seen Martin's eyes? Look like they are fixing to pop out of his head. Remind me of the conditions under which Pearl and Tennessee parted ways? He left on his own? Performance issue?

Have you ever heard former players talk about how much they love him?