Eh, I wouldn't be shocked if they made it but I just think they lost a tremendous amount. In addition to Jones and House I think Caruso was the most underrated player in the conference.
All 3 were really good players. The three replacing them are good, too. Not necessarily better, but good enough to keep us near the top of the conference. I think Admon Gilder could be a star and DJ Hogg might have the highest ceiling on the team, but they're both still young. Trocha, who's replacing Jones, improved a ton last year and I think will be a solid stretch 4. Plus Tyler Davis could be one of the best players in the conference next year. He only played 20-24 mpg last year and has lost a lot of weight this offseason. If he can get near 30 mpg, he will have some ridiculous stat lines. Biggest issue is lack of depth. Nobody past the first 5 has done much of anything to this point (other than our undersized backup 5 who is just a hustle guy)
We have potential but Fox is going to have to navigate a difficult OOC schedule and so far he's been unable to do that with even mediocre OOC schedules.
I still can't believe we lost to the Dawgs 3 times last year. Every time I thought we were the better team and things would even themselves out but nope
Bama has a shot but have to play well in those huge non-con games. Dayton, @ Oregon, @ Texas are all very tough games and we play Clemson in Bham. No idea how much Valpo returns but they were great last season, plus either BYU or St Louis which are good programs. The SOS will be there just have to win our fair share of those games pre-conference to have a chance. We were able to do it last year so hopefully we do the same with a better team.
Would anybody be interested in doing a league projections for the conference in a google doc? We can keep it short and predict the order of finish, first team all SEC, top scorer, and tourney teams.
I got a client who is a former first-team all-conference, NCAA national champion and 10+ year NBA vet, and now a college coach at a D-1 school. I always knew that basketball recruiting was dirty, but holy shit, I never thought it was anything like this. He knows the Terrance Ferguson situation very well. He came in demanding $100,000 up front. Bama promised he would get it after he enrolled. He said he wouldn't commit unless he got the money first. Bama paid, he committed, and then he went shopping for more money. He played Arizona in a similar fashion, but I forgot to ask how much money Arizona paid him. He said every top 100 recruit (or their AAU coaches/handlers) are driving bidding wars for the recruit to sign. It's also not uncommon for players to take money in exchange for their promise to sign and then they sign somewhere else for more money (as Terrance Ferguson did). Big-time programs expect it to happen and budget for it. He said UK has about $1mm per recruiting class budgeted for direct cash payments to signees and generally pays about $250k per recruit. Also, unless AU gets popped, they are going to become a powerhouse. He did say that the NCAA knows this shit is going on, and it's not going to come down hard on the big programs (e.g., UNC, Louisville), but it would drop the hammer on a school like AU if it got too brazen.
Hey Truman miles thought you might enjoy a trip down memory lane. This was posted by one of our home board guys who also runs HogStats.com. He was talking about the Olu Famutimi recruitment. I was young at the time and didn't know a ton of details about his recruitment by Heath, but always knew Heath was dirty and played the AAU game like Snyder did. I didn't know about Olu's AAU teammates and the ties to Mizzou. He would have been a star had he not fucked up his knee his Sr year in HS. I just C/P this stuff, so I didn't bold anything. Just thought it was interesting. ------ While Googling this topic I ran across a 2011 blog/article that interviewed Chris Grier about his move from AAU coach to agent, and other looks at the AAU world. Chris was quite aware of his perceived reuptation as a shady guy. And he told his side of the story about Olu's recruitment (click the quote box if it doesn't show you the whole thing): Have you ever taken money to steer a player to a particular college? "Absolutely not. I'm gonna give you an example of one opportunity, where I tried my best to just show how I'm cut. Missouri had allegations come up that they were paying players. At the heart of that moment, I had one of the best players in the country, who lived in my home. His name was Olu Famutimi, a McDonald's All-American. Most people had him somewhere between 8th and 15th (in the nation). Olu was going to Missouri. Pretty much had been to Missouri, wanted to go to Missouri the whole time." "There were unique dynamics involved because Tony Harvey was assistant coach there, a Michigan guy, but Tony Harvey's father was legal guardian for Robert Whaley, who was the best player along with Kelvin Torbert, on our team (two years earlier). Jeff Ferguson, also who lived with Tony Harvey's dad, they both committed to Missouri. So you had Robert Whaley, you had Jeff Ferguson, both Benton Harbor kids, Tony Harvey's dad was guardian of both of those kids. You know, Olu Famutimi wanted to go to Missouri." "Well, when I got wind of the allegations and the things that were coming out, I forbade it. I basically told him, 'Listen, you can go anywhere, but you're not going to Missouri.' I took some heat from those guys because I'm pretty close to Quin Snyder, obviously I was close to Tony Harvey because we had two kids in our program who played for us who lived in his dad's house. So obviously we had a relationship. And he was furious at me. But I said to him, 'Listen, you guys have allegations that you're paying people, I'm already an AAU coach, they already think I'm taking. The last thing I need - I don't want nothing - is for it to come out that y'all are doing something for someone else and they're gonna assume that I'm taking. So, no. We're going to (the) strait-laced Michigan State guy at Arkansas.'" "But yet, I get no credit. Michigan State people are, 'Aw, Stan Heath ain't here no more.' But he's a Michigan State guy. He's the head coach at Arkansas, Olu Famutimi goes to Arkansas. Now if there was any kid that I could do something with, or if I was gonna do something crazy, naturally the opportunity would have come with the kid that lives at home with me. But I ran from the program that allegedly was doing that and sent him to Arkansas to be Stan's first recruit
The funny thing is Norm Stewart made Snyder look like a choirboy. I miss having competent cheaters at HC
For the first time in history, Auburn basketball will play in the prestigious Maui Jim Maui Invitational Nov. 19-21, 2018, at the Lahaina Civic Center, Maui Jim Maui Invitational Tournament Chairman Dave Odom announced Wednesday. America's premier early season basketball tournament will feature eight Div. I teams for the first time in its 35-year history as the Tigers will be joined by Arizona, Duke, Xavier, Gonzaga, Illinois, Iowa State and San Diego State. All 12 Maui games will be televised by ESPN networks. "The Maui Invitational in the last 25 years has been college basketball's most prestigious tournament in the country," said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. "It is reserved for the elite. I want to thank Dave Odom and the committee for taking my word on the fact that we would have our program ready and as important, fill up half the gym.
They don't do any actual "coaching" right? Just trying to stay in kids good graces by telling them what they want to hear with zero discipline?
very few of them do any actual coaching. I was involved with an AAU organization this past summer and I hated it.
Well, November 10th is either going to be an amazing day for us recruiting or a total heartbreak. Collin Sexton and John Petty both announcing. We expect to land both.
Petty was supposed to visit Kentucky this weekend, and they were saying he would commit on his visit. But he cancelled, and Kentucky's 247 site was saying they were hearing from people in Alabama that it probably wouldn't be rescheduled. Sexton has already used OVs on both of his leaders--Bama and Kansas. Kansas seems to have given up on him.
Excited for our Maroon Madness thing tomorrow night, Ace Hood is going to be there as a celebrity guest. Hopefully we hustle hustle hard.
The AP poll came out today with UK at #2. UF, MSU, TAMU, and Vandy were receiving votes. http://collegebasketball.ap.org/poll
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/558b564e-2722-3670-bdb8-edbb2035b5e1/ss_ben-simmons-in-new.html The report also details Simmons saying he was offered a "Bentley, a Wraith Rolls-Royce, watches, jewelry, a house ... anything. It literally is anything" while at LSU. Simmons didn't specify who offered him those items. In the documentary, he mostly grouses about what a waste of time college is, saying he didn't see the point of going to class, particularly once he became eligible for the spring semester.
I thought I read that there was some sort of falling out but idk if I'm just making that up Regardless, tick tock bigjrock
Honestly, he's pretty much right. Good fucking luck getting me to go to class second semester if I was in his position. Tick tock indeed, tho