Is it Really on CBP?

[ArgoEagle 2,056]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

someone on aufam said we have not had a decent shooter since chuck embarrassed us. i do not remember who but i thought surely ALL of our caoches know great shooters. i just wonder what i am missing.

Okeke, Bryce Brown and Harper come to mind immediately. I don't know what whomever that was were talking about.

Edited March 12, 2023 by ArgoEagle

[JuscAUse! 1,688]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Let's apply this slippery slope logic in all realms, shall we? Is Gus Malzhan at complete fault for the lack of an o-lineman? Is CBH entirely at fault for the abysmal recruiting we have seen in the last two years? I can almost bet both of them did not feel like they "intentionally" tried to harm Auburn. Yet at the end of the day, they have responsibility for what they can control. They ultimately get the final say on the roster; who do they choose to recruit, or whom do they choose to pass on? How they recruit, and what they are willing to do to support the NIL model. All of that falls on the foot of the head coach, literally in every facet of sports, and it is solely not an Auburn thing. 

I'll give you all of the above. It doesn't change the fact that this year has been described as anywhere between abysmal to embarrassing by many of our basketball family. I just think if you'll pull up AU basketball all time season records, you'll find that our record this year is much better than most years we've had in the modern era. Of course he's to 'blame' for everything that goes wrong. That come with the territory. Right now this year is an anomaly for BP in all but the Covid year since he got the ship righted. And is still miles ahead of where we were as a program historically. A little perspective is in order IMO. 

WDE and let's make some noise in the Dance.

 

[cole256 17,085]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

someone on aufam said we have not had a decent shooter since chuck embarrassed us. i do not remember who but i thought surely ALL of our caoches know great shooters. i just wonder what i am missing.

I would disagree with that

[aubiefifty 18,302]

3 minutes ago, cole256 said:

I would disagree with that

i thought so. thanx!

[e808 3,166]

25 minutes ago, JuscAUse! said:

I'll give you all of the above. It doesn't change the fact that this year has been described as anywhere between abysmal to embarrassing by many of our basketball family. I just think if you'll pull up AU basketball all time season records, you'll find that our record this year is much better than most years we've had in the modern era. Of course he's to 'blame' for everything that goes wrong. That come with the territory. Right now this year is an anomaly for BP in all but the Covid year since he got the ship righted. And is still miles ahead of where we were as a program historically. A little perspective is in order IMO. 

WDE and let's make some noise in the Dance.

 

Respectfully, we know what the past was but that can’t keep being the talking point. The program has moved past that since CBP has arrived.  Even with all the accolades,  last year finished sucked with the team not making it out of the first weekend. This year has just compounded that with all the ups and downs. 
With all that being said hopefully Auburn gets a good matchup in the tourney 

[AUwent 3,841]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

At the end of the day, we’re headed to the NCAA tourney for the 4th time in 5 years. That’s a long way from the days of Lebo and Barbee years of hoping we back into the NIT by some miracle. These players fight and play hard and CBP will have them ready for round 1. 

Pearl has earned the right to stay here for as long as he wishes, having done things I never thought possible. Clearly the ‘24 class inspires optimism, but since that’s a season away I need to see a strong TP class this year to keep from writing off next season. We need a big splash in one of our sports right now after today’s events… 🤮 

Edited March 12, 2023 by AUwent

[NoALtiger 4,034]

The support Bruce and remember the Lebo/Barbee years (a personal fav of mine) are hilarious to read. Literally everyone is supporting Bruce and the program, just with a little obvious criticism that is perfectly warranted. The whole thing about Lebo/Barbee is puzzling to me though. Really lame to go that route as a reason to shut down discussion on weaknesses of the current program. We are all well aware how much better things are now than then. Does not factor in whatsoever imo. 

[KansasTiger 3,261]

28 minutes ago, e808 said:

Respectfully, we know what the past was but that can’t keep being the talking point. The program has moved past that since CBP has arrived.  Even with all the accolades,  last year finished sucked with the team not making it out of the first weekend. This year has just compounded that with all the ups and downs. 
With all that being said hopefully Auburn gets a good matchup in the tourney 

This turns into a lost cause. X says everyone should support Pearl. Y points out you can criticize while still supporting. X says we need the perspective of how much we used to suck and we need to be happy with what we have. Rinse and repeat. This is the Auburn mentality. We enjoy being the underdog in football for a reason. We think after Pearl being here for 9 seasons we don't have the right to expect good roster decisions and more consistent seasons. Welcome to Auburn, this is the way.

[Gowebb11 9,945]

1 minute ago, NoALtiger said:

The support Bruce and remember the Lebo/Barbee years (a personal fav of mine) are hilarious to read. Literally everyone is supporting Bruce and the program, just with a little obvious criticism that is perfectly warranted. The whole thing about Lebo/Barbee is puzzling to me though. Really lame to go that route as a reason to shut down discussion on weaknesses of the current program. We are all well aware how much better things are now than then. Does not factor in whatsoever imo. 

Since I’m the author of the Lebo/Barbee post, I encourage you to scroll up. I acknowledged some criticisms of CBP that are warranted. And that he should not be above that criticism because of his success. It’s not lame at all to acknowledge the gap between abysmal to contender that has occurred the past several years. It’s fact. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,695]

IMO, the  problem I have and many others have is the fact the weakness of the team is so glaring.  It was the same weakness last yr and nothing was done to address it. That's my whole thing . We have a bunch of role players who play hard but no bucket getters on the team. What transfer did BP bring in to address this?? EL ZIPPO

Edited March 12, 2023 by NWALA Tiger

[KansasTiger 3,261]

16 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

IMO, the  problem I have and many others have is the fact the weakness of the team is so glaring.  It was the same weakness last yr and nothing was done to address it. That's my whole thing . We have a bunch of role players who play hard but no bucket getters on the team. What transfer did BP bring in to address this?? EL ZIPPO

I'm trying to understand where the OP went and if the other side has any actual analytics and facts beyond 'BP has saved us from the abyss so you should turn a blind eye' argument. Which isn't actually an argument against anything, it's just a deflection. They don't try and justify his roster moves, or explain why him passing on guards was a good decision. They just argue that you can't criticize him because he's Auburn basketball's savior. 

[NoALtiger 4,034]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

Since I’m the author of the Lebo/Barbee post, I encourage you to scroll up. I acknowledged some criticisms of CBP that are warranted. And that he should not be above that criticism because of his success. It’s not lame at all to acknowledge the gap between abysmal to contender that has occurred the past several years. It’s fact. 

Im not aware of anyone questioning the difference/ gap between where we are now compared to how it was with Lebo/Barbee. Who are you making this point to? We all agree with that fact I would have to imagine. That’s why I said it has no relevance to today. 

[PUB78 1,413]

1 hour ago, KansasTiger said:

I'm trying to understand where the OP went and if the other side has any actual analytics and facts beyond 'BP has saved us from the abyss so you should turn a blind eye' argument. Which isn't actually an argument against anything, it's just a deflection. They don't try and justify his roster moves, or explain why him passing on guards was a good decision. They just argue that you can't criticize him because he's Auburn basketball's savior. 

He did save AU from the mediocre years of Lebo and the disastrous years of Barbee.  However, Cliff Eillis, before them, was the best and most successful BB coach in Auburn’s history until Bruce turned the corner in his 4th year.

[AUINSY 2,273]

15 hours ago, cole256 said:

It's not hard. It's not that he didn't bring in 5 stars. He saw the guards we had, it wouldn't be hard to upgrade the guards....that's it. It's but rocket science. 

These past like 5 years we have seen our QB play in football. Everybody knows we need a good QB. Now focus even closer to last year QB play....freeze would be an idiot if a QB better than all the other QB's on the roster was available and he passed on them. It wouldn't matter if they were NFL prospects or 5 star or not. 

This is what I’m saying…why do we struggle with getting and keeping the key players on our teams?

[GreenTiger 1,058]

I like BP and what he has done so far. Lost a lot of close games against really good teams. The Shoulda coulda woulda recruiting speculation is message board fodder. Hope we do better in the Tourney and hope we pick up some ballers this recruiting cycle! WDE!!!! 

[JuscAUse! 1,688]

You guys miss everything. I simply was trying to say that if anyone in AU basketball history deserves a bit of a pass for a couple of 'down' seasons that would have been really good seasons not that long ago, it would be this coach. And you are absolutely correct about the fact that some of you have been  complaining about the same thing since he got us to the NCAA tournament last year. That's a long time to read the same script. At least the people that I think really know basketball are nuanced in their criticism and see both sides. Nod to Cole. If he screws up and only wins 20 games next season maybe I'll be more on that side of it. Then again, I never thought I'd be able to write the sentence before this one in my lifetime. War Eagle anyway, and it's only my opinion. I don't expect nor want anyone to think exactly like me. It would be boring as heck. 

[DAG 34,939]

1 hour ago, JuscAUse! said:

You guys miss everything. I simply was trying to say that if anyone in AU basketball history deserves a bit of a pass for a couple of 'down' seasons that would have been really good seasons not that long ago, it would be this coach. And you are absolutely correct about the fact that some of you have been  complaining about the same thing since he got us to the NCAA tournament last year. That's a long time to read the same script. At least the people that I think really know basketball are nuanced in their criticism and see both sides. Nod to Cole. If he screws up and only wins 20 games next season maybe I'll be more on that side of it. Then again, I never thought I'd be able to write the sentence before this one in my lifetime. War Eagle anyway, and it's only my opinion. I don't expect nor want anyone to think exactly like me. It would be boring as heck. 

There is no such thing as giving passes my friend. The contract he has earned and the support garnered is based on his success and the expectations that we will consistent be at a high standard in retrospect to the competition, not solely on Auburn standards. Nobody on this forum is calling him to be fired, but I also disagree what we should overlook clear deficiencies solely because he is the most successful coach to date at Auburn for basketball. I might could be empathetic if he didn’t have the support, infrastructure , etc, but he absolutely does to at least address some of the deficiencies noted. 

[NWALA Tiger 3,695]

8 minutes ago, DAG said:

There is no such thing as giving passes my friend. The contract he has earned and the support garnered is based on his success and the expectations that we will consistent be at a high standard in retrospect to the competition, not solely on Auburn standards. Nobody on this forum is calling him to be fired, but I also disagree what we should overlook clear deficiencies solely because he is the most successful coach to date at Auburn for basketball. I might could be empathetic if he didn’t have the support, infrastructure , etc, but he absolutely does to at least address some of the deficiencies noted. 

Post of the day!

[JuscAUse! 1,688]

50 minutes ago, DAG said:

There is no such thing as giving passes my friend. The contract he has earned and the support garnered is based on his success and the expectations that we will consistent be at a high standard in retrospect to the competition, not solely on Auburn standards. Nobody on this forum is calling him to be fired, but I also disagree what we should overlook clear deficiencies solely because he is the most successful coach to date at Auburn for basketball. I might could be empathetic if he didn’t have the support, infrastructure , etc, but he absolutely does to at least address some of the deficiencies noted. 

Well. What's your solution? You are not the coach, and if I'm not mistaken, a person that can influence BP. Maybe you can influence the PTB to .....influence or threaten him, maybe? If he doesn't meet your standards? This is what I don't understand. I am well aware that BP will not be the coach forever, and I know that skills erode over time. But who would be better, and at the the rate our fanbase expectations are growing, who can win enough to satisfy people that expect the sweet 16 every year? Hell, I just wanted the SEC other than UK to be freaking relevant for years. Now that we have a great league, people are upset we don't do what uat did this year. I am rambling and I apologize for that. But I think you and many others will find BP hard to replace , and don't appreciate what you have . But I was vocal about what a dumb butt Pat Dye was at times. I was younger then. War Eagle. We disagree but it's nothing personal on this end. Just my opinion. 

[au701948 1,067]

55 minutes ago, DAG said:

There is no such thing as giving passes my friend. The contract he has earned and the support garnered is based on his success and the expectations that we will consistent be at a high standard in retrospect to the competition, not solely on Auburn standards. Nobody on this forum is calling him to be fired, but I also disagree what we should overlook clear deficiencies solely because he is the most successful coach to date at Auburn for basketball. I might could be empathetic if he didn’t have the support, infrastructure , etc, but he absolutely does to at least address some of the deficiencies noted. 

I agree with your post. We all hope that CBP can find 2 or 3 players from the portal that help us improve as a team and bridge our talent gap for 2023 until our 2024 class is wearing Auburn colors.

[JuscAUse! 1,688]

7 hours ago, e808 said:

Respectfully, we know what the past was but that can’t keep being the talking point. The program has moved past that since CBP has arrived.  Even with all the accolades,  last year finished sucked with the team not making it out of the first weekend. This year has just compounded that with all the ups and downs. 
With all that being said hopefully Auburn gets a good matchup in the tourney 

The program has moved past that since CBP has arrived.

since or Because? There's a difference.

Edited March 13, 2023 by JuscAUse!

[AURex 2,262]

So, lots of you seem to criticize CBP for not taking Sears.

I don't follow recruiting that closely, but (1) might that have been because ... um ... Westry? and (2) Wasn't it logical that his priority would be to try to deal with the loss of Jabari and Kessler, thus Broome and Traore? or (3) Might there have been some other reason, maybe personality fit with CBP that was an issue?

I don't know how many spots he had available, and I'm sure not deep into recruiting. I'm just asking about this particular criticism because it seems to be a very specific criticism that some of you keep belaboring.

 

[KansasTiger 3,261]

2 minutes ago, AURex said:

So, lots of you seem to criticize CBP for not taking Sears.

I don't follow recruiting that closely, but (1) might that have been because ... um ... Westry? and (2) Wasn't it logical that his priority would be to try to deal with the loss of Jabari and Kessler, thus Broome and Traore? or (3) Might there have been some other reason, maybe personality fit with CBP that was an issue?

I don't know how many spots he had available, and I'm sure not deep into recruiting. I'm just asking about this particular criticism because it seems to be a very specific criticism that some of you keep belaboring.

 

So I'll ask another question in response. When is the fault of a coach if a player recruited doesn't meet expectations? That seems to be the case for several of our football coaches in the past, but not for BP. Traore was a wasted slot on this team (this year) and Sears was a known commodity, unlike Westry, who's potential is often cited as fact on here despite only seeing him in a handful of games with mixed results. Not to mention he had other methods to open slots if needed to address the glaring guard issue he had to know he had on this team. Zep was a senior that did not have to come back, and did Stretch still need to be taking up a scholly slot on the bench?

[JuscAUse! 1,688]

You know what? It's all good. I can remember times I'd have been impressed if the few people that showed up for games were as passionate as we fans are now on a freaking basketball forum. That's real progress! Whether BP can coach as well as a random guy in Kansas or not. 

😄 

Just joking. War Eagle folks. We've come a long way in this sport and that's a good thing. 

[DAG 34,939]

22 minutes ago, JuscAUse! said:

Well. What's your solution? You are not the coach, and if I'm not mistaken, a person that can influence BP. Maybe you can influence the PTB to .....influence or threaten him, maybe? If he doesn't meet your standards? This is what I don't understand. I am well aware that BP will not be the coach forever, and I know that skills erode over time. But who would be better, and at the the rate our fanbase expectations are growing, who can win enough to satisfy people that expect the sweet 16 every year? Hell, I just wanted the SEC other than UK to be freaking relevant for years. Now that we have a great league, people are upset we don't do what uat did this year. I am rambling and I apologize for that. But I think you and many others will find BP hard to replace , and don't appreciate what you have . But I was vocal about what a dumb butt Pat Dye was at times. I was younger then. War Eagle. We disagree but it's nothing personal on this end. Just my opinion. 

My solution is to come on the boards , hear what other people have to say, allow them to provide constructive feedback if necessary and if I don’t agree with it , I can either ignore it or rebuttal it. 
 

What I am not going to do is characterize some of the posting that I’ve seen as catastrophic in nature like you are doing. Life, like coaching, is not all black or white , yet you want to die on this hill. That’s your prerogative . Again , I don’t agree on just giving people passes because of past situations . I tend to apply that in a practical  sense too such as work, relationship , life in general

 

but you do you haha