We are down to the last weekend of college basketball for this season. I figured I needed to get in my one post on Auburn basketball for the season. I summarized my Auburn memories two years ago pretty much spanning the modern history of Auburn basketball HERE. I analyzed the program right after that which was right after we fired Jeff Lebo and hired Tony Barbee HERE. I actually ended that post on a positive note hoping for a brighter future.
Well it certainly did not come last year as I documented HERE. The team ended up avoiding the worst team of all time tag they were closing in on but they were still awful. This year was not much better (one more win in conference) and I guess in some ways it was worse as we sunk to an all-time low of having to endure a point-shaving scandal. I mean really? Point-shaving at Auburn? Is there really large sums of money bet either way on Auburn basketball? The whole thing from every angle has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of. I am still shaking my head.
What a complete and utter disaster Auburn basketball is. In my opinion, it is in critical condition and is just about dead on the table. Only South Carolina keeps us from the bottom of the conference in losses since 1992 (when the SEC added Arkansas and South Carolina). Only Auburn and South Carolina have over 200 conference losses since 1992. However South Carolina has had to play Kentucky two times a year since 1992 and Auburn has not so I still say that Auburn gets the award for the worst basketball program in the SEC. Add in the fact that South Carolina just hired Frank Martin from Kansas State and it appears Auburn will soon have the title undisputed. If Martin can win at Kansas State having to deal with Kansas then he can win at least moderately at South Carolina.
I do not know what else Auburn can do. We finally, ten or twenty years too late, build a new arena and hire a young up and coming coach but again it may be too late. The Auburn administrations since the early 1980s just let basketball die on the vine. I find it hilarious that some people are giving the current administration and Jay Jacobs "credit" for building the new arena. THEY BUILT IT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS GETTING TOO EXPENSIVE TO KEEP UP THE OLD BEARD EAVES MAUSOLEUM. It was finally cheaper just to build a new arena. It was not to help the basketball program.
No good player in their right mind now wants to play for Auburn because IT IS THE WORST PROGRAM IN THE SEC. That has now been true for over 20 years. It is proving to be next-to-impossible to change that attitude after it has been true for so long. The stupid administration should have really jumped in and tried to capitalize on the 1999 team's huge success but missed their best and maybe final chance to make a change in the way Auburn basketball is supported by the administration and how it is perceived.
The more losing conference seasons Auburn piles up the worst things get. There is no point blaming anything on Tony Barbee. We hired the right-hand man of the greatest recruiter in college basketball history which was what Auburn needed. We hired the right guy. He may or may not be a very good head coach but I think he can recruit better than this. He is finding out what just about everyone knows now, Auburn is currently a black hole and a career killer when it comes to basketball coaches. It is so bad it cannot even be used as a stepping stone. Is it impossible? No it is not impossible, just a few good players THAT CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT would do it and that does not seem like much but it has been 21 years with no end in sight.
These other bloggers trying to find positives and saying we are getting "closer" in basketball are defining the term "missing the forest for the trees". Auburn has had 3 winning seasons in conference in 21 years and is statistically the worst team along with South Carolina by a long shot. There are no signs of life coming from the program. In fact I would say it is the exact opposite when you end a season with a point-shaving scandal. Auburn basketball is in critical condition and the prognosis looks extremely bleak...
Well it certainly did not come last year as I documented HERE. The team ended up avoiding the worst team of all time tag they were closing in on but they were still awful. This year was not much better (one more win in conference) and I guess in some ways it was worse as we sunk to an all-time low of having to endure a point-shaving scandal. I mean really? Point-shaving at Auburn? Is there really large sums of money bet either way on Auburn basketball? The whole thing from every angle has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of. I am still shaking my head.
What a complete and utter disaster Auburn basketball is. In my opinion, it is in critical condition and is just about dead on the table. Only South Carolina keeps us from the bottom of the conference in losses since 1992 (when the SEC added Arkansas and South Carolina). Only Auburn and South Carolina have over 200 conference losses since 1992. However South Carolina has had to play Kentucky two times a year since 1992 and Auburn has not so I still say that Auburn gets the award for the worst basketball program in the SEC. Add in the fact that South Carolina just hired Frank Martin from Kansas State and it appears Auburn will soon have the title undisputed. If Martin can win at Kansas State having to deal with Kansas then he can win at least moderately at South Carolina.
I do not know what else Auburn can do. We finally, ten or twenty years too late, build a new arena and hire a young up and coming coach but again it may be too late. The Auburn administrations since the early 1980s just let basketball die on the vine. I find it hilarious that some people are giving the current administration and Jay Jacobs "credit" for building the new arena. THEY BUILT IT ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS GETTING TOO EXPENSIVE TO KEEP UP THE OLD BEARD EAVES MAUSOLEUM. It was finally cheaper just to build a new arena. It was not to help the basketball program.
No good player in their right mind now wants to play for Auburn because IT IS THE WORST PROGRAM IN THE SEC. That has now been true for over 20 years. It is proving to be next-to-impossible to change that attitude after it has been true for so long. The stupid administration should have really jumped in and tried to capitalize on the 1999 team's huge success but missed their best and maybe final chance to make a change in the way Auburn basketball is supported by the administration and how it is perceived.
The more losing conference seasons Auburn piles up the worst things get. There is no point blaming anything on Tony Barbee. We hired the right-hand man of the greatest recruiter in college basketball history which was what Auburn needed. We hired the right guy. He may or may not be a very good head coach but I think he can recruit better than this. He is finding out what just about everyone knows now, Auburn is currently a black hole and a career killer when it comes to basketball coaches. It is so bad it cannot even be used as a stepping stone. Is it impossible? No it is not impossible, just a few good players THAT CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT would do it and that does not seem like much but it has been 21 years with no end in sight.
These other bloggers trying to find positives and saying we are getting "closer" in basketball are defining the term "missing the forest for the trees". Auburn has had 3 winning seasons in conference in 21 years and is statistically the worst team along with South Carolina by a long shot. There are no signs of life coming from the program. In fact I would say it is the exact opposite when you end a season with a point-shaving scandal. Auburn basketball is in critical condition and the prognosis looks extremely bleak...
