Round 1 goes to Auburn

[aw4au14]

What a game. Auburn smothered them defensively much like the Tennessee game. Sears was able to get a few questionable calls with his foul hunting that kept bama hanging around.

UF/UT/bama are the three best SEC teams we’ve played. I’d rank them in that order. Defensively UT was the best we’ve seen. Florida’s big men are relentless.

The NET rankings are. . . .

#1 Auburn
#2 Duke
#3 Houston
#4 Florida
#5 Tennessee
#6 alabama

 

[billywayneluck]

What a game. Auburn smothered them defensively much like the Tennessee game. Sears was able to get a few questionable calls with his foul hunting that kept bama hanging around.

UF/UT/bama are the three best SEC teams we’ve played. I’d rank them in that order. Defensively UT was the best we’ve seen. Florida’s big men are relentless.

The NET rankings are. . . .

#1 Auburn
#2 Duke
#3 Houston
#4 Florida
#5 Tennessee
#6 alabama

lol - you would have been awful quiet had the game gone the other way.

The games in March and April are the ones that count. Let’s see how it goes.

 

[BKHusky]

It's going to come down to who's hot in March and who draws favorable matchups. I think UA/AU/UF all have final four potential. Tennessee probably does too, but they struggle to score often enough that it might be tough for them to go deep in the tournament. Depends on who they draw though.

For Bama the matchups largely depend on the other team's defensive philosophy and how the game is called. Despite a period in the second half yesterday where they called it tighter, they let AU bump, hand check, knock guys off balance on drives, etc. most of the game with a pretty low foul rate. Oats' offense struggles if those games aren't called tight. See SDSU in the Sweet 16 two years ago. Actually had the same type of game against Grand Canyon last year in the tournament, Mo D just stepped up huge in the last 10 minutes to help win that one. Games that are called tight Alabama is able to get what they want on offense a lot more, but nothing in this sport is consistent one way or the other with the officiating.

Didn't Florida just lose one of their best players to injury? I'm curious to see how well they play without him.

 

[HONKifUvCOACHED4BAMA]

What a game. Auburn smothered them defensively much like the Tennessee game. Sears was able to get a few questionable calls with his foul hunting that kept bama hanging around.

UF/UT/bama are the three best SEC teams we’ve played. I’d rank them in that order. Defensively UT was the best we’ve seen. Florida’s big men are relentless.

The NET rankings are. . . .

#1 Auburn
#2 Duke
#3 Houston
#4 Florida
#5 Tennessee
#6 alabama

As always, dead on the money!

 

[derek_tiger]

It's going to come down to who's hot in March and who draws favorable matchups. I think UA/AU/UF all have final four potential. Tennessee probably does too, but they struggle to score often enough that it might be tough for them to go deep in the tournament. Depends on who they draw though.

For Bama the matchups largely depend on the other team's defensive philosophy and how the game is called. Despite a period in the second half yesterday where they called it tighter, they let AU bump, hand check, knock guys off balance on drives, etc. most of the game with a pretty low foul rate. Oats' offense struggles if those games aren't called tight. See SDSU in the Sweet 16 two years ago. Actually had the same type of game against Grand Canyon last year in the tournament, Mo D just stepped up huge in the last 10 minutes to help win that one. Games that are called tight Alabama is able to get what they want on offense a lot more, but nothing in this sport is consistent one way or the other with the officiating.

Didn't Florida just lose one of their best players to injury? I'm curious to see how well they play without him.

Yes... their 6'11' big Aussie sprained his ankle vs. MSU.... not broken but he'll be out for a bit. However, they have another big 7'1' that broke his tib/fib above his ankle vs. Auburn last year that just came back. He was going to sit out this year but changed his mind and played against USCjr and did pretty well for his first game back.