Here’s my mini review of what this game tells regarding program status. Nothing new yet. Very important win, was fun to watch though. Crowd seemed into it. Rowdy Reptiles! However, Auburn was not the #4 team in the country, maybe top 20. Maybe. I predict 2nd round loser. Good win, but not necessarily transformative. Hopefully a good start.
Pearl is such the courtside clown. Despise that sweaty, cheating turd. Dresses like a used car salesman, acts like a diva. Fully expect to see him reverse palm his hips and wiggle his head across his shoulders at any moment. Want to punch him in the face every time the camera is on him. Turned it into a drinking game instead. Got pretty plastered because CBS loves him.
Payne was on the spot! White still has a lot to prove on offense. “Tip ins by Payne” is not an offense. It was simply a great and savy effort by a hard working player. Doesn’t happen against any team that understands boxing out. Hope he sustains the effort though because absent a real offense this team needs great individual efforts like that to break 70. Or almost break 70. The dude went 9 for 9. Almost all were tip ins, with one really nice feed off dribble penetration from Nembard from what I remember.
White = Muschamp until further notice. Plodding one-dimensional brand-killing offense is the main issue for me. Propensity to lose to horrible teams with much less talent. Only defense matters.* Both have emotional sideline imbalance syndrome (ESIS), but at opposite ends of the spectrum.
*His ability to coach D and get player buy-in on that is a big plus here, but it cannot be the only aspect of team attitude. They need an equally aggressive and active system on both ends of the floor. Team depth is no longer an issue or excuse to concentrate energy only on the backside.
I hope I’m dead wrong about White, and he has a good ongoing development plan to build the offensive capacity of this talented young team for a tournament run. Sometimes the pumper in me thinks this. Perhaps the root system is steadily growing unseen, and we will see the offense suddenly gel and sprout and grow like hell once the below ground foundation is established. Dunno, not at practice. Not holding my breath.