AUBURN | Writing about the all-decade football team two weeks ago got me thinking about doing the same for the men’s basketball team. I’ll do a first and second team, which will certainly include several players from this year’s Final Four team.
FIRST TEAM: Jared Harper, Bryce Brown, Frankie Sullivan, Kenny Gabriel and Chuma Okeke.
Harper, Brown and Sullivan were locks. Harper is fifth all-time in assists, second in made free throws and 14th in points. He’s the third player in school history with more than 1,000 points and 500 assists. Brown is Auburn’s all-time leader and second in the SEC in made 3-pointers, and finished eighth all-time in scoring.
Despite playing under one of the worst coaches in school history, Sullivan finished eighth in career scoring with 1,556 points along with fifth in 3-pointers made and fourth in steals. Gabriel, of course, had Auburn’s first and only triple-double when he posted 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in a 67-41 win over Bethune Cookman Jan. 2, 2012. He finished his three-year AU career 10th in blocks.
I debated a lot on this last one and you can make a case for a couple of members of the second-team, but I chose Okeke because he was the best player on the best-ever Auburn team and had he not been injured, there’s a pretty good chance the Tigers win the national championship. He is also the highest drafted Auburn player in 30 years after going 16th overall to the Orlando Magic.
SECOND TEAM: Chris Denson, KT Harrell, Cinmeon Bowers, Anfernee McLemore and Allen Payne.
Denson had a standout senior season averaging 19.1 points and scoring 25 or more points in five straight conference games. He finished with 1,190 points, 156 assists and 82 steals in his four-year career. Harrell totaled 1,196 points in two seasons and his 18.4 scoring average ranks sixth all-time. Bowers averaged a team-high 9.6 rebounds in both 2014-15 and 2015-16, which ranks third all-time. McLemore enters his junior season with 153 blocked shots, which already ranks fourth all-time.
I didn’t include Payne because he put up outstanding numbers in any category but he’s my glue guy. He played in 113 games, starting 90, in four years, was team captain as a senior and is currently in his third year as an assistant coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
HONORABLE MENTION: Earnest Ross and Mustapha Heron.
Ross led AU in scoring and rebounding as a sophomore guard before transferring to Missouri. Heron led AU in scoring for two consecutive seasons before transferring to St. John’s. His 15.8 scoring average is 10th all-time.
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I’ve been thinking this week about what small issues on this year’s football team could end up being big problems during the course of the season. For example, last year Auburn was a respectable sixth in the SEC in opponent’s third down conversion allowing 34.7 percent. But in losses to LSU, Mississippi State and Tennessee — all winnable games — that percentage dropped to 44.6 percent.
There were probably various reasons for the slide, but one was certainly AU’s lack of a pure edge pass rusher. Nick Coe did a good job at Buck with a team-best 7.0 sacks, but having a feared pass rusher with a quick first step and the speed to pressure a quarterback quickly — like a Jeff Holland or Carl Lawson or Dee Ford — can make all the difference. This could be an issue for this year’s defense again if T.D. Moultry or another player doesn’t take a step forward this fall.
Another potential issue on this year’s defense could be depth at cornerback and nickel. Auburn looks to have some very good starters at those positions, but who’s ready to step up if there’s an injury? The fact that AU is currently recruiting several JUCO cornerbacks and could possibly sign two to come in and play or even start right away in 2020 tells me there are at least some concerns about the current group of backups.
On offense, the quarterback battle will be at the forefront of preseason practice and the offensive line will be in the spotlight, but I look at the lack of proven playmakers as a potential issue. JaTarvious Whitlow has a lot of potential but he hasn’t proven he can be a 1,000-yard back in this conference and his upright running style has to be a concern when it comes to making it through a full season healthy. His top backup may be a true freshman. At receiver, Seth Williams looks like a potential star after an impressive true freshman campaign, but he’s now being asked to be a No. 1 receiver with a couple of new quarterbacks delivering the passes. Behind Williams, there’s a lot of potential but not a lot of results so far other than Eli Stove and Will Hasting’s production in 2017.
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This week our musical journey goes back nearly 40 years when AC/DC released its seventh album, Back in Black, on July 25, 1980. It went on to sell more than 50 million copies making it one of the highest-selling albums and the best-selling hard rock album of all-time. The album was the first with Brian Johnson as lead vocalist after the death of Bon Scott in February of 1980 of acute alcohol poisoning. Its all black cover was a sign of mourning for Scott. Back in Black, the third single released from the album, was ranked No. 4 on VH1’s list of 40 greatest metal songs. The line, ‘Nine lives. Cats eyes. Abusing every one of them and running wild,’ is a tribute to Scott.
