AUBURN | When we look back on this year’s Auburn men’s basketball team in the coming years, we’ll remember Johni Broome, the SEC Player of the Year and quite possibly the National POY too.
We’ll remember the toughness of Denver Jones, one of the nation’s best defenders, the fire of Chad Baker-Mazara, which was often inspirational but sometimes burned a little too hot, and the way Miles Kelly could take over a game with his 3-point shooting.
We’ll remember a talented bench led by the hard-working Chaney Johnson and the fearless freshman Tahaad Pettiford.
But if there’s one player that defines this season more than any other, one that plays with passion and energy each night and one that has led this team on and off the court more than any other, it’s Dylan Cardwell.
The Tigers don’t walk out of Rupp Arena with a win Saturday night without Cardwell and the way he led his team the 50 hours between an uninspired win over Alabama State Thursday and tip-off for the second-round matchup against Creighton.
It started right after the 83-63 win over the Hornets with a blistering takedown of his teammates and their effort in the locker room and in postgame interviews.
He didn’t hold back. He couldn’t hold back.
This Auburn team was the No. 1 overall seed for a reason. It earned its credentials. But it’s also filled with quite a few different personalities.
It’s not an easy team to coach and not an easy team to lead. You have to know when to put your arm around a teammate and lift them up and when to look them in the eye and tell them when it’s not good enough.
Cardwell had to stand up and do that Thursday, and then he held those same players accountable Friday and Saturday. Here’s how he described it.
“I’ve only done it twice this year: once in the summer and once last night. It’s a sense of urgency,” said Cardwell. “I wanted that to propel us into the next few weeks and allow us to get hot. We’ve been slacking thinking we can show up to games and beat people. We’ve played some good teams, and some people that are hungrier than us. We have to make sure we’re the hungrier team. That’s when we’re at our best.
“Look at our non conference schedule and how hot we were in the non conference – it’s because we were the hungriest team in the country. We were No. 1 for eight weeks in a row and I think we kind of lost that fire and desire. I had to lay in to them so they could respond. They responded really well. Everyone was on time to every single thing and showed me that they cared."
Cardwell didn’t just talk the talk. Against the Bluejays, the fifth-year senior had six points on 3 of 3 shooting, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocked shots.
He was plus-24 in the game, which was by far the best on the team and 10 points better than the second highest.
Cardwell became Auburn’s all-time winningest player with the win at Kentucky March 1 that clinched the SEC championship. Each and every win adds to a record that may never be broken.
I can’t think of a more perfect honor for this team’s most unforgettable player.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 39 years to the day a legendary record and film producer signed a Los Angels club band many thought were too strung out on drugs and alcohol to succeed, but a year later would release the best-selling debut album of all time. On March 25, 1986, Geffen Records, founded by Dave Geffen, signed Guns N’ Roses for $250,000 including an advance of $37,000. According to his memoir, guitarist Slash immediately spent most of his share on heroin. But the band pulled it together under new manager Alan Niven and were able to get in the studio and release Appetite for Destruction to little fanfare on July 21, 1987. Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton was brought in to produce the album and they began recording at Sound City Studios in L.A., in June of 1986. They laid down 25 tracks the first day but it would be another nine months and another producer before it was completed. With Charlton working on a Nazareth album of his own, Mike Clink was brought in to compete the album at Rumbo Recorders, a studio on the outskirts of L.A. The new sessions also included three new songs: “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Mr. Brownstone” and “It’s So Easy.” The recording was finished in March of 1987 but Niven was worried the studio wouldn’t be able to recoup the $365,000 the album cost to produce. Those worries increased as the album struggled to gain traction until Geffen general manager Al Coury convinced MTV to play the “Welcome to the Jungle” video for three nights in a row and it caught on, becoming the most requested video on the network. By August of 1988, Appetite for Destruction topped the Billboard 200 chart and has now sold more than 30 million copies and been certified 18x Platinum. In addition to being the best-selling debut album off all time, it ranks in the top 25 of the best-selling albums of all time.
Guns N’ Roses was formed in Los Angeles in 1985 by vocalist Axl Rose, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, drummer Steven Adler and Slash, who played lead guitar. It originally came about from a merger of two bands, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose, which inspired the new band name, Guns N’ Roses. The group started out playing in clubs up and down the West coast before signing with Geffen. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” became the band’s only No. 1 hit but Appetite for Destruction included two other top 10 singles in “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City.” Their next album produced another top 10 song in “Patience.” In 1991, Guns N’ Roses released two albums together in Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which included a couple of more top 10 hits in “Don’t Cry” and “November Rain.” The band has undergone a number of personnel changes over the last three decades, putting out an album in 1993 and another in 2008. Guns N’ Roses, which have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. They are set to begin a tour in May.
