These two coaches are in very different places in MANY regards, but they have one thing in common - both are trying to build rosters from almost nothing.

Pearl, fresh off a final 4, entrenched at an SEC power, one of a handful of the best coaches who've never won a title (Few, Sampson, Barnes...).

McMillan, new to the league, first time in power conference job, bringing new style of play to solid SEC program.

It will be interesting to compare the 2 programs a year from now.

Did Auburn lose a ton this past season? I think it depends on NIL and coaching, but Pearl has the experience and foundation already in place.

Bucky is like BCG. Starting with nothing here.

I imagine Auburn is probably working with more money than we are, but seeing how they do might be a good barometer for where we could get to if Bucky can get the fan base fired up eventually

94chem said:

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greg.w.h said:

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Bucky is like BCG. Starting with nothing here.

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BCG had a much better roster than Bucky. He had Antoine Wright and Acie Law. The program was in much worse shape, but the roster was way better. Bucky and Pearl both had almost zero players. How will Bucky stack up against a master, both starting from scratch?

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I'll argue that in basketball more than any other sport, the roster IS the program

If you have been a losing team but have a good roster, you can win right away: see BCG when he took over here

phorizt said:

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94chem said:

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greg.w.h said:

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Bucky is like BCG. Starting with nothing here.

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BCG had a much better roster than Bucky. He had Antoine Wright and Acie Law. The program was in much worse shape, but the roster was way better. Bucky and Pearl both had almost zero players. How will Bucky stack up against a master, both starting from scratch?

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Auburn may be losing most of their players, but they still will have one of the most talented rosters in the country.

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Which returning players are you referring to?

bobinator said:

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I imagine Auburn is probably working with more money than we are, but seeing how they do might be a good barometer for where we could get to if Bucky can get the fan base fired up eventually

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I have lost hope in ever seeing our fans fired up for hoops. But Hope is a fickle girl, I sure hope she comes around at some point. Hoping Bucky can woo her.

Rec said:

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bobinator said:

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I imagine Auburn is probably working with more money than we are, but seeing how they do might be a good barometer for where we could get to if Bucky can get the fan base fired up eventually

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I have lost hope in ever seeing our fans fired up for hoops. But Hope is a fickle girl, I sure hope she comes around at some point. Hoping Bucky can woo her.

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You don't need the fans for NIL. You need couple major donors. General fans money don't move the needle

Main thing for next year is establishing the culture that the team plays hard from start to final buzzer.

Not realistic to have extremely high expectations. We are rebuilding from scratch and got a late start. Better to prop Bucky up with a lot of NIL money next portal season when it can have maximum bang for the buck.

very interesting post and will be fun to watch. i didnt realize Auburn roster was depleted, if thats the case.

Re phorizt's remarks on Auburn you replied

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Which returning players are you referring to?

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He said they WILL have one of the most talented rosters.... I think he was just presuming the end result.

Yeah maroon, it's getting harder to temper expectations amid excitement over the roster he's been abke to build in such a short time.

Hope he doesn't become a victim of his own success. We are indeed a fickle bunch, like most fan bases.

Don't get me wrong, I love what Bucky is doing so far. It just isn't fair in any way to use Auburn as the measuring stick this year even if they are replacing a lot. They're still a preseason top 15 team heading into next season. I do agree with Bob that I think Auburn long term is a great comparison of what we can be as a program.

But this year, Pearl had one of the top recruiting classes in the country locked up before Bucky was hired. This includes a couple impact HS players and the #1 juco transfer in the country and one of the top juco big men in the country.

Also, there's a very good chance Tahaad Pettiford withdraws from the draft and comes back and he's one of the best players in the SEC next year. 5 star recruit and all SEC freshman team this year.

and then there's the portal. Before we hired Bucky, Pearl had a 1st team all Big 12 player signed. Then he landed the top returning big man in the SEC in Keshawn Murphy from MSU. Then the #1 D2 transfer in the country. All of this basically before Bucky had a chance to get a visit set up with any portal targets. When Bucky was hired, 65% of the top 100 players in the portal were already signed elsewhere.

Now losing Baker Mazara def hurts as he was expected to return. But Pearl had 10-11 players in place before Bucky had a chance to do anything.

A more realistic measuring stick might be comparing to Pearl/Auburn in 2014.

Yeah, I'll admit that's probably true wrt the portal and NIL but the spot the programs are in and the tenure of the coach and the players they have committed , and their recent success are nothing like where we are today in terms of calling them a measuring stick for our program imo.

In a sense every game we play is a live measuring stick of where the program is but you have to look at the season in total to really compare programs rather than just one game. It's not like if we lose to Auburn by 20 you can condemn the season nor if you beat them then the season is a success.

NyAggie said:

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94chem said:

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greg.w.h said:

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Bucky is like BCG. Starting with nothing here.

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BCG had a much better roster than Bucky. He had Antoine Wright and Acie Law. The program was in much worse shape, but the roster was way better. Bucky and Pearl both had almost zero players. How will Bucky stack up against a master, both starting from scratch?

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I'll argue that in basketball more than any other sport, the roster IS the program

If you have been a losing team but have a good roster, you can win right away: see BCG when he took over here

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Yeah it's a whole different world than when bcg took over.

Mizzou is a perfect example in the sec of the roller coaster it can be going from tourney win, to winless to 6 seed over 3 years.

Will be interesting to see if Miami can pay their way from final 4 to last place, back to tournament.

What was Missouri's record in their coach's first season?

Method Man said:

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This is still a weird thread to me. Yes a true measuring stick of how our coach is doing in year two is to compare him to a guy who has been to two final fours and had his team ranked number one last season.

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Fine. Measuring log then.

Method Man said:

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This is still a weird thread to me. Yes a true measuring stick of how our coach is doing in year two is to compare him to a guy who has been to two final fours and had his team ranked number one last season.

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It's people either setting themselves up for disappointment or so that they can *****

The log of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

-dcaggie