Please give us a full detailed report of your experience at this game at your earliest convenience. Or tonight, I'm not sleeping any time soon.

I will. Leaving Auburn now.

Hell yes.

https://texags.com/forums/7/topics/3569832

Background on him

Neville Arena wasn't nearly as large or intimidating as I'd heard/imagined.

This is going to be an awesome eye witness report

Whew. Just got back home from Auburn and going to do my best to communicate the experience. Please do check out the post linked by Aggie09Derek above for some context. Going to include some stuff you may or may not be interested in. Also going to try to hit on some stuff I've seen on this board tonight regarding the game, Bucky, and Auburn basketball.

I'll start with Tuesday. This game completely snuck up on me. It was one I was planning to go to but due to holidays and travel I just hadn't thought much about it. I actually exchanged a few texts with Bucky Tuesday--congratulated him on the first SEC win as an SEC coach and gave him a brief life update from my end. I realized later in the day this game was the next day so I felt like an idiot not mentioning that. Bought a ticket when I remembered and made arrangements to drive over after work.

Got to the game and met up with buddies. All were asking who I was going for. I got a lot of texts today asking the same thing. I told them all I'm with my guy. I got to my seat and look down behind the bench and it was a reunion of sorts with Bucky's family, former staff, supporters behind the A&M bench. It was good to see the family of sorts he's built from his time at Mountain Brook.

THE GAME
I don't care to get into a player by player analysis as the coverage on this site is fantastic and there are a lot of well-educated posters. The game boiled down to the second half run and the last minute.

I'm really glad you guys got to see a run like that. It's what I think about when I think about Bucky Ball. It's a relentless pressure until the other team cracks. Auburn finally cracked in the second half and A&M started hitting shots at the right time. I've seen runs like this from Bucky's teams countless times and at each level. It's a marvel to watch.

I saw a reply in this thread about Neville Arena. It's never been known as big (~10,000 seats I believe), but it is built to be loud. It was plenty loud tonight and I'll touch on this again at the end in my therapy session. You could hear a pin drop in there during that run. Fans were more concerned with the refs telling Bucky to stay in the box than anything that was going on on the court. It sucked the life out of that place.

Turnover. Bang. Turnover. Bang.Turnover. Bang. That's Bucky Ball. It's like applying the David Goggins mentality to basketball. Taking souls. And we saw it first hand tonight.

The last minute or so was brutal. It is tough to take care of the ball when the opponent is trying to create turnovers and isn't afraid to foul. Add a whistle friendly to the home team and it was even harder. Some costly turnovers and missed free throws allowed this one to be close.

The last 2.4 seconds was a disgrace on so many levels. What Bucky said to me after the game is exactly what he said on tv and in his presser. Auburn should never have had an opportunity to inbound the ball for a last shot. I'm not going to critique Pop on how he missed it as I see there is an entire thread dedicated to that and it's probably more art than science. Regardless, it hit the rim and the refs messed it up. Hall's heave after that miss was not even close. The plan worked. The refs messed it up. The game should have been over right there.

Then the shot. Couldn't believe it. The replay on the Jumbotron included the (errant) clock and the clock would've indicated he got the shot off with 0.2 seconds left. Crowd is losing it and Auburn players are celebrating on the floor. But the refs were taking a long time to review what the crowd thought was a pretty cut and dry call. I watched the A&M bench and it looked like they may have even thought the inbound pass was tipped and started the clock before it was caught. Refs wave it off and the home crowd is confused, then pissed, then resigns to leaving.

Part of the disgrace is the lack of transparency or communication for the call on the missed free throw and the determination on the last shot. There was no announcement by the referee and there was no clear explanation on the broadcast that I listened to on the way home. Auburn thinks they got hosed. Part of me gets it because nobody is really explaining what happened or why the determination was made.

I was elated for the Aggie win. Bucky deserves every bit of success he gets. This team deserves success for continuing to grind. A&M deserves success for believing in him. I'm glad the Texas A&M faithful got to see what it's all about tonight. I do think this is proof of concept. Yes, this team is going to take some lumps this year, but tonight was a nice feather in the cap for the program. I'm so proud of how this team has improved and bought in. I hope A&M continues to support him in every way possible. Bucky will do it. I really can't wait to see what he can bring in over the offseason.

It was good to get to see Bucky after the game. Got to talk to his parents at halftime--awesome people.

I know this has been a stream of consciousness and I'm happy to answer any specific questions. Just trying to get out what I can tonight.



THERAPY SESSION
I am an Auburn grad and fan. It really sucks to watch this program rapidly fall from what it has been over the last 7 years. Auburn made a decision to be beholden to the Pearl family instead of finding a coach to try to sustain the championship level success we have been enjoying. It's hard to stomach. Bucky coached circles around Steven Pearl tonight. The product is not even entertaining. Neville Arena is a shell of what it has been. You haven't been able to get in the door for less than $150 for a conference game in the past. I got a ticket for less than face tonight. You can see the enthusiasm rapidly dwindling. It takes a guy like Bruce Pearl for basketball to be successful at Auburn, or at any football-first SEC school where if the basketball program is winning, great, and if not then it's on to football. I would guess A&M fans can relate to that somewhat. Steven Pearl has no business running a program that has made two final fours in the last 7 years. And good luck firing Bruce's son. I'm afraid Bruce's legacy at AU will be tainted because of this.

All this is greatly appreciated!! You're awesome!

taylorswift13_ said:

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All this is greatly appreciated!! You're awesome!

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I appreciate you guys welcoming me here. Hell of a win!

Totally joking, but we will call this even for the horse collar in 2013. Honestly I hope Auburn rights the ship soon this year, we just seem to always be a thorn to them under Buzz and now tonight.

The run we went on I've said many time this year. Sometimes we go on these runs and I don't even realize how fast and how big a run it is until later (it was reminiscent of our Northern Iowa 2016 tournament game but faster)

Awesome contribution! We appreciate your insight and first hand experience. Very good read! Welcome to the board

I certainly enjoy all that you shared, the details of the game and what is happening with the Auburn program, but I most appreciate how well written it is without a hint of AI summarization or phrasing. Thank for taking the time to share this writeup. Must have been wild to see that in person, especially in the weird spot of being an Auburn fan but huge Bucky supporter.

When Pearl Jr. does leave Auburn, I'm going to be a bit nervous.

We have to get buckyball34 an honorary non-rookie status on this board...that way he can post more than 5 times per day. Anyone know how/if we can make that happen?

Click on the link in the 4th post of this thread for his background info. But, yes, he played for Bucky at Mountain Brook.

Thanks for the post man! What an experience.

The only thing I'd say on your therapy session is that at least any hardcore hoops fan probably knew in their back of mind that this was definitely going to happen, even if Bruce would never publicly admit it.

I don't even like promoting a long-time assistant from within to their first head coaching job but I think it should be straight up illegal for a public institution to hand over a program to the kid of the previous coach. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Totally agree. I hope Auburn suffers for the nepotism. Bruce did this to them by retiring right before the season. It was a dirty way to get Stephen the job.

Awesome to get this from a former player and someone who knows him. I love his style. I think it'll be perfect for us.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bucky at a football game. I just asked for a picture but he wanted to ask me questions about who I am and where I'm from and we ended up talking about high school basketball and players we both would know.

I walked away a huge fan. Dude wants to talk hoops with anyone. Even some random fan at a football game.

Thanks for the summary and for posting here! Glad you're here at TexAgs!

buckyball34 said:

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Turnover. Bang. Turnover. Bang.Turnover. Bang. That's Bucky Ball. It's like applying the David Goggins mentality to basketball. Taking souls. And we saw it

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Great summary and this was the best part. Thank you.

great write up and what a great game. appreciate the inside intel.

and nepotism rarely works out.

I'll weigh in here…my son is a FR at Auburn, started spring semester yesterday. While we thought he would choose A&M, for some reason he wanted to visit AU. I had been to a game there in 2014 (where we beat a top 5 Auburn team) and everything about that place was awesome, except for the crap hotel my friend got us in.

I told my wife before we visited it with our son that she would really like it, and when we got him from the trip my son had made his decision. Our admissions tour/visit with A&M and AU were night and day. AU won.

It's a smaller version of A&M, with a much prettier campus. Very conservative, small, clean, tight knit town that feels very safe and everyone there is Southern hospitality to the max.

The Auburn Creed really resonated with us too:
https://auburn.edu/about/creed.php

Auburn is a great option for students who want to actually meet their professors and not have to play games with the college of engineering.

As for Pearl, bobinator and I have already discussed this, but burning that final TO before the last FT was just brutal. I was shocked to see that. It basically ended any chance Auburn had...until the refs gave him a partial mulligan.

It's interesting because this is going to be a huge difference between Bucky and someone like Steven Pearl.

Pearl has MUCH more experience being around a major conference basketball program, but Bucky has literally coached hundreds if not thousands of basketball games, and that experience is valuable in those late game situations. Bucky's probably just about seen it all as to what can happen in the final few seconds of a basketball game. Pearl has been the man on the sideline for 15 games.

I'm sure enough people on here know about Bucky's poker background. But considering odds, circumstances, etc., is something he's comfortable in.