2008 Auburn Tigers Hoops Preview

You didn’t need a Timex to count the minutes Auburn lost to injuries and suspensions last season. A calendar with plenty of pages was in order. The Tigers lost 4,733 minutes to a series of maladies, but none worse than Korvotney Barber’s broken hand. He departed play in the 10th game of the year leading the nation in field goal shooting.

Barber never came back, and for that matter, neither did the Tigers.

“We have to get healthy, get better, play better,” says coach Jeff Lebo.

Lebo is in his fifth year and has yet to have a winning SEC record. But he has Barber, for a change, and the promise of two shooting guards in Tay Waller and Frankie Sullivan.

Waller averaged 19.0 points per game at a Florida junior college and, Lebo says, is ready to play. Sullivan led R.C. Hatch (Ala.) High School to three straight 2A state titles. Doubts about his readiness seemed to melt way as he shook off his small-school status in early summer workouts when he demonstrated to Auburn’s veterans that he was tough enough to play.

Barber brings back an inside presence the Tigers lacked most of last season, and Waller and Sullivan appear to be legitimate outside threats. Lebo has rarely had both on the way to a 57–64 record with the Tigers.

Waller and Sullivan could bring the kind of excitement that Auburn needs as it inches toward its new $92.5 million arena. Ground was broken for it over the summer, and the Tigers will make their debut in the new facility for the 2010-11 season. The first order of business, however, is to improve last year’s 14–16 overall record and an SEC West-worst 4–12 league mark.

Frontcourt

Barber is a legitimate SEC every-night scorer, and, at 6'7", he may be the closest thing Auburn has to a center. He averaged 11.3 points two years ago and was averaging 13.8 points before he was hurt last season. Lebo had hoped to team Barber with Josh Dollard up front, but the talented but troubled forward was kicked off the team in late July. Dollard had missed 41 games the last three years — including the entire 2007-08 campaign — because of suspensions and/or medical reasons.

Lucas Hargrove’s improved play and his 7.8 points per game were promising at season’s end. Boubacar Sylla, who played three games before suffering a foot injury, transferred, as did Matt Heramb, who played inside-out.

Auburn hopes all of its signed players report for duty inside, as 6'9" Francis Aihe, 6'9" Johnnie Lett and 6'8" Kenny Gabriel would provide welcomed relief on the inside.

Backcourt

Lebo’s Auburn teams have almost always been guard-oriented. This year’s edition seems to be shaping up that way, too. Waller and Sullivan will join an experienced backcourt that includes Rasheem Barrett, Quantez Robertson and DeWayne Reed.

Barrett, a swingman, has averaged double figures in each of his three seasons at Auburn, including a career-high 13.6 points last year. Robertson has been very steady the last three years while being asked to play almost every minute. He played the point early on, but shifted over to the 2-guard for long stretches last season. The problem is that Robertson would rather direct than shoot, and that’s where Waller and Sullivan can fill in.

“I think Tay Waller is a guy who can really shoot the ball like we haven’t had since I’ve been here,” Lebo says. “He’s a guy you have to defend two steps past the 3-point line. That should help us. We really haven’t had a guy who was just a knockdown threat from the perimeter every time he caught the ball. I think Frankie Sullivan can score as well.”

Final Analysis

If this was all a master five-year plan, this is the season Lebo is supposed to win. He’s been handcuffed with one problem after another — first transfers, then an all-guard lineup and then last year’s injuries — but they can be forgotten if the Tigers truly develop an inside-out threat.

Auburn has just been too easy to defend, and in turn finished last in the SEC in defense last season in league games. With a $90 million-plus investment on the books, improved play is a must as the Tigers try to put on a better face on their program.