Here's my sunshine outlook on next year:
The run our team just completed was legendary and will unfortunately always be accompanied by "what might have been" type discussions. I don't think that's really the correct way to look at it though as we know what would have happened had Chuma not gotten hurt. I have zero doubt we would have blown UK and UVA out of the water en route to the national title game. Even the horrible refs in the UVA game could not have stopped us with Chuma on the court. Maybe TTU could have given us a game, but with the way we were playing, there is little reason to doubt we would have been cutting the nets tonight with Chuma likely getting the nod as the tournament MVP.
The great news is that the robbery that occurred Saturday night is not the end of anything for our program. This run established us as a basketball power and will have lasting positive effects for us going forward. Bruce can sell 2 league titles and a final 4 appearance now to recruits when just 2 years ago he was force to pitch a dream of possible future success. The national media is even up in arms over the fact that we were screwed by the refs. Bruce and our guys handled the situation with an incredible amount of style and class which has likely won over some of our critics. We play a style that people enjoy watching and I expect us to receive increasingly positive coverage going forward.
Now, onto next year. I expect us to be better for a number of reasons:
1. Having a 4th year starter at PG of Jared's caliber will make him one of the most valuable players in the country. While he was incredible this year, he still has things he can work on to be an even more complete player. Jared has improved every year at Auburn and we have every reason to expect he will take another step froward next year. His combination of elite speed/talent and experience will give us a massive advantage in close games once again next year. He will be on a lot of preseason All American lists and a candidate for the Bob Cousy Award.
2. Chuma's injury was tragic, but there is no reason to believe he will not make a full recovery. I am confident that our medical and training staff will do an excellent job to get him back to 100% next season. His injury is far less severe than the one Mac suffered and Mac made it back for the start of the year and the same folks will be working with Chuma. If Chuma is on the court by the start of SEC play, he can be one of the best players in the country again down the stretch.
3. Assuming Mac gets back to where he was last year, he can be a game changer for us. He shot the ball well this year from outside, but we missed his presence as an elite shot blocker and rebounding. Prior to his injury, he was on pace to break the Auburn all time shot block record in his career. Despite missing the last few games of last season, he still led the SEC in blocked shots by a wide margin. He played extremely well the last few games (huge blocks against UK late, 12 boards against UVA) which means that after a good off-season, he has the potential to be a dominant force and one of our most valuable players next year.
4. Samir and J'von were both inconsistent at times this year and will benefit greatly from having a full year in Bruce's system playing against high major competition. They both came on very strong at the end of the year. J'von took over several games during our run and saved us when Jared was in foul trouble. Samir shot the 3 ball at a 42.5% clip this year and will have a chance to step into Bryce's spot at the 2 and get a lot more looks from deep. J'von and Jared backcourt combo will also feature heavily and gives us a very potent change of pace.
5. Danjel has the potential to be an All-SEC caliber player with a good off-season. He went from a rarely used backup to one of our most valuable pieces down the stretch this year. The 3 treys he knocked down over a 90 second span to bury UNC were legendary. We knew he was capable of that kind of offensive play based on what he did the first half of his freshman season. This year he showed he can also play hard consistently on defense and be a a force on the boards. He certainly still had room for improvement, but his trajectory was excellent to finish the year.
6. If Austin returns, he can once again help us tremendously if he can avoid injuries. Austin has been plagued by foot injuries, but when he has been on the court, he has been a huge asset for us. In December/January, he was one of our highest rated players statistically in offensive efficiency. He came back in March and played increasingly well down the stretch. I do not believe we would have gotten by UK without him. I hope he is back next year and can finally show what he's capable of with a full season on the court.
7. We have several new guys who can have an immediate impact. Memphis transfer Johnson started 27 games last year and will likely be in the rotation at the 1-2 immediately. Okoro would likely have started for us this year at the 3. He will be an immediate impact player for us on defense. He completely shut down the great Trendon Watford when their teams played this year. On offense, he will give us another guy capable of attacking the basket. Hopefully he will also develop an outside shot, but even without that, he will be a big help. Jones will also have a shot to break into the rotation at the 1 and 2. Williams is a great athlete who will provide quality depth at the 4.
8. Our schedule, while not finalized, appears to set up nicely. We will play @washington in the return trip of our home and home. They will be down next year, but a road win should be a quad 1 victory. The Brooklyn tournament we are in sets up as something we can win with Richmond, New Mexico and Wisconsin. Wisco loses their best player, Happ, but a neutral court win over them in the final would likely be a quad 1 W at the end of the year. We will host NC State which should be a good test. Hopefully they turn out to be a decent team and a W there would be at least quad 2.
Going to the final 4 should make scheduling easier going forward as we are now a "name" program that teams will be more eager to face. With the new NET system, the key will be to fill our schedule with as many decent mid to low majors that will likely be ranked in the 200 range while avoiding teams that will finish below 300. By doing that, you do not need a murderers row of high major teams. Unless we add another quality high major, we could run through the OOC schedule with 0-1 losses.
The SEC is going to be worse next year. UT is losing Schofield and likely also Bone and Williams. It appears Barnes may even be leaving for UCLA. As our primary rival as a "rising power", UT taking a hit will be a huge boost to our standing as the SEC's new powerhouse. Even if Barnes returns, they should take a significant step back. LSU is in chaos and is losing at least Waters. USCe will be bad without Silva. Ole Miss will be worse without Tyree. Miss State is losing Weatherspoon and Perry. UK will likely reload and UF should be better. UGA has a talented class coming in and should be dangerous. As we stand today, we should be in contention for the regular season crown and capable of defending our tournament title in Nashville.
9. A better regular season record is very doable with the way our schedule should shake out. With the increased credibility we now have coming off a final 4 run, a strong regular season should lead to a 1-3 seed in the tournament. If we can manage that, our path next year will be monumentally easier than this year. For that matter, we will never face a tougher path than this year so anyone saying its impossible for us to ever return to the final 4 needs to step back from the cliff. Bruce is a master motivator and this entire off season, he will be able to push our guys to work towards playing in the final 4 again in Atlanta. The odds of any team making the final 4 before the season starts are low, but I like ours about as much as anyone's now that we have a coach who has proven he can get there and a roster of guys with the extra motivation of playing in front of a home crowd.
