Andrew Gribble
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 01/27 at 04:45 PM
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The coaches of women’s college basketball had the same reaction today as the beat hacks of the Associated Press did yesterday.
Auburn sure is good, but it appears they need to see more.
The Tigers jumped from from No. 5 to No. 4 in the latest installment of the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. In front of them lie undefeated and seemingly untouchable UConn, Oklahoma (16-2) at No. 2 and Baylor (17-1) at the three-spot.
“I had no reaction at all. It didn’t matter to me and that’s the honest to God’s truth,“ coach Nell Fortner said. “What matters is us playing the next game and doing all we can to win it.“
Auburn, by the way, is just one of two undefeated teams left in the nation. UConn, as mentioned earlier, is the other. If you tuned in to ESPN today, you may be under the suspicion that the women’s college basketball season is over because the Huskies are that good.
“We aren’t getting too much attention,“ forward Trevesha Jackson said. “Yesterday I was watching TV and they were saying UConn should be No. 1 and No. 2. I’m glad we’re the underdogs. No one is really talking about us much right now.“
Here’s the rest of the ESPN/USA Today top 10.
1. Connecticut (20-0)
2. Oklahoma (16-2)
3. Baylor (17-1)
4. Auburn (20-0)
5. California (16-2)
6. Duke (17-1)
7. Texas A&M (15-3)
8. Stanford (15-4)
9. Maryland (16-3)
10. North Carolina (17-3)
(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 01/26 at 05:54 PM
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Four-star Brewton defensive tackle Jamar Travis surprised few Monday when he decided to commit to Auburn.
Travis, who was previously committed to Southern Miss before making an official visit to Auburn this weekend, left the Plain on Sunday with an offer in hand, but said he needed 24 hours to come to a decision.
The offer was simply too good to bypass.
“I liked the atmosphere and I think it’s a better place for me,” Travis told AuburnSports.com. “It’s always been where I want to go and play football.
“It’s what I’ve been waiting for, for a long time.“
Travis, a 6-foot-1, 312-pounder, also had offers from UAB, Memphis, Oregon and others, according to Rivals.com. Travis told the Web site he will likely play at nose tackle and would be open to redshirting if necessary.
Travis became Auburn’s 20th commitment for the class of 2009, a number that has fluctuated up and down over the past two weeks. The number stood as high as 26 before Tommy Tuberville’s resignation.
At W.S. Neal High School, Travis collected 70 tackles, 14 tackles-for-loss, seven sacks, five forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two blocked kicks in his senior season.
Travis is the second current Auburn commitment to snub Southern Miss. Auburn High offensive lineman John Sullen, who committed to Auburn last week, was also previously committed to the Golden Eagles.
Four-star, dual-threat quarterback Tyrik Rollison (Sulphur Springs, Texas) ended his official visit Monday morning and left without committing, according to AuburnSports.com. Rollison has narrowed his decision between Auburn and Kansas State and could wait until National Signing Day to make a decision, according to the Web site.
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 01/26 at 03:14 PM
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Style points, apparently, mean nothing in women’s college hoops.
The Auburn women’s basketball team, 20-0 after arguably the biggest win in the program’s last 20 years, jumped the bare minimum to No. 5 in the new Associated Press poll. We say bare minimum because previously ranked No. 2 North Carolina lost three times this week to drop to No. 10.
The Tigers are one of just two undefeated teams left in the country. No. 1 UConn is the other, and is certainly where it deserves to be. No argument here. Think 2007 New England Patriots. That’s how good the Huskies are.
But it’s tough for us to see a reason why the Tigers were unable to hurdle the three teams in front of them, particularly No. 2 Oklahoma, which touts a 16-2 record. Yes, the Sooners two losses came against UConn and UNC—when the Tar Heels were still undefeated—but it’s two losses nonetheless. Auburn has none, and plenty of reasons to be unsatisfied with where it’s at.
Coach Nell Fortner was asked yesterday after the Tigers easily disposed of No. 10 Tennessee whether or not Auburn should be considered among the nation’s elite.
“Absolutely,“ Fortner said.
“I think it validates it for more people out there,” Fortner said. “I think it’s more for the people that don’t know more about Auburn. We don’t have the history that Tennessee has. I think it makes people sit up and take notice that ‘Oh, maybe they are for real.’”
Here’s the rest of the AP top 10. The ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, in which the Tigers were already No. 5 in last week, comes out tomorrow.
1. Connecticut (19-0)
2. Oklahoma (16-2)
3. Duke (17-1)
4. Baylor (17-1)
5. Auburn (20-0)
6. Louisville (19-1)
7. California (16-2)
8. Maryland (16-3)
9. Stanford (15-4)
10. North Carolina (17-3)
(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 01/26 at 10:47 AM
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Take a sick day? Pfft. We’ll stop working when the news stops happening.
As mentioned yesterday, the blog is a bit under the weather and isn’t feeling much better this morning. But, live from our couch, wrapped in a blanket, we learned that former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville will join ESPN’s panel of experts during its National Signing Day coverage. NSD, by the way, is next Wednesday.
Tuberville, in between trips to Aspen and his sons’ sports events, has been helping out the Worldwide Leader from time to time since his resignation. He provided color commentary during the third quarter of the Under Armour All-America High School game earlier this month, engaging in a friendly recruiting debate of sorts with ESPN recruiting expert Bruce Feldman. We figured that was the least Tuberville owed the official brand of all Auburn athletic gear, which provided a seemingly endless amount of outfits for the 10-year coach.
It will be interesting to hear what Tuberville will have to say—if he says anything at all—about Auburn’s 2009 recruiting class. Though he may not have been the “relentless recruiter” Gene Chizik claims to be, Tuberville definitely knows a thing or two about the bulk of Auburn’s prospective tackle football players. It’d also be interesting to get his take on Chizik and staff’s pursuit of some of the nation’s most highly touted players. Tuberville preferred to direct his focus toward players who weren’t flirting with the big cats of college football.
Maybe this was what athletic director Jay Jacobs had in mind when he said Tuberville would remain a part of the Auburn family.
(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)
Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Posted 01/25 at 04:01 PM
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The No. 6 Auburn women’s basketball team is 20-0 after its 82-68 victory over No. 10 Tennessee on Sunday in front of a record 12,067 fans at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
The attendance mark is nearly 5,000 more than the previous record, which was set 20 years ago. The mark is also tops in BEMC history since the arena was reconfigured in 1997. The listed capacity is 10,500, but workers removed a partition that freed up about 1,500 more seats. Fans were also forced to stand along the middle concourse.
DeWanna Bonner scored a career-high 35 points, grabbed eight rebounds and picked up five steals. Whitney Boddie had 17 points and nine assists and Alli Smalley chipped in 16, including a number of big 3’s early in the game.
We’ll have more after the important people talk to the liberal media.
UPDATE: In the spirit of us having a bit of newspaper work and an appetite to suffice, we’re going to give you a sneak peak of tomorrow’s story before we return with some analysis later tonight.
Someone get DeWanna Bonner a parking pass.
More than an hour before No. 6 Auburn’s 82-68 victory Sunday over No. 10 Tennessee, Bonner was left as flummoxed as the majority of the record-setting 12,067 fans who made it out for the Tigers’ biggest win in more than 20 years.
“I couldn’t even find a parking spot,” Bonner said.
Fortunately, Bonner made it to Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum with time to spare.
Just in time for arguably the biggest game of her already storied career.
Bonner racked up a career-high 35 points, nine rebounds and six steals to help boost the Tigers record to 20-0 against a team they hadn’t beaten in 12 years.
“DeWanna Bonner is a big-time player,” coach Nell Fortner said. “Big-time players play big-time basketball in big-time games.”
Basketball games in football-looney Auburn – both on the men’s or women’s side – don’t get much bigger than Sunday’s.
Lines of 30 to 40 people stretched from ticket windows as early as three hours before the 2 p.m. tip. Inside, empty seats were non-existent, as a hundreds of fans were forced to stand along the upper walkway.
The 40-year-old arena’s listed capacity is 10,500, but Auburn officials removed a partition in the upper deck at the South end of the arena to reveal 1,500 more seats. The 12,067 mark shattered the Auburn women’s previous record of 7,150 and set a new Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum record, for both men’s and women’s, since the building was renovated in 1997.
“For Auburn,” Fortner said, “it truly was a magical day.”
How Auburn snapped a 16-game losing streak to the heavyweights of the SEC involved little to no magic or surprise. The Tigers did it the same way they have throughout their best start since the 1988-89 season.
With speed and poise from a starting lineup chock full of seniors.
(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)
