AU HOOPS: Niagara presents tough opener

Lucas Hargrove might not be able to find Niagara University on a map, or even a conference-by-conference listing of college basketball teams for that matter, but he’s well aware of the challenge its veteran basketball team presents.

“I think we should go ahead and play a tough opponent like Niagara because you might as well find out where you are with your team in the beginning of the season,” Hargrove said. “That way you can build on it. It does no justice to play a lower opponent or a less-talented opponent.”

As for what he knows about this “tough” opponent, Hargrove had little to offer.

“I’ve never heard of them,” he said. “I know there’s a waterfall up there. They’re from New York, so they should be able to play some kind of basketball.”

Hargrove is spot-on in both of his analyses, as the Tigers will face arguably their toughest non-conference opponent of the season in their season opener tonight at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Tip off is set for approximately 8:30 p.m., coming directly after the Auburn women’s basketball team’s opener with Troy.

“We’ll have our work cut out there,” coach Jeff Lebo said. “They’re very small, very quick and very athletic. It’s a tough way to start out.”

The Purple Eagles, a top-tier Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference team, return four starters and boast a starting lineup comprised entirely of seniors. They won 26 games last season, finishing as the MAAC’s runners-up behind Siena and advancing to the NIT.

Preseason projections have the Purple Eagles doing the same in 2009-10, making tonight’s game important to the RPI Auburn will carry into conference play.

Auburn didn’t take advantage of RPI-boosting, non-conference games last season, losing to Dayton, Northern Iowa and Xavier on the road and falling in a major upset against Mercer at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. A woeful year for the SEC made the Tigers’ hopes of improving their RPI an uphill struggle when they finally started to string some wins together.

No at-large team in the NCAA Tournament had a worse RPI than Auburn’s (63), even after the Tigers rattled off eight wins in their final nine games.

“Now that we know what it takes, I feel like we have a better chance at getting a spot in the tournament,” Hargrove said. “That’s what it ultimately comes down to is if you make the NCAA Tournament or not.”

The Tigers are as healthy as they’ve been all preseason, Lebo said Tuesday. That means he has 15 bodies gunning for playing time in a rotation that will likely whittle down to eight or nine as soon as tonight.

The competition for playing time has brought the best — and worst — out of some of the younger players, Hargrove said.

“There’s a little bit of shoving,” Hargrove said. “We don’t quite let it escalate to fistfights. The younger guys — they lose their cool. The older guys have been through it. The younger guys get antsy sometimes and we have to put them in their place.”

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