AU HOOPS: Questions abound for next year's team

For obvious reasons, Jeff Lebo was hesitant to discuss Auburn basketball’s future shortly after the Tigers’ final game of the season.

There might have been some not-so-obvious reasons behind his uncertainty, too.

Lebo won’t be back to see what he could have done with a seventh season as Auburn’s head coach. Neither will the vast majority of Auburn’s contributors from the 2009-10 season, a scenario that doesn’t exactly set up Auburn’s new head coach, whomever it may be, for success in the
short-term.

“We played a lot of seniors this year,” Lebo said. “But we’ve got some guys that have got to get better.”

The numbers certainly won’t be stacked in the new coach’s favor.

The Tigers, who finished fifth in the SEC West with a 6-10 record, bowed out in the first round of the conference tournament and didn’t exactly “wow” anyone during the non-conference season, return just one starter — Frankie Sullivan.

Lebo started four seniors — Lucas Hargrove, Tay Waller, DeWayne Reed and Johnnie Lett — and made Brendon Knox his sixth man. Those five players combined to average 130.7 minutes per game, while the rest of the team totaled 69.3. Actual contribution during those minutes was even
more lopsided, as the five seniors averaged 54.9 points and 20.5 rebounds compared to the rest of the team, which chipped in 20.8 and 14.5,
respectively.

Eliminate Sullivan’s contributions from the equation, and Auburn returns just 11.7 points per game among the five returning freshmen and sophomores who have a viable shot at filling the four empty spots in the starting lineup.

If there is no attrition, a rarity during coach switches, the new coach will have six players who saw somewhat regular action, four who didn’t and six newcomers at his disposal.

It’s not a murderers’ row of players, either.

Lebo’s final signing class was his biggest and highest-ranked, but uncertainty always abounds when it’s freshmen. Lebo expected a number of his freshmen to contribute right away this season, but none emerged reliable enough to steal many minutes away from the seniors.

Shawn Kemp Jr., a 6-foot-9, four-star prospect, highlights the class, which is big in both size and potential.

Sullivan, though, will be the catalyst, and could, perhaps, be on the path to have a Devan Downey-type season for the Tigers. He flashed that potential during the SEC Tournament loss to Florida, when he drove relentlessly to the hoop on the way to 27 points, thanks to a number of
acrobatic layups. It was a stark contrast from what he’d been doing in the previous 10 games, when his production tapered off as a result of his
constant deferring of opportunities to Waller, who caught fire down the stretch.

Waller, though, won’t be around in 2010-11, leaving it on Sullivan to carry the load. And if Sullivan, who may have to play point guard, can improve his consistency from 3-point range — he hit just 37 percent of his 170 attempts — he’ll have a bona fide shot at the SEC scoring title.

The rest of Auburn’s returning players will have to show abilities that they frankly did not display in their respective first years with the team.

Kenny Gabriel missed a good chunk of the conference season with a severely sprained ankle, but started to find his shot near the end, especially from mid-range. At 6-foot-8, Gabriel is one of the taller players on the team, but his strength will be on the perimeter, where he can drag bigger and slower defenders in hopes of a mismatch.

Earnest Ross and Andre Malone served as swingmen off the bench in 2009-10, and will likely do the same as starters next season. Both players played solid defense and both have the bodies to bang around inside the paint, but neither displayed the shooting touch Lebo expected. The duo combined to make just 27 of their 126 3-point attempts, just a shade better than 20 percent.

Ty Armstrong, at 6-foot-9, is Auburn’s other returning bigman, and is likely destined to be the Tigers’ de facto center. Armstrong played well in spurts, but often had trouble finishing around the hoop as a freshman. Like a number of returning players, Armstrong would be wise to bulk up during the offseason to prepare for the pounding he’ll take against significantly bigger competition.

“I think the summer is going to be very vital for them in the weight room and also just getting chemistry as a team,” Hargrove said after his final game at Auburn. “I think they can make some noise next year.”

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