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I'm not knocking AU. Auburn has a good football program but basketball isn't exactly a hotbed of enthusiasm in Lee County. Barbee may be a good coach. He has such an uphill battle to make Auburn a contender it will probably never happen. For his sake, I don't think that is expected from him. Auburn just doesn't want to be a joke. Regardless of what the AD and sports information say about reaching the top, or how they spin it just isn't going to happen. Think Vanderbilt and football if you want a gridiron analogy.
I am certain about two things...
There are two things in my life that are certain - I wouldn't vote for Sarah Palin for anything but joke of the and Auburn is never going to make it to the top in basketball. It's not that they haven't tried. Their new arena is first class and ought to be able to attract a few players. Auburn's road to the top is going to take a Gonzaga approach, except that Auburn has some real competition within the league to overcome. Beating Santa Clara isn't beating Kentucky. Spokane may not be the greatest city in the Northwest but it isn't Opelika either.
Still, my Auburn basketball friends point out that Mississippi State has done some good things in hoops. In fact, I think that State did the most courageous thing ever in the history of SEC basketball. They took their team into the NCAA and left in the dead of night when the Governor, I forget which bigot he was, forbid them to play against black players. This is a story worthy of recognition and maybe a good basketball movie. Starkville is worse than Opelika. But one thing that State has going for them is a rabid, and I do mean rabid, fan base.
The real problem is lack of tradition and fan support...
The AU basketball fan base seems to think that basketball is something between football and spring football. Basketball conversations with a lot of AU fans include - I have never actually been to a game, and wouldn't Billy Bob make a great cornerback instead of a point guard. Alabama has a small segment of people who feel the same way. Not as many now as before, but Bama is the second most successful basketball program in the SEC according to most experts. When I think of Auburn hoops I think of three things: Charles Barkley, Sonny Smith, and the Auburn Shuffle. A lot of younger readers have no idea who Sonny Smith is and what is the Auburn Shuffle. But you also think about things like the "the curtain" which was figuratively an acknowledge meant of the doom and gloom of Tiger hoops.
The big three recruits in this state no more thought of attending Auburn than I thought about getting a front row seat to the Royal Wedding. Auburn is an afterthought in basketball in this State. Their players are hard nosed and play as good as they can, but there is no substitute for talent. I know one person, Lance Weems, who actually grew up as an Auburn basketball fan. Many of the kids being recruited in this State have some ties to Alabama. They may have had relatives who played at the Capstone, or just understand that Bama is the place to go for hoops in our little part of Dixie.
UAB has surpassed AU in hoops...
Gene Bartow and UAB have accomplished more in their short history in NCAA basketball than Auburn has since they nailed their first peach basket to a wall in Lee County. The Bartow story is a a great story even though most Alabama fans won't admit it. They don't play in a great league at present, but the members of that conference have some real hoop history. You can't talk about basketball without Texas Western, which is now Texas El-Paso. Same thing for Houston and Memphis. My father took me to the NCAA Championship when Texas Western beat Kentucky because he told me this was a turning point in American hoops. For a man who grew up in rural Blount County and didn't attend college he had remarkable insight. He did have a basketball scholorship to Washington and Lee but something called WWII interervened. My dad survived the South Pacific and won a Silver Star while serving in the Navy. He's my hero. You couldn't have a better one.
So some of the Birmingham Press can talk about Lacey giving Auburn serious consideration. That isn't true. There is a big difference in telling the press you are interested and acutally being interested. That's very tactful of recruits to talk about Auburn because they are an instate school. But attend? Not likely.
