A relatively brief preview of Auburn's 2008-2009 men's basketball team

Look, as you can probably guess by the fact that the "mid-majors" tag has four times as many posts as the "Auburn hoops tag" (if still not nearly so many as it ought to have), I'm just not that into Auburn basketball.

Call me a fair-weather fan if you like, since I probably would be if they ever got back to the good old Sonny Smith days where you could count on an NCAA berth and some fun wins against big-time SEC competition, but those days seem far, far behind us now and will likely stay that way until at least the new arena opens. The voracious basketball fan that I keep mostly silent during football season is (like Bally) quite honestly as fired up to see what that Siena Saints team that returns all five starters after beating the tar out of Vandy is last year's NCAA will do as I am Auburn. Maybe that makes me a bad Auburn Fan. So be it.

But hey, it's not like I don't care at all, and someone's gotta blog about Auburn hoops, so from time to time it might as well be me. And thus I am here to inform you: Auburn will open its season tonight against Missouri St. of the MVC. The Bears are undergoing a substantial makeover that includes a new coach and a bunch of new contributors,but at Auburn things are pretty much status quo for the Lebo era:

Auburn will be missing freshman guard Frankie Sullivan, who hasn't been able to practice in several weeks due to a sprained ankle. Senior guard Rasheem Barrett, bothered by a serious groin pull, has practiced sparingly, but should be ready to play at least limited minutes tonight.

Aside from the usual injury concerns, here's the few things you should know about Auburn's hoops team as it enters Lebo's make-or-almost-certainly-break season:

-- The inside-outside balance actually isn't bad. If Korvotney Barber (who led the nation in FG percentage before he broke his hand 10 game in last year) can return to form and senior guards Quantez Robertson (at the point) and Rasheem Barrett (at the 2) can use the attention paid to Barber to hit some outside shots and run the offense more fluidly, the team could at least avoid becoming one-dimensional offensively. (Of course, since Auburn over the last several years has frequently been a no-dimensional team in the halfcourt, this would be a dramatic improvement.

-- The frontcourt, Barber aside, is a mess. Lucas Hargrove (a 6-6 junior forward) isn't a disaster but probably wouldn't start or see the major minutes he's going to get for Auburn at many other SEC schools. Behind Hargrove it's all JUCOs, including Johnnie Lett, who got a start in the exhibition win over Morehouse despite Blue Ribbon having this to say about him:

You get the feeling looking at 6-9, 240-pound junior Johnnie Lett's stats at Okaloosa-Walton that he knows his limitations. He averaged a modest 5.4 points and 6.6 rebounds. His forte is blocking shots; he averaged 2.2 a game a year ago.

Yes, I'm sure the guy who "knows his limitations" when playing at the JUCO level will be more than ready to step into the starting lineup of an SEC contender. Sheesh.

-- The backcourt depth is all about the newcomers. This Tay Waller kid exploded in the exhibition game and shot the lights out at JUCO; Sullivan is the kid from Uniontown you've probably heard about who scored 51 points in last year's 2A title game for his fifth state title in six varsity years. If they can play it'll be a huge help since 6-1 junior DeWayne Reed (along with Hargrove, the only returning scholarship players besides the three seniors) isn't exactly what we'd call an "explosive" offensive threat.

It would appear to me Lebo is in a catch-22; since his guards are so small (Barrett's the only one taller than 6-3) he can't play them at the 3 without getting killed on the defensive end, but if he doesn't he's going to be sticking one of the JUCO forwards out there whose offensive repertoires appear "limited" at best. And that's just talking about the starting five; it's hard to see how Auburn has even a hint of offensive potential in the post if Barber's not in the game. If Waller and Sullivan are even better than advertised and if Barber can handle playing 35-40 minutes a game and if absolutely everyone stays healthy HA HA HA sorry, reflex, Auburn might be able to worm their way to within a couple games of .500 in the SEC record and collect an NIT bid.

But I think that's about the ceiling, and we get to see how close Auburn's going to come to even that starting tonight.

(The football preview for tomorrow will be arriving relatively shortly.)