By Brant Daughtry

I know the title says basketball, but I wanted to get some thoughts out about football season first. This was a failure of a season. You lost just as many games and failed to make a bowl game. For the first time in a long time, Auburn has logged four straight losing seasons. There’s been a lot that goes into that, but the person in charge now is Hugh Freeze. The fact is, Auburn has to be good next year. Not great, just good. The team went backwards this year, and they have to show some kind of forward momentum in 2025. It’ll be the third year under Freeze, and the roster will be made entirely of his guys. No more talent gap excuse, no more blaming Payton Thorne, no more “just wait until next year.” The results have to come.

Personally, I think it’s another favorable schedule for Auburn. Starting out with Baylor, a good-not-great Big 12 team, will be a good litmus test. Ball State and South Alabama are the paycheck games that should offer some level of challenge before the conference schedule. As far as SEC schedules go, this one isn’t bad. Auburn gets Missouri and Kentucky at home. Traveling to Arkansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt will be challenging but not impossible, and with the Demon Named Diego gone, Auburn gets that particular thorn out of its side. I think winning two of those four would go a long way. Alabama and Georgia are home games. It doesn’t get easier in the SEC.

I don’t think the average fan is looking for 10 wins next season. They may have been at the beginning of 2024, but this past season moved the timeline back for Freeze and company. That time is about t0 run out though. Auburn will only have so much patience, and three straight bad seasons will get anyone fired at a legitimate program.

Personally, I think 8-4 is on the table. Two out of the four road conference games, hold serve at home against the non-powers, and beat Baylor in the opener. That’s progress. 6-6 I think gets Auburn a new coach. 7-5? Lots of context to make that decision. Next year is the biggest of Hugh Freeze’s career. He’s lost a large part of the fan base, and the decision makers won’t be far behind. 2025 is a crossroads.

Alright, basketball. Sorry I missed the first few weeks of the season, my pursuit of a Master’s degree has limited my time, but that should be largely over now. And wow what a season Auburn’s had so far. This is a borderline super team. 4-0 in Quad 1 games and it’s just turned to December. This is a really fun team, and I think we should all sit back and enjoy while we can.

The Blue Devils are coached by John Scheyer, former assistant and player under Coach K. It’s the closest thing they could get to continuing the run they had under Krzyzewski, and it’s a very similar looking team. They still have top recruiting classes every year, and dominate the ACC regularly. It’s Duke man, they’re gonna win a lot more than they lose, and Scheyer is continuing that.

They’re active offensively, lots of motion and spacing. They want to move guys around to find holes in the defense and play inside out, forcing defenses to collapse on post players, leaving guys open on the outside.

Defensively, they’re maniacal. They’ve held teams under 60 points with regularity, and currently are the number 1 team in defensive rating according to KenPom. They run you off the three point line with their guards and hold the paint down with a combination of big men. They’re solid, and they’ll get into Auburn early and often.

Players to Watch For:

Forward Cooper Flagg, #2- The number 1 player in the class of 2024, Flagg has been as advertised to this point. He leads Duke in minutes per game, and with good reason. He’s an excellent inside scorer, and a force defensively as well. He’s averaging about 16 points a game and has active hands, forcing steals and getting blocks. This game could very well come down to the battle between him and Johni Broome.

Guard Kon Knueppel, #7- Knueppel has been a very effective Robin to Flagg’s Batman. Another freshman, he’s right behind Flagg in minutes per game, and is more of the shooting threat, currently shooting 36% from outside. He averages about 13 points per, but if he gets hot from outside that number can go up. Denver Jones will probably be the answer here.

I’ll confess, I don’t know nearly as much about basketball as I do about football. The X’s and O’s of both sports just aren’t on the same level for me. But I know enough to know that Duke is a major threat. They play in one of the toughest environments in college basketball. The Cameron Crazies are right on top of that sideline, and it is effective.

Given Duke’s ability to draw fouls and the fact that this is the first TRUE road game Auburn has played, I wouldn’t be shocked if things go against Auburn here. This team will lose at some point, and this could be it. And that would be more than okay given that start that the team has had.

But. If Auburn manages to pull out its eighth win of the season? The hype train will have no brakes. This team is already being mentioned as a possible top seed in the NCAA Tournament, and those talks will only increase with a win at Cameron Indoor. This is another oppertunity for this basketball team, and they’ve stepped up to every one so far.