Scott Fillmer

So today was Auburn’s annual crazy day football game in the middle of Spring (A-day or Aday game) when everyone comes to see the new team and all that. The last few years it has been who can get more fans to a game in the middle of Spring while playing each other, Auburn or Alabama. I think this time Alabama gets the crazy award for having the most fans show up, and for ESPN to broadcast it they must get an additional crazy award themselves.

The highlight this year was not actually the football but the fact that we were able to get in to the new Basketball arena, the Auburn Arena as it is so called. This basketball season is one that many of us have been waiting for, for years, and this 2010-2011 season is set to open in a brand new $100 million (give or take) arena. Sorry the photos are so low-res, all I brought with me for some reason was my cell phone. The last photo of the construction area is still my favorite so far this year.

It was still really great to get to see the new arena in person. Can’t wait for the first basketball game.

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This was probably the toughest loss in Auburn Basketball that I have seen in person.  Down to the wire with about 8 seconds to go Reed had a chance to shoot two free throws to win the game, missed both, and Barrett came back with another chance to win with a 3-point shot and also missed.  Both players had a great game, and the entire Auburn basketball season was one of the best in years, but this was a heartbreaking loss when they clawed their way back into the game and just couldn’t catch a break late to come away with the win.

No matter how this particular game ended the team played hard, they never gave up, and the senior class for the 2008-2009 Auburn basketball team will be remembered as having the 2nd winningest record in Auburn history.  This basketball team was one that many gave up on early on in the season, but they really never did give up, all season long.  It was great fun to watch the season, can’t wait to see what the 2009-2010 basketball season has in store.

Here are some photos from the game.  Great season guys, thanks for the memories.

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Tonight Auburn beat Tulsa in round two of the NIT advancing to the quarter final on Tuesday night against Virginia Tech or Baylor.  This is the first time Auburn has ever made it to the quarter final round in the NIT and on Tuesday they will play for their chance to go to New York to play in the NIT semi-final and final game.  The Tigers right now seem to be playing with great confidence which hopefully will carry them through to the next game.

Below are some photos of the game (and also my post for Friday Feet).  One set is a sequence of shots when DeWayne Reed broke free and slammed the ball bringing the crowd alive.  It was a great win for Auburn, best of luck on Tuesday.

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Tonight Auburn played UT Martin in their opening game of the NIT, and won 87-82 in a hard fought game.  It was great to see Auburn back in the NIT and with the win today, the next game will be on Friday against either Tulsa or Northwestern.  It was a three point shoot out in the first half and UT Martin never game up and came back to make it a two possession game at one point (see Auburn holds off UT Martin in NIT opener).

The Tigers started off the game very strong and many of the photos below are from the early part of the game.  We will be at the game on Friday and I will post some additional photos after that game ends in two days.  Enjoy.

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Auburn ended their home basketball season on an up note beating #11 ranked LSU 69-53.  This ended a season that started off looking like all the others over the last 10 years and now looks like a possible NCAA bid.  They will head to Tampa for the SEC Tournament and then hopefully on to the NCAA Tournament.  We really enjoyed seeing a full house today.  Last game of the season and finally the fans came out and supported the mens basketball team.  It was loud, packed, and exactly what an NCAA game should sound like.

It was pretty hard to get the normal shots at the game today, but I did get a few below including one of LSU coach Trent Johnson just before getting a technical foul before the half ended.  Looking forward to seeing Auburn finish well in the SEC Tournament in Tampa, War Eagle guys.

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Yesterday Auburn beat Mississippi State 91-76 with Tay Waller having a career high 32 points to lead the Tigers to a good SEC conference win.  This team is hard to figure out.  They play hard, they fight, and they give their all, and they win games they probably shouldn’t and loose games they should win.  It was starting to look like this season was going to be another big disappointment, but not so fast.  This season is starting to have some potential beyond the SEC tournament in Tampa Florida.

For the past several years we have been looking to March, hoping we would get past the Thursday game in the SEC tournament, but this year, we may actually have a chance to get to the NIT.  Certainly don’t want to look past the rest of the season or the SEC tournament in Tampa, but an NIT bid would be really cool (and just in case anyone from the National Invitation Tournament is reading this, please, spend a few dollars and updated the design on your website, please, I can even point you in the right direction).

Some tough games coming up, but in the mean time, here are some pics from the Valentine’s Day version of the basketball game yesterday.

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I love walking around in the heart of Auburn sports on campus.  For the basketball game today we parked in the Jordan Hare Stadium parking lot, as many do, and I shot this photo as we walked by the stadium.  Directly across the parking lot is the new $92.5 million Auburn Basketball Arena being built while the older Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum which opened in 1969 sits to the left and directly across from the baseball field, Plainsman Park.  A lot of history and tradition in one small place, and a lot new history being made.

Auburn played a great game today and finally came out on top right at the last few seconds of the game.  It really could have gone either way at the end and the Vols did get off a last second shot at the buzzer and it just didn’t drop.  The season is getting very close to March where it will wind down and give way to the crack of Baseball, and this team has managed to win games they shouldn’t and loose games they should win.

Basketball this year has been as enjoyable as always but I am really looking forward to the opening of the new arena when we can pack the house for a basketball game and at least look like we have some support for our basketball team.  There was a lot going on in Auburn this Saturday and I am glad I was able to spend some time with Deb and my parents as well.

A very busy week coming up starting tomorrow and some exciting new things coming towards the end of the week.

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Auburn went back to the conference play today and we went to see the 1:00 pm start in Auburn against Vanderbilt.  Perhaps a game Auburn should have won but in the end Auburn came up short.  It was all offense on both sides today with no one playing a tight defense.  As always Deb and I enjoyed the game but as I sit here and watch the Florida vs Tennessee basketball game with a packed house, I would like to see the same thing down here in Auburn.  It isn’t an ACC thing and SEC doesn’t have basketball teams, they have plenty of good teams, Auburn just hasn’t won games in a few years now and not many come out to support the team on a consistent basis.

For Deb and I that isn’t what the games are really about.  It is about spending time together and getting away from the normal routine of work and distractions to enjoy something together.  Out of all the sporting events that take place at Auburn, Basketball is probably Deborah’s favorite.  It is indoors, she can bring her knitting, and no one generally dumps a rum and coke on your camera or throws up their lunch a few seats next to you (both happened at the football games this past season).

Nope, the games are usually quiet, plenty of seats, not a crowded area, generally no commercial time-outs, tickets are CHEAP, and the games only last 2 hours at most.  Of course, we actually hope that changes when the new area opens in 2011, but either way, we will still try to go to the basketball games when the weather outside gets cold.  Here are a few photos I took at the game today.  Click on the images below to see the larger size.

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Today we went to see the #6 Auburn Tigers vs #10 Tennessee Vols basketball game, which drew an all time record crowd of 12,067 fans.  This was the largest crowd to see a basketball game in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum ever in its current configuration. Listed as a maximum as a 10,500 feet arena, it was certainly the largest crowd I have ever seen at a basketball game here in Auburn, and oh, did I mention, it was the woman’s basketball team.

This was actually the first woman’s basketball game we had been to in all the years of going to games, and at a time when the men’s basketball team is lucky to have a crowd of 5,000 show up, the woman played a fantastic game, shot well, made free throws, and overall totally impressed the over 12,000 people that showed up for the game.

At the beginning of the game that had a moment of silence for Kay Yow, the North Carolina State’s Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach who won more than 700 games died on Saturday of breast cancer at the age of 66.  The first photo was of one of the woman holding up the warmup shirt they all wore today that said Kay Yow.  It was a great game that left the Auburn Tigers still undefeated for the season with a 84-68 win.

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What a great game Auburn played today.  It was a total domination by Auburn and Alabama never really got going at all.  Where was this team when they played the Florida Gators last week?  They hit 3-pointers, free throws, played a great defense and actually stepped it up on offense.  Mark Gottfried (see photo below) seemed to have a tough go at it right from the tip off when the almost immediately went down double digits.  I tried several times to get a good shot of Mark Gottfried as he went into the tunnel but he never once took his eyes off the wood.

Some Alabama fans are going to come back and say they don’t really have a good team this year but it doesn’t matter to the Auburn fans, they are happy with any win, and any SEC win is better, and any time we beat Alabama is a good game.  It was nice to see a packed house.  This crowd would have sold out the new arena by a long shot.

I did manage to get a three frame sequence below of Korvotney Barber taking down court and slam dunking the ball in a great extension.

You can click on the images above to see the larger size.  To see a few more images from the game you can go to my flickr account.  War Eagle.

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