Get ready for some hatin'

Hey everyone. Auburn's first-round opponent in the SEC Tournament has been determined and you may be happy about it.

The league's hottest team, led by John Pawlowski, will play the Crimson Tide on Wednesday morning beginning 9:30 a.m. That'll take place in Hoover, Ala., at Regions Park Stadium.

Auburn beat Ole Miss on Saturday, 11-1. The completed a series sweep.

The West has been won

Hey everyone. We have a new Western Division champion.

It is the Auburn Tigers.

John Pawlowski's team earned an 18-4 win at Ole Miss this evening, which caps a really impressive run through the conference portion of the schedule.

Ryan Jenkins led the way with a pair of homers. Auburn hit five in all.

Auburn now is 38-17 overall and 19-10 in the league. It enters the SEC Tournament next week as the No. 2 seed. A trip to the NCAA Tournament is all but assured and the possibility of playing host to an NCAA regional is very real.

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University

Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.

Auburn @ Ole Miss baseball

Hey everyone. Auburn is going for the SEC Western Division title tonight in Oxford, Miss.

I am not there. You probably aren't. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, though, we can pretend we are.

(Click on the little movie camera next to Friday's game for live stats.)

I'll be here after 8 p.m. CDT ... approximately.

Feel free to post along as the game progresses.

Dontae Aycock: We hardly knew ye

Hey everyone. So tailback Dontae Aycock has been dismissed from the Auburn football team, which comes as a bit of a surprise to me.

I never considered him an academic or behavioral risk.

Then again, do we really know anybody? Auburn officially is saying the dismissal stems from a violation of team rules. So it goes.

This surely will be a difficult time for several members of our community who considered Aycock a blossoming superstar. Maybe he was. I didn't hear much about him during the spring (good or bad) and that gave me the feeling that coaches were headed in a different direction.

So now we know: It'll be Mario Fannin, Onterio McCalebb and Michael Dyer this fall.

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University

Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.

Radio Appearance Forthcoming

Hey everyone. I will be participating in my weekly segment on SuperSport 930 out of Jackson, Miss., in a bit. That extravaganza will begin around 9:17 a.m. CST. There will be a podcast later in the day in case you miss the fun.

It typically streams live, so please enjoy the segment digitally if you're so inclined.

Auburn baseball wins again

Hey everyone. Kevin Patterson's pinch-hit DONG in the eighth inning scored three runs ... and helped the Tigers earn a 5-3 win at Ole Miss on Thursday night.

Implications? I'm glad you asked.

The Tigers now are one win away from clinching the Western Division title.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

**SP Cory Luckie allowed three runs in six innings.

**Relievers Bradley Hendrix and Austin Hubbard combined to hold Ole Miss scoreless during the 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

**CF Trent Mummey and DH Tony Caldwell had two hits apiece.

Photo credit: Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle via AP

Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.

Tyrik Rollison: We hardly knew ye

Hey everyone. Just a quick note to give you official word that Tyrik Rollison has been granted his release and will transfer.

We believe he's headed for Sam Houston State. We have not yet confirmed that.

What can be said about Rollison? Some will say he was a failed prospect and it's difficult to argue with that assessment. The depth chart at quarterback filled very quickly with the arrival of Cam Newton. Auburn is aggressively recruiting at least two major high-school prospects. Barrett Trotter and Clint Moseley have considerable upside.

There's little room for a true freshman who loses significant development time to suspension. Period. That's a terrible way to make a first impression.

My best guess: Tyrik learns from what happened at Auburn and keeps himself straight at his next stop, which will be closer to home ... and his support system.

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University

John Pawlowski speaks

Hey everyone. We're now attempting to offer audio to the HABOTN.

It's important that you get maximum value for your zero-dollar investment, so this is our latest venture into the world of multimedia bliss.



This file is limited to 3 minutes. The software that I used to create this file requires a modest investment and I don't want to pay that unless this is something you really like.

Let me know if you can hear it, etc.

BONUS Photo Gallery

Hey everyone. My amateur camera and I rolled around the Athletic Corridor today and collected some scenery for you.

Auburn Arena is basically finished. It's time for landscaping and fixtures.

The new soccer/track complex is not basically finished.

PHOTO GALLERY
Click to enlarge

This is the entrance nearest Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. This is where the high rollers will be entering the party.

A better shot of the large eagle that gives me the creeps. That eye followed me across the parking lot. I felt shame for some reason.

This is the side farthest from BEMC. This entrances faces the new quad that includes the new student housing and dining hall.

Here is perhaps the largest Auburn Creed on earth.

Please tell me there is a professor, administrator, former student, anyone more deserving of a residence hall. Aubie Hall? This is located directly north of the student ticket entrance.

Lots and lots and lots of bike racks.

Here's the track/soccer facility as seen from near the football practice fields.

Here it is from the track side.

Another angle for you engineering types.

Here's a hoopty version of the TIGER PROWL bus. I like this one better. As seen from Wire Road.

Celebrating 2001!

Hey everyone. We have reached another significant HABOTN milestone with our 2,001th post!

Thanks to the HOTTIES (and everyone else) making this site just relevant enough to stick around. It's really a pleasure.

We should hold some kind of event to mark this fine occasion ... but I just realized my DVR isn't recording LOST. I'm more than a little annoyed. Let's just say a certain piece of electronic equipment may or may not have spent its final night in my home.

Tony Barbee speaks

Hey everyone. I spent some time this morning with Tony Barbee, Auburn's relatively new basketball coach, who had some very interesting things to say.

He isn't coy when it comes to answering difficult questions. He comes correct. I respect that about him. I didn't lob him many softballs today and Barbee answered the tough stuff.

For blog purposes, though, I have to hold back. I have a few summer stories planned and I'd hate to transmit all my goodies here. If I did that, you'd have little interest in the summer stories because it's would be old, tired information!

With that in mind, here are a few snippets:

• You seem at ease getting out in the community and getting to know people. When did that develop?
  
  I've always been that way -- outgoing, easy to connect with. My philosophy with how this works has been shaped by Coach (Calipari). Watching him do it when I was a player at UMass when he had to build a consensus of people. It wasn't ready-made. Same thing at Memphis. They had success there, but it had fallen away. He had to bring people in. That's just as important as recruiting players and winning games. You can't do that from behind a desk.
  
  
• Auburn isn't exactly well known as a basketball school right now. Has it been a tough sell on the recruiting trail?
  
  Auburn should be a place that should recruit itself. That's what sold me. When I looked at leaving a top-20 team like UTEP, a place I had great affection for, it was hard. When I looked at everything Auburn stood for … from the city to the education and now the new arena … and you've got a top-50 player in NBA history that's part of the program's tradition in Charles Barkley. There's so many things that say: This place should be able to sell itself.
  
  When you're a basketball coach, recruiting is about selling. What do you have to offer? A lot of coaches get into negative recruiting what other people don't have to offer. I don't think you have to do that. What we have to sell stands up against any program in the country. It's all about confidence. I tell them: ``We're going to get it done; it would be easier with you." That's the approach we've taken.
  
  We're starting with the state of Alabama. That's our priority. Too many players from this state have gone to schools outside this state. If you can give kids an option at home where they can reach all their goals and their dreams -- then they'll never go anywhere else. If something is missing on that list, maybe they would look somewhere else. I'm going to make that place here. I'll make it so they can stay home and get everything they want and need.
  
  
• What do you tell these recruits, guys like Josh Langford and Luke Cothron, when you don't have recent tradition? Everyone has good academics. How do you convince them in lieu of NCAA Tournament berths?
  
  I'm looking for trailblazers. I want guys who want to step outside their comfort level and blaze their own trail. I want them to help us turn this around -- and it will turn quickly -- and have people wonder how we did it so fast. Look at the cornerstone. Look at Josh and Luke and the other guys we signed this year. They're the ones who changed it and they're the ones people here will remember forever. That was my vision with these first signees. We're going to get it turned, but I've got to have guys who don't want to walk in their someone else's path. I want guys who blaze their own path.

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University

Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.

Wishing one of my friends the best

Hey everyone. Birmingham sportscaster Mike Raita, a friend and a HOTTIE, announced today that he'll be off the air for a few months to undergo surgery and chemotherapy.

He recently was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor.

Please join me in sending your celestial well wishes of choice toward Mike and his family.

Here is a story from the Birmingham News about the situation.

Auburn baseball update

Hey everyone. So Auburn won two of its three games this weekend against Tennessee, which had some significant implications for the home team.

The first weekend win clinched a spot in the Southeastern Conference tournament ... Auburn's first in six seasons.

The second weekend win pushed John Pawlowski's team to the top of the Western Division standings. Why is the program thriving these days? It's pretty simple.

Auburn's offense is sick sick sick.

They're not just leading the league in hitting ... they're way ahead. They hit for average, they hit for power, they demonstrate patience at the plate. They do a little bit of everything.

Pitching? It's league average. That's enough with an offense like this one.

Defense? It's a little below average. See above.

Auburn (35-17, 17-10) plays at Ole Miss (36-17, 16-11) this weekend, which likely will settle the Western Division race.