Auburn basketball roster shakeup: Tigers making changes
Let’s face it. This season was a disappointment. It may have been the most successful disappointment in Auburn Basketball history, but disappointing it was. Winning 20 games and making the tournament at Auburn used to be the mark of a great year. Not anymore. Coach Bruce Pearl has higher aspirations than the second round of the NCAA Tournament or even winning the SEC.
Changes have to be made. The way Pearl will do this is through the transfer portal. The best regular season in Auburn history last year happened because of Pearl dominating the portal by acquiring Walker Kessler and several others. This season, Auburn’s best player was arguably recent transfer Johni Broome. Kansas State just made the Elite 8 with a team built entirely of transfers. This is the new way.
High school players are risky and inexperienced. Freshman rarely win in March. The Tigers landed their 2nd highest rated recruit in school history last year in five star freshman Yohan Traore. He played very little and was ineffective. Chance Westry was a top 40 recruit. His play deteriorated to the point Auburn chose to sit him for the season and play a walk on.
It is much harder to miss in the transfer portal. The players being acquired have demonstrated their ability on the college level, often for years. Imagine if Auburn had taken two solid experienced offensive players in the portal last year instead of Traore and Westry. Pearl won’t make that mistake again. He watched this team play all season, frustrated by their poor offense and inaccurate shooting. He has likely spent months thinking about what he would have done differently, and will now correct that mistake.
Auburn is in on the recruitment of what feels like dozens of quality transfers, and Pearl is going after the best. Expect more transfers out of Auburn. Look for shooters and experienced scorers to make their way to the plains this year. It’s time for a change.
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