An early look at how Auburn basketball could line up next season

Bruce Pearl says he's excited about the offseason reinvention of his Tigers. Here's our projection of who fits what spots in 2025-26.

(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — Welcome to the most important summer for Auburn basketball since Bruce Pearl first stepped foot onto campus.

Don’t take that from me. That’s directly from the man himself.

“This summer is going to be more important for me, having breakfast and Bible studies, than ever before,” Pearl said late last month. “Just trying to get these guys to understand who we are and what we do and why we do it the way we do it.”

Last year, Auburn only had to plug in a few players into a roster that brought back more than half of its production played from the previous season. The team ranked 40th out of 364 Division I men’s basketball teams in minutes continuity, per KenPom.

The Tigers got a lot out of those new additions — especially Miles Kelly and Tahaad Pettiford — but the bulk of who they were had already spent time together and were coming back for one more experienced-filled, all-in type of campaign.

The result was the best season in program history: An outright championship in the toughest-ever edition of the SEC and a run to the Final Four.

When Auburn put that team together last offseason, it knew that the following offseason was going to be a massive reloading effort. And while there were different rumblings of veteran players getting additional seasons of eligibility, the Tigers ultimately brought just one back from that campaign: Pettiford.

But Auburn made quick and thorough work with its roster retooling. In addition to signing their highest-ranked high school and junior college recruiting class in five years, the Tigers have landed what 247Sports considers a top-10 transfer haul.

Yes, 10 of Auburn’s 11 scholarship players right now weren’t on the team last season. That hasn’t clouded Pearl’s optimism, though.

“I like the group,” Pearl said. “I think it's going to be a group that works hard. I think we've got really good character guys, and we've got to reinvent ourselves. We've got to reinvent our culture. … But I like the group we've got. I'm excited.”

Pearl said late last month that if Pettiford decided to turn down the NBA Draft and return to Auburn — which he did last Wednesday — a “last scholarship might go to a wing or somebody.”

So the Tigers’ roster work might not be 100% done just yet. However, the new arrivals are now on campus. (Recent addition Filip Jović appears to be the exception.) Auburn brought them onto the Plains officially around Memorial Day Weekend, and the team had its annual early-summer lake day outing this past Saturday.

“Everybody's coming in, and they don't know a single drill,” Pearl said. “They don't know how I run practices or what we do. They'll all be experiencing it at the same time. They'll almost all be like freshmen.

“And, if you think back to your freshman year, for the people who went to college, the guys you're still friends with 20 years later are the guys you were hanging out with your freshman year. You experienced that together. As a result, I think our work will be to get this team to get close.”

With the exception of that potential late wing addition, the Tigers know who is going to take the floor for them next season. The work to build the much-needed chemistry — both on and off the court — is already underway.

So let’s take this time in early June to do an early position-by-position breakdown of this new-look Auburn basketball roster. We’ll start with the spot that just lost arguably the best player in program history and finish with one that has the lone star returner.

(Auburn Tigers)

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It’s pretty much impossible to replace what Johni Broome was for Auburn over the last three seasons — specifically the most recent campaign, when he won SEC Player of the Year and was the first player in program history to win a National Player of the Year honor.

But if the Tigers were going to have to replace the runaway conference leader in Player Efficiency Rating, why not do it with the guy who ranked higher in that category than any other returning player in the SEC?