The Stretch 4: Welcome to a new era of Auburn basketball
New head coach, new roster, even new uniforms — the Tigers showed at SEC Media Days they're ready to show they've still got it.
MOUNTAIN BROOK — This time last year, Auburn basketball rolled into SEC Media Days with a whole lot of familiarity.
The Tigers were entering their 11th season under Bruce Pearl. Their player representatives were a third-year returner in Johni Broome and a second-year returner in Denver Jones. Because of all of the firepower it would bring back, Auburn was picked to finish second in a league it would later win outright.
This year, almost everything is different.
Greg Sankey opened Wednesday morning of what is now a two-day joint media days for the men and women by introducing the newest head coach in the league: Steven Pearl, who has only spent three weeks on the job.
Pearl brought two player representatives who weren’t on the team last season: UCF transfer Keyshawn Hall and Mississippi State transfer KeShawn Murphy.
The one player who was on last season’s squad, Tahaad Pettiford, is quite different — he’s no longer the 5-star freshman in a sea of veterans, but a preseason first-team All-SEC selection in a conference that didn’t bring back a ton of stars.
“Definitely something new for me, coming into this,” Pettiford said. “Ten new guys, definitely different from our team last year — being the youngest guy last year to being one of the oldest guys on the team.”
Even Auburn’s uniforms are new, with the world-famous Nike swoosh now plastered on the chests and the feet of the Tigers.
A new head coach, a new leader, a (mostly) new roster… but familiar expectations.
No, Auburn shouldn’t be predicted to win the SEC again. It will be an uphill battle to crack the coveted top-four in the league, as evidenced by the Tigers being picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll. Their No. 20 AP poll ranking is even lower than the last two times they’ve cracked the preseason Top 25.
Yet Auburn transitioned from BP to SP while retaining the same roster and the same staff for a specific reason.
“Nothing has changed,” Hall said.
The Tigers are now expected to go to the NCAA Tournament year in and year out, and they’re expected to be a force in the SEC. None of that will change with all the newness, even with a brutal early-season schedule.
“High expectations for us as winners,” Murphy said. “Everybody go out and do what they can to be able to win.”
And that was the main message from the Tigers on Wednesday morning, hours before their exhibition opener against Oklahoma State down the road in Birmingham: Bring it on.
“Our guys came to Auburn knowing that this was what they were stepping into,” Pearl said. “They’re incredibly excited about the opportunity. They’re looking forward to the opportunity to show that Auburn is still a team to be reckoned with.”
Before that exhibition tonight at Boutwell Auditorium, let’s empty the notebook from everything we heard from Auburn at SEC Media Days on Wednesday morning with this week’s edition of The Stretch 4 — three from each of the Tigers’ player representatives, plus a list of Buzzer Beaters at the end.
Tahaad Pettiford stayed at Auburn to lead Auburn
Wednesday was the first time Pettiford has talked to the media since the coaching change, so he got this question a lot:
Did you consider transferring after BP stepped down?