Mailbag 205: What else might Auburn basketball do in the portal?
This week: Tahaad Pettiford, titles, start/bench/cut, pep bands, football win totals, linebackers and your resurrected restaurant picks
AUBURN — I realized the other day that, in less than two weeks, I wrote six basketball transfer breakdowns for the newsletter.
Yes, I’ve gotten plenty familiar with my video capture software and iMovie in recent days. There’s been a lot of data-diving and a lot of film-grinding. But these are among my favorite pieces to do, and I hope y’all got as much enjoyment out of them as I did.
More importantly, all that transfer film work is a great sign for Auburn basketball. The Tigers had to do a ton in the transfer portal, and they’ve gotten a lot of that done — even though they were later to the frenzy than most everybody else, thanks to their run to the Final Four.
In this week’s mailbag, you guys asked several great questions about what Auburn basketball might do the rest of the way in the portal. After a handful of additional hoops questions, we move on to some pressing offseason football topics and have some fun toward the end.
I’m also bringing back my offseason bit of asking you guys a question to answer when you send in your own questions. (If you just want to answer the question, that’s fine, too! But I prefer getting the answers with questions.)
This week’s question, borrowing from the one Dave asked me last week: If you could bring back one closed Auburn restaurant, which one you would pick?
We’ll wrap up with a rundown of your answers. Let’s go.
I’m guessing the basketball roster isn’t finished. I feel like Auburn should probably try to add one more wing, one more experienced big (looking at you Federiko Federiko), and one more PG or CG with some D1 experience.
If the roster doesn’t change, how to you feel about this guess at lineups?
Starters
1. Tahaad
2. Overton
3. Freeman
4. Hall
5. MurphyFirst subs
1. Magwood
2. Tahaad
3. Bashir
4. Hall
5. MurphyGiving rest of starters a break
1. Magwood
2. Overton
3. Bashir
4. Freeman or SWA
5. OporumWill
Right now, if Tahaad Pettiford comes back for next season, Auburn is set to have 10 scholarship players. Throughout his tenure, Bruce Pearl has stuck to a 10- or an 11-man rotation, only tightening it down in certain situations or for stretch runs.
Everyone might want to grab up more and more players, but it’s tough to keep that many happy. There’s only so much playing time to go around, after all.
According to friend of the newsletter Nathan King at Auburn247, Pearl said during an interview on the Auburn baseball radio call Tuesday night that the Tigers were “probably looking for one more impact player” at this point in the offseason. More specifically, Pearl talked about the need for another big man.
“I think somebody else on the inside,” Pearl said, per Nathan. “… KeShawn Murphy can play 4 or 5. Emeka (Opurum) is going to be really good, but I don't know how early in his career he's going to be there. We probably need another center. And then we'll pretty much be done.”
Auburn is in an intriguing spot right now in the portal. There aren’t a ton of big-name centers out there, so we’ll see if the Tigers stick to the plan of bringing in another 5 or just getting another 4 for the frontcourt.
I think Murphy makes plenty of sense as Auburn’s starting 5 next season, especially if you can have Opurum back him up some. Keyshawn Hall can play the 4, along with Elyjah Freeman, but it wouldn’t be a total surprise if they view them more as 3s in light of the Chad Baker-Mazara move.
Either way, getting another 4 or another 5 is important for Auburn. That would give the Tigers three clear-cut frontcourt players with experience, with the possibility of playing Hall, Freeman and/or freshman Sebastian Williams-Adams at the 4.
Right now, Auburn has plenty of options from 1 through 3: Pettiford, Kevin Overton, Abdul Bashir and potentially Hall and/or Freeman — plus freshmen Kaden Magwood and Simon Walker. If you only have enough playing time or, in today’s game, money to bring in one more “impact player,” there’s a bigger need up front.
I like Will’s lineups, as I see the potential of working Hall at the 4 and see Freeman as more of a true 3. Let’s say Auburn brings in another center. Then the Tigers can go small ball or ultra-big with their lineups by only tweaking a few spots. This 2025-26 roster won’t be heavy on continuity or even experience — you went all-in on that last season and got rewarded — but length and versatility might be at new highs for Pearl.
Considering how much scoring Auburn got with its previous six transfers, I don’t know if you even need to prioritize that end of the floor with the final big man. If you can get a defense and rebounding specialist with Division I experience, like Will’s suggestion of Federiko, you can really put the pieces around him in several ways with this roster.
The other scenario is that Auburn gets an impact 4, which there seems to be more of in this transfer portal right now, and locks down that position while maintaining the flexibility of where it can run the likes of Hall and Freeman. The Tigers could double down on the strengths of this roster reload, so to speak.
But it’s important to keep in mind that there’s still about a month or so to go before everything gets set in terms of final rosters. Auburn didn’t land Miles Kelly until late May last season. NBA Draft decisions could open up a new crop of players for the Tigers to go get, so Auburn fans should be patient. The good news is that the Tigers have gotten a ton of work done already in the portal.
Oh, and speaking of NBA Draft decisions…
So far in the portal, Auburn has been much more focused on bringing in wings and bigs than ball-handling guards, and this will seemingly continue based on the reports from earlier in the week that BP is hoping to add one more big, with no mention of pursuing any backcourt players.
This makes sense, considering who has graduated and who we've lost to the portal, plus, based on current mock drafts, it seems like Auburn will be in a good position to be competitive in their attempts to bring Tahaad back, so there hasn't been a significant need to pursue a guard.
Let's say that hypothetically things were to change and Haad became firmly projected in the first round, leading to him leaving for the draft.
What do you think would be Auburn's plan of attack to replace him? The lack of contact with PGs so far is mildly concerning to me, because if this played out, then the staff would have to make up a lot of ground.
The answer to this likely would change depending on when he made his decision, if it were sooner rather than later then there would obviously be more players available, but I'm curious how you think Auburn would go about replacing Haad if he decides to leave.
James
What do you think AU’s backup plan for PG is, if Tahaad stays in the draft? Can any of the new transfers run point? Doubt we want to start a true freshman at PG.
Sparky