Auburn Basketball: Who is the Tigers’ most important player in 2017-18?

The Auburn Tigers are heading into the 2017-18 season with NCAA Tournament hopes, but which player will be most important to their chances?

It has taken a bit longer than most expected for Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers to start being called an NCAA Tournament team, but that does not mean that fans are any less excited about the prospect of the 2017-18 season.

This team has veteran talent, young talent, and a great coach – all of which lead to the Tigers being a really underrated and dangerous college basketball team.

However, which player is the key piece for Auburn heading into 2017-18?

With so many returning players, you could probably have an argument for any one of about four names being the key for this team. Pearl’s squad is that deep in 2017-18, and that’s a good problem to have.

That being said, the way to beat the top teams in the SEC – especially the ones with young, elite recruits – is to out-physical them and make sure they find themselves taking bad, contested shots.

The player who will be tasked with that for Auburn next season is forward Danjel Purifoy.

After being declared ineligible and being redshirted in 2015-16, Purifoy showed us what he could do by averaging 11.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.4 steals over 28.7 minutes per game last season for the Tigers. The 6’7, 230-pound former four-star recruit should take a step forward in 2017-18 on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.

A now-veteran player who will relish going at elite recruits on teams like Kentucky and Missouri, Purifoy has the ability to completely change a game single-handedly. He scored 27 points twice last season and could legitimately be the most underrated player in the SEC.

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Keep an eye on Auburn and Purifoy next season, because they could be the South Carolina of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.