NCAA Basketball: 25 biggest offseason winners heading into 2021-22 season

Losing Sharife Cooper and Justin Powell in the backcourt were certainly blows for the Tigers but they were able to overload in the transfer portal, bringing in a few good guards this offseason. Zep Jasper and Wendell Green put up some big numbers at College of Charleston and Eastern Kentucky respectively, while KD Johnson was a double-digit scorer at Georgia. They also added Arkansas transfer Desi Sills but the newly crowded backcourt caused him to leave for Arkansas State.

But the biggest addition for the team came in the frontcourt. Although JT Thor departed for the NBA Draft, Auburn was able to land Walker Kessler, a former five-star recruit from North Carolina who in limited minutes, displayed flashes of stardom. He’ll be paired with five-star incoming prospect Jabari Smith in the frontcourt, backed up by Jaylin Williams and Dylan Cardwell.

Considering that Smith was the only player in their recruiting class, the Tigers had a lot of pressure to get some really good pieces in the transfer portal. Landing Kessler and the guards was as good an outcome as possible and with Devan Cambridge and Allen Flanigan coming back to provide more offense and experience on the wings, this is a darkhorse contender in the SEC next season.