Auburn Basketball: 2022-23 season preview and outlook for Tigers
By Joey Loose
The story at Auburn Basketball is truly the story of making the right coaching hire. There had certainly been history before Bruce Pearl joined the program in 2014, but it’s clear that the Tigers are living their best lives since Pearl has come aboard. This is a team that spent much of the beginning of the century as an afterthought in the SEC, but one that Pearl has really turned into a contender.
First and foremost was the Final Four run back in 2019, the first in the program’s history. Auburn rose to the cream of the crop in a short time under Pearl, who led a rebuilding effort in his first few seasons with the program. Now, he’s led the Tigers to three total trips to the Big Dance; robbed of a fourth trip by the pandemic three seasons ago. Not only is this team no longer an afterthought, but they are remaining a contender even as the roster continues to change.
There was certainly an impressive amount of talent on that Final Four team and the same can be said of more recent teams. Even though there are high expectations again at Auburn, this program will surely miss big men Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith, who are both in the NBA after starring at the college game last year. The positive at Auburn is that those are the two biggest losses, and there are a few intriguing new pieces for the Tigers.
Last year’s team fell in the second round to Miami, a disappointing end for a talented roster with those two impressive pieces in the frontcourt. However, this doesn’t change the narrative at Auburn. This program is in an unbelievably better position than even five seasons ago. With the exception of a down year two seasons ago, they’ve been a contender for the SEC crown every year, with two regular season titles already in their pocket.
We’re going to take some time to dive into this Auburn squad, looking closely at what remains on the roster, who they’ll be playing, and what exactly we can expect this season, coming off an SEC regular season crown. There are some big changes, especially in the frontcourt, but there are still the pieces for the Tigers to make some noise this year, even in a talented and crowded SEC.