AUBURN — Before coach Bruce Pearl took over Auburn basketball in 2014, the Tigers had made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament since March Madness first debuted in 1939.
Since Pearl’s arrival, Auburn has reached the tournament four times, and it would’ve made it during the 2019-20 season, too, if the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t shut the sports world down in March 2020. Other accomplishments Pearl boasts include leading the Tigers to at least 21 wins in five of their past six seasons, a No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll during the 2021-22 season and the program’s first appearance in the Final Four in 2019.
A hallmark of Pearl’s success has been his adaptability. He didn’t fear overhauling the roster when he came to the Plains in 2014 − he added four recruits and three transfers in his first offseason − and he didn’t fear letting some later additions − Bryce Brown and Jared Harper are among some of the more notable − improve together.
LOOKING AHEAD: What Auburn basketball’s roster could look like next season, where Tigers can still improve
NEW ASSISTANT: One big reason Auburn basketball’s Bruce Pearl hired Corey Williams? His Texas ties
“The Final Four team was all built on freshmen, sophomores (and) juniors all growing up and all going together, and I still would prefer to do it that way,” Pearl said at an AMBUSH event in Atlanta last month. “But that’s just not the way (it is anymore).”
Pearl is right on both fronts. The Tigers had a 10-man rotation during their run to the Final Four that consisted of three players in their fourth years with the program (Brown, Horace Spencer and Danjel Purifoy), three in their third years (Harper, Austin Wiley and Anfernee McLemore), three in their second years (Chuma Okeke, Malik Dunbar and Samir Doughty) and one in his first season at Auburn in J’Von McCormick, who joined the Tigers after spending two seasons in junior college.
But Pearl is also right that things have changed. In the age of the transfer portal, coming to grips with the reality that some players may leave and throw off the layering of classes is needed.
“If you look at the teams that have gone and advanced to the (NCAA) tournament, they’re older,” Pearl said. “And it’s really, really hard — it’s hard for freshmen to come in and play a lot and play early. So, sometimes freshmen come in and they’re very promising, but they’re not willing to wait around with the sophomores and juniors, where they can actually have impact.
“So, we’re going to have — and you’ll see this in Power Five — there are going to be Power Five schools (that) are going to take one or two freshmen every year, instead of three or four. … Half the freshmen are going to have to go somewhere else, and then get re-recruited out of the portal. I don’t make the rules, but I’ve got to play with them.”
Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl claps for his team during warm ups during the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C., on Friday, March 18, 2022. Auburn Tigers defeated Jacksonville State Gamecocks 80-61.
Pearl’s change in philosophy and ability to adapt is best shown in the offseason before the 2021-22 campaign. The Tigers added Jabari Smith Jr as their lone freshman and went on to retool the roster with four transfers: Zep Jasper, KD Johnson, Wendell Green Jr. and Walker Kessler.
Kessler went on to be a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and Green received second team All-SEC honors last season, along with Johni Broome, who transferred in from Morehead State last offseason. And since getting knocked out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in March, Pearl has already brought in Denver Jones from Florida International and Chaney Johnson from Alabama-Huntsville.
“We’ve got, on average, about 3.5 (players) per team, per year, entering the transfer portal nationally,” Pearl said. “… It forces us to have to continue really hard in the months of April and May to not only work with your players and help them finish up their spring conditioning and basketball and academics … (but to also) then recruit to replace guys you didn’t think you were going to have to replace. And didn’t want to replace. …
“We’re just going to bring in really good guys that we think can help us continue to be competitive. It just forces us to work a little differently.”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: How Auburn basketball’s Bruce Pearl continues to adapt in recruiting
