CBP : New Look Backcourt/Patience

[toddc 13,194]

Bruce Pearl 'very comfortable' with Auburn basketball's new-look backcourt

Justin Hokanson

On3 Consensus four-star PG Aden Holloway / Auburn Basketball Athletics

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. — Despite the loss of point guard Wendell Green Jr., Auburnhead basketball coach Bruce Pearl is “very comfortable” with what the Tigers’ backcourt will look like for the 2023-24 season.

“I feel very comfortable with Aden, Tre, K.D., Denver, we have a chance to add another one. I feel really good about our backcourt,” Pearl said on Monday at the Bruce Pearl For The Children golf tournament.

THE PLAYERS: Auburn will feature two new players at the one and two positions, and possible three new players among the one, two and three positions on the floor.

• Sophomore Tre Donaldson returns, with incoming McDonald’s All-American Aden Holloway joining him. Transfer Denver Jones is signed and joins returner K.D. Johnson at the two guard position.

• Jones was one of only a handful of transfer portal players to average over 20 points per game last season, doing so at Florida International.

• If Auburn can land Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence, he would join Lior Berman and Chris Moore (who can play the three and four positions), giving Auburn three new players playing major roles in the backcourt.

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HOLLOWAY COMING IN HOT: Holloway finished as the No. 17 player in the On3 Sports Consensus player rankings and a four-star prospect. He’s the second-highest rated combo guard in the nation.

• “His rankings have gone up. He’s gotten bigger, he’s competed well at those higher levels. That’s what we would hope. We would hope that a guy we signed or committed, a year later would show he’s moving up the rankings. That shows you we made the right decision there,” Pearl said. 

DONALDSON AND HOLLOWAY COMPETITION INCOMING: Pearl expects Holloway and Donaldson to have “tremendous competition” this summer and into the fall. “They’re both going to play, and the good thing is both are good with and without the ball. That’s going to be fun to watch. There’s going to be great competition at every position,” Pearl said.

Bruce Pearl, Tigers being ‘patient’ in finalizing basketball roster

Pearl and Auburn are still working hard to finalize their basketball roster for next season, where patience is the key word, not panic.

“We’ve been exploring those options for a while. We’ve been patient,” Pearl said on Monday at the Bruce Pearl For The Children golf tournament. “We’ve lost a few guys we’ve been involved with, and I’d say there are still three or four guys still out there that we are actively involved in. We’d like to get one of them. If we got one of them, we’d feel really, really good at that position. Part of it is being patient. Fortunately, there’s some really good options out there. We need one more at that spot.”

[AUBwins 10,069]

3 or 4 guys huh. 

[toddc 13,194]

Patience pops up again !

Auburn basketball's Bruce Pearl gives update on Johni Broome, other draft declarations

Richard Silva

ALEXANDER CITY — Four Auburn basketball players entered the 2023 NBA Draft as early entrants this offseason: Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell, Wendell Green Jr. and Jaylin Williams.

Of the bunch, Broome was the only one to receive an invite to the G League Elite Camp this past week in Chicago's Wintrust Arena. Broome played well enough − he dropped 40 points on 64% shooting to go along with 12 rebounds and four blocks over two games − to receive an invite to the NBA Combine this week, where he'll have more of an opportunity to show off his skillset for league scouts.

Getting drafted will likely still be an uphill battle, though. Broome was one of eight players to parlay a G League Elite Camp performance into an NBA Combine invite. Seven players took that path last year, and none were selected in the 2022 NBA Draft.

BRUCE PEARL:How Auburn basketball coach's recruiting philosophy has changed over the years

NEW ASSISTANT:One big reason Auburn basketball's Bruce Pearl hired Corey Williams? His Texas ties

"It's really, really hard to make that jump because there are so many guys that get invited to the combine that aren't going to get drafted, right?" coach Bruce Pearl said at the annual Fore the Children Golf Classic at the Willow Point Golf & Country Club in Alexander City on Monday. "But Johni definitely helped himself and clearly does the things that he does. ... The level of competition at the (NBA) Combine will be higher than the G League Combine.

"He did great. Our feelings have always sort of been, 'Can you get yourself into that first round?' If you can get yourself into that first round, you need to go. It's hard to climb out of the second round. Guys that go second round, they're not the general manager's first pick, they do the two-way contract, they spend most of their time in the G League. We're rooting for Johni on one hand. On the other hand, we'd obviously love to have him back because he could be one of the best players, preseason, in college basketball next season."

Pearl said he expects both Williams and Cardwell to return. The deadline for an early entrant to withdraw their name from the draft pool is May 31. The 2023 NBA Draft is set to begin June 22 in New York's Barclays Center.

"But still, we've got to wait for those decisions to come back," Pearl said. "... We'll see."

[aubiefifty 16,735]

i thought Aden was upgraded to five star?i could swear i saw that looking through sports articles.

[Rednilla 5,383]

13 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i thought Aden was upgraded to five star?i could swear i saw that looking through sports articles.

I think On3 is the only service that has him as a 4-star now. He's a 5-star in the 247Composite rankings.

[bigbird 60,443]

13 hours ago, toddc said:

Patience 

[bigbird 60,443]

15 hours ago, toddc said:

If Auburn can land Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence,

[toddc 13,194]

Auburn the best team over the last five years?

Edited May 16, 2023 by toddc

[ellitor 33,076]

8 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I think On3 is the only service that has him as a 4-star now. He's a 5-star in the 247Composite rankings.

@Rednilla Rivals dropped him to a 4* also. Before then he was a 5* on the On3 Consensus rankings. He's a 4* now. The On3 consensus is a bit better than the 247 composite because the consensus uses al 4 sites in their ranking while the composite only uses 3.

[ellitor 33,076]

6 hours ago, toddc said:

Auburn the best team over the last five years. 

That's debateable and I disagree.

[toddc 13,194]

Just now, ellitor said:

That's debateable and I disagree.

Should have put a question mark at the end. Wasn’t my take either.

[BigBlueWDE 1,136]

We are in a decline, hopefully temporary. Didn't get enough out of the Kess/Jabari team in the post-season. Didn't fix the roster that off-season. Delayed the transition/overhaul to this season. So a 3:1 trade isn't great when the 1 didn't really pay off