Birmingham, AL—How will Auburn replace Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler? A question looming around the program ever since the conclusion of last season. In years past it would take Auburn years to recover from losing two first-round talents. However, this year’s team has an abundance of fresh faces combined with experience. A team full of depth, talent, and hunger to repeat as SEC champions. Auburn has officially become a program that reloads, rather than rebuilds.
This past summer in Israel, we got a preview of what Auburn would be like without Smith and Kessler. But that three-game summer showcase was not enough for the SEC Media Day crowd. As soon as Coach Pearl arrived at the podium, he was immediately questioned about how Auburn would fill this frontcourt void.
“Replacing Jabari and Walker with Johni Broome and Yohan Traore, I don’t know if we could’ve done any better,” said Pearl.
Traore, a five-star freshman from Glendale, Arizona, looks to fill the shoes of Jabari Smith. Although it’s a big task, he has earned the respect of his teammates during recent practices. Wendell Green elaborated on this at media day by complementing Traore’s work ethic and comparing his shooting ability to Jabari Smith’s.
Broome, a Morehead State transfer, looks to man the paint and provide the shot-blocking presence that Walker Kessler left behind. Last season, Broome was the third-leading shot blocker in the nation.
Alongside Broome and Traore, Auburn added freshman wing Chance Westry, and guard Tre Donaldson to round out the backcourt.
Yes, this is a new team. However, there is a variety of returning players from last season who are carrying over the championship mindset.
“We lost two guys, but everybody else came back that won a championship,” said Auburn guard Wendell Green.” We have a championship mindset on the team. When we walk into practice, we know what it takes to win a championship. The new guys have followed it and come along…We have a lot of special players, and no matter what anybody says our players our special. We feel like we can go out there and win another championship.”
In addition to discussing the unfamiliar faces on the team, Green mentioned how he has stepped up as a leader this year. Also, how he has improved on the defensive end.
Pearl has made it clear he wants to see improvement from Green and the rest of the returning cast. He emphasized at the beginning of his media day press conference the importance of progression by everybody else to fulfill the departures of Smith and Kessler. Particularly regarding the play of the backcourt and unity on the defensive end.
In addition to Green, the familiar faces include K.D Johnson, Jaylin Williams, Chris Moore, Zep Jasper, Allen Flannigan, Dylan Cardwell, and Babatunde Akingbola.
As Pearl mentioned, the depth of this team will be a key attribute to Auburn’s brand for 2022-23. The ability to go deep into the bench has been a stable of Bruce Pearl-coached teams, as it provides competitive practices and an opportunity to play the fast-paced style of basketball that he loves.
Having thirteen guys who can contribute reduces injuries having a major factor as well. Auburn has already suffered multiple injuries in the off-season. Chance Westry and Allen Flanigan have both been recovering and away from practice. When asked about their status, Pearl did not seem to be worried as he promoted the strength in numbers of this year’s squad, and Allen Flanigan’s return to the team.
Pearl is looking for Flanigan to take the next step from being one of the best athletes in the SEC, to be one of the best basketball players in the conference.
It is very unusual for teams to have this kind of depth in college basketball. Most programs will deal with players transferring when they bring in first-year talent. That is not the case with Auburn. Despite Devan Cambridge taking his talents to Arizona State, there was a vast number of players who did not have big roles last year that stayed with the program.
One of those players was Jaylin Williams, who replaced K.D Johnson in Birmingham on Wednesday due to an eye infection.
When asked about why he did not transfer, Williams revealed his loyalty to Coach Pearl. Also mentioning his value of team success over personal glory. Williams looks to make a greater impact this season in a greater role and wants to display his abilities to the college basketball world.
“People love Auburn, they just do,” Pearl said. “We don’t have a lot of guys that want to transfer out, they like Auburn and they like me.”
From evaluating Pearl, Green, and Williams on Wednesday, it appears that Auburn has a hungry ball club that takes pride in representing their university. And a team that has a unified goal of repeating as SEC Champions and so much more.
The re-loaded Auburn Tigers basketball starts their 2022-23 campaign on Monday, November 7, at Neville Arena vs George Mason.
