Auburn Tigers Expectations Flying High

Bruce Pearl's Auburn Tigers are among the nation's best teams according to ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25

Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl celebrated an SEC Tournament Championship in 2024 / Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA

Expectations remain high for the Auburn Tigers men’s basketball in 2024-25. ESPN released its latest way-too-early Top-25, ranking the Tigers at 11th.

The Tigers remain in the same spot from the previous way-too-early ranking. However, they still rank higher than they did in the final AP Poll from last season, where they finished 18th. 

Auburn ranks as the second-highest school in the SEC, only behind rival Alabama who sits at No. 2.

ESPN's Jeff Borzello likes Auburn's offseason additions.

"Auburn has seen a steady stream of positive news this offseason, starting with the addition of Furman transfer JP Pegues and continuing with the return of first-team All-SEC selectionJohni Broome up front," wrote Borzello on ESPN. "Broome could enter the season as a preseason All-American. Denver Jones and Chad Baker-Mazara are also back on the perimeter, while Bruce Pearl recently went out and landed Georgia Tech transfer Miles Kelly."

Pegues transferred to Auburn from Furman in April. Pegues averaged 18.4 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game last season and was ranked a four-star prospect in the 247 Sports Transfer Portal Rankings.

Shooting guard Kelly transferred to Auburn after three seasons at Georgia Tech. He put up decent numbers his junior year: 13.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.

However, those numbers might not tell the whole story. 

"I think Miles Kelly has a chance to be one of the most underrated players in the portal," 247Sports national college basketball writer Isaac Trotter said on the Auburn Undercover Podcast. "Just looking at the numbers of what he had, I think it's easy to be a little bit hesitant with him because the numbers weren't great. But you have to factor in context. That was a young Georgia Tech team; Miles Kelly had to take a bunch of shots for them."

The Tigers also got points for the return of first-team All-SEC forward Johnie Broome. Broome is heading into his third season at Auburn since transferring over from Moorhead State. In 2023-24, he averaged 16.5 points, 835 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Broome’s 3-point percentage improved from 29% to 35.4%. 

Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers were disappointed with their early exit from the NCAA Tournament last season, but they're gearing up for another run in 2024/25.