Auburn’s offseason has started to look like the kind of reset the program needed.
Steven Pearl has a roster that feels more connected than last year’s group, and that’s been the biggest early difference as the Tigers work through summer preparations. Auburn brought back just two starters from the 2025 team - Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton - while also keeping rotation pieces Simon Walker and Blake Muschalek. On top of that, eight new players have joined the mix, giving Pearl a much different team to mold.
After a month of summer work, Pearl likes the energy he’s seeing.
“To this point, it’s been a group that’s really worked hard -- a lot of guys that are consistently in the gym. Everyone’s very optimistic this time of year,” Pearl said.
He also pointed to something last year’s team never really had enough of.
“Now, we haven’t had any adversity. However, this team has probably spent more time with each other than any team we’ve had in a while, which was probably something we were missing last year.”
That matters for Auburn, which is trying to move on from a rough 2025-26 season that ended without a March Madness bid for the first time in five years. The Tigers finished 17-16 and dealt with internal problems along the way.
The transition also came with a major shakeup before the season even started, when Bruce Pearl retired just before fall practice in late September. Steven Pearl inherited the fallout from that abrupt change, along with the challenge of getting a new group pointed in the same direction.
Now, with year one behind him, he’s focused on rebuilding the standard.
“That’s positive. You’ve seen some progression of guys making improvements, and a different guy plays well every week, which is encouraging,” Pearl added.
“But you really won’t know anything until you go out there and play against other competition. So far, our guys have had a good summer to this point.”
Auburn’s first games come in August, when the Tigers head to Greece for a foreign tour. It will be Auburn’s first tour since the trip to Israel in 2022 under Bruce Pearl and the one to Italy in 2017.
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