CBS Sports Warns Not to Sleep on Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers had a successful basketball season last year, culminating with a run to the Final Four. It was Auburn’s best team in school history, but after coming tantalizingly close to the NCAA Tournament championship game, their focus remains on winning the elusive national title.

CBS Sports' Cameron Salerno ranked the top five teams who are most likely to win their first national title, and the Tigers made the list after reloading this offseason. 

“Auburn saw its best team in program history come up one game short of playing for a national title after a loss to Florida in the Final Four,” wrote Salerno on CBS Sports. “Star big man Johni Broome is gone. So is veteran forward Chad Baker-Mazara, but don't sleep on Auburn being a title contender.”

Despite losing all five starters from their Final Four team, the Tigers are bringing back arguably their most talented player. 

"Tahaad Pettiford, a projected first-round pick who came off the bench for the majority of his freshman campaign,” Salerno wrote. “Pettiford will enter Year 2 as a potential SEC Player of the Year and All-American candidate. He's a microwave scorer and is fully capable of being a mid-first-round pick in 2026.

“KeShawn Murphy (Mississippi State) and Keyshawn Hall (UCF) will provide valuable forward depth for a team replacing most of its offensive production from the previous season. Texas Tech transfer Kevin Overton was one of the more underrated players on a team that reached the Elite Eight."

Pettiford’s return to the team after a draft dalliance means a great deal to the team on various fronts. First, he becomes the first option on offense. Pettiford knows the offense and how to run it masterfully. Plus, his ability to create his own shot will tax perimeter defenders. Do they bail out and allow rim protectors to step up? Or do they aggressively defend with the risk of the guard trying to locate wide-open teammates?

Much of the scoring onus in the frontcourt resides with Hall. While replacing Broome is a Herculean task, the UCF transfer just needs to pair his double-digit output with Murphy's ten points, which should be enough to attempt to cover the losses.