'Surprise' Return Bolsters Auburn Tigers as Top 10 Program According to The Athletic

The Auburn Tigers enjoyed a successful 2024/25 season with a run to the Final Four. They’re losing all five starters from that team, but won’t have to entirely rebuild with the “surprising” return of freshman phenom Tahaad Pettiford.  

Head coach Bruce Pearl has been busy recruiting from the high school ranks and the transfer portal, and with the return of Pettiford, The Athletic ranks his Tigers as the No. 10 program next season. 

"Pettiford performed so well at the NBA Draft Combine that it’s a little surprising he’s returning to school,” wrote CJ Moore on The Athletic. “And I like what Bruce Pearl did in the portal. He got a proven scorer in Keyshawn Hall. He got the perfect energy/defensive big man in KeShawn Murphy, who has already shown he can be a winning player in the SEC.

“Serbian big man Filip Jovic comes from the same pro league that produced Tomislav Ivisic and put up better scoring numbers. Elyjah Freeman is a high-upside swing who comes from Division II but was on the radar of NBA folks at Lincoln Memorial University."

Pettiford's return to campus means Pearl won’t have to entirely start from scratch. After a strong finish to last season, several analysts, including Moore, expected the freshman to bolt for the NBA. Meanwhile, the combination of Hall and Murphy will play off each other well. 

When looking at Murphy, you have a piece that will give the team more than Dylan Caldwell did on the offensive side of the ball. As a result, teams that want to sag into the post will leave wide-open shooters to knock down threes. Jovic gives the Tigers an inside scoring punch that will help to offset the loss of Johni Broome. 

Freeman remains the wild card. How will he make the jump from LMU to the SEC? If he does well, it provides Auburn with another double-digit potential scorer.

Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers have reached the status of a national program that the losses of five starters won’t decimate their chances the next season. Pearl and the Tigers have reached the status of a program that doesn’t rebuild, it reloads.