The 2021-22 college basketball season came to a close last night with the Kansas Jayhawks winning the national championship over the North Carolina Tarheels.
With the close of that season, it is not time to focus on the 2022-23 season, and Scott Gleeson of USA TODAY released his way-too-early men’s preseason top 25 and Auburn made the cut.
He has the Tigers as his No. 21 team in his rankings. He cited the return of [autotag]K.D. Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Wendell Green Jr.[/autotag] for why he included Auburn.
The Tigers will lose their best player in All-American Jabari Smith, but guards K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green Jr. return in the backcourt from a team that tailed off early but was in line for a No. 1 seed in February.
Auburn finished the season 28-6 and despite winning the SEC regular-season championship lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Miami.
In addition to those two, Auburn will return starters [autotag]Zep Jasper[/autotag] and [autotag]Allen Flannigan[/autotag]. [autotag]Jaylin Williams[/autotag] is also expected to slide back into the starting lineup with the departures of Smith and [autotag]Walker Kessler[/autotag].
While Auburn has plenty of returning production, Bruce Pearl and the staff are working hard to add more talent. They have a commitment from five-star center Yohan Traore, the second highest-rated commit in program history, and signed four-star wing Chance Westry and three-star point guard Tre Donaldson.
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