The Auburn Tigers have put their fans on quite the rollercoaster over the past two seasons, as in 2024, the team peaked at No. 1 in the country and made it all the way to the Final Four, but in 2025, a completely new-look team quickly flamed out, ending a disappointing season with a tournament win in the NIT.
A large part of the change in result had to do with the depth of the Tigers’ roster in each year, as in 2024, the team boasted incredible depth, while in 2025, the team struggled to find consistent depth in the frontcourt, resulting in struggles in late-game scenarios and with injuries.
However, headed into the 2026 season, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl is quite confident that his roster has strong depth in all facets of their game.
“Throughout the summer if a guy went down with an injury, we were able to put somebody in at his position, and we were able to still have productive practices,” Pearl said. “Last year we had stretches during the season where if a guy was a little dinged up, we really couldn't have a productive practice because we only had six or seven guys that we felt like could play in the rotation. I'm in a place now this year where we feel like we have 13 guys that could really play meaningful minutes and contribute for us this year.”
The Tigers kept just two starters from last year’s squad–Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton–replacing just about every other piece on the court with transfer talent from all across the country, as well as two key pieces from overseas.
One of those overseas pieces, Narcisse Ngoy, has been garnering quite a bit of attention after winning MVP and DPOY in the French Elite 2 league last season. He, alongside other key transfer pieces like Bukky Oboye, Thomas Dowd and Owen Freeman, should provide the strong paint presence that the Tigers struggled with last season.
Additionally, the Tigers have brought in some guard depth in Vanderbilt transfer George Kimble and true freshman guard Caleb Williams, while keeping on the aforementioned Pettiford and Overton, alongside Simon Walker, who was limited last season but lit up the floor with three-pointers when given an opportunity.
However, Pearl was clear that though the Tigers have up to 13 available players that could contribute on the floor, he is not expecting to run that deep of a rotation.
“Our rotation won't be 13,” he said, “but the ability to be able to deal with injuries, deal with foul trouble, and obviously in this crazy world we live in while we're still figuring out eligibility, it's nice to have that many pieces that you can plug and play as the year goes on.”
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