Auburn Basketball: The 2016-17 Season Is Already A Success

Here we discuss the 2016-17 Auburn basketball season and how it is already a success despite being ninth in the SEC entering February.

It’s a bit hard to forget how Auburn basketball‘s 2015-16 season ended — finishing the 11-20 (5-13 SEC) season against Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Championship. The Tigers had lost their dream scorer in Kareem Canty and relied heavily in big man Tyler Harris to take the charge — on both ends of the floor, no doubt.

There was Cinmeon Bowers and a far more efficient Bryce Brown (10.1 points per game down to 6.1 this season), and despite the power of the roster, Auburn went 2-12 in its last 12 games of the season. In all of those losses, the Tigers never made it passed 70 points. In comparison to the victories, where the victories led to 84 and 86 points each.

Despite all the losses, it was clear what Bruce Pearl’s mission was and where he wanted to take the team in the future. His tenacity on the court along with his communication with both the team and the fans during games exposed his intensity and love for the Plains. Under his leadership, it was fair to take each loss with a taste of some sweetness — the growth was evident, and the progression was on its way.

Recruitment took shape with two 5-star recruits. The No. 5 shooting guard Mustapha Heron was joined midseason with the No. 6 center Austin Wiley. These two dominant players were joined by the Tiger’s point guard of the future in 4-star Jared Harper, the No. 18 point guard. A freshman class was then topped off with 3-star Anfernee McLemore, who has turned out to be far more than what fans thought he could be.

All the right pieces fell along, and immediately the 2016-17 season was looking far different than whatever happened in 2015.

The first test of the season came with No. 17 Purdue, which resulted in a 96-71 loss. Identity quickly became an issue along with the consistent showings of inexperience. All the talent that Auburn could have asked for the decade prior had shown up on campus, and yet we forget it takes time to grow.

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Auburn hasn’t exactly had a draft-ready prospect right out of high school in quite some time, so its safe to assume that Heron and Wiley are going to take a couple of years to fully develop and grow the Auburn name. Yet, even with all the losses and the No. 9 slot in the conference, these Tigers are doing more than previously imaginable. To even consider that Auburn would have a top 20 — let alone holding the top spot for a few weeks — in recruiting is something phenomenal.

Bruce Pearl has built a program around nothing but tradition and his own resume from Tennessee — yet he’s already done more in half a decade than what Auburn had done since their last NCAA tournament berth in 2003. There’s already four more wins in the season at the start of February than the entirety of the 2015-16 season. There’s a prolific scorer in Heron, the perfect point guard in Harper and a force in the paint with Wiley. This trio is topped off with an already impressive class of sophomores.

Next: Five things for Auburn Basketball Entering February

With each loss, there is certainly a level of dissatisfaction and anger. Being close to worst in the SEC is not something to be proud of, but where Auburn has come from, its something to be proud of. Stay patient, and just wait for the things to come.

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