With the month of March in the rearview mirror, the college basketball offseason is officially underway and head coach Bruce Pearl and his staff have begun to look towards the rebuild of the Auburn basketball roster for the 2022-23 season.
The Tigers will lose both Freshman of the Year Jabari Smith Jr. and Defensive Player of the Year Walker Kessler to the NBA Draft, where Smith is projected as the potential #1 overall pick. Also parting ways with the squad is Devan Cambridge, who announced earlier this month that he would be transferring to Arizona State to reunite and play with his brother Desmond.
On the other hand, Auburn basketball has three incoming signees in the recruiting class of 2022 in 5-star power forward Yohan Traore, 4-star small forward Chance Westry, and 3-star point guard Tre Donaldson.
Former Morehead State big man Johni Broome is on the Plains for a visit this weekend after entering the transfer portal two weeks ago, and now it seems that Auburn basketball has caught the eye of another top transfer. Former Tennessee Volunteer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, ranked as 247 Sports’ #8 player in the portal, has narrowed his list of schools down to five, including Auburn.
— brandon ߙ (@RealGupaveli) April 15, 2022
For the first three months of the Vols’ season, Huntley-Hatfield was a bench player. However, when Olivier Nkamhoua’s season ended due to injury, Huntley-Hatfield moved into the starting rotation and shone for Tennessee in both the SEC and NCAA Tournaments.
Originally a member of the recruiting class of 2022, Huntley-Hatfield reclassified and began his collegiate career early. The former 5-star prospect averaged 3.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 0.3 assists, and 0.3 blocks on the season while shooting at 45.3 percent from the field, but averaged 6.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in the postseason.
While there’s no word yet on whether or not Huntley-Hatfield will plan a visit to the Plains, it’s quite possible that the former Vol will become a Tiger in 2022.