Auburn basketball fans have been in for an exciting offseason so far. The Tigers will be sending Freshman of the Year Jabari Smith and Defensive Player of the Year Walker Kessler off to the 2022 NBA Draft, a pair of players that undoubtedly made history on the Plains.
4-star shooting guard Chance Westry and 3-star point guard Tre Donaldson have been Auburn basketball commits for awhile, and have officially signed on as members of the class of 2022. Also joining the Tigers’ squad next year is former Morehead State big man Johni Broome.
Following the firing of Will Wade at LSU, the Bayou Bengals lost several hard commits including 5-star power forward Yohan Traore and 5-star small forward Julian Phillips.
Head coach Bruce Pearl immediately began recruiting the pair, and soon secured Yohan Traore for next season’s roster. However, the recruitment of Phillips dragged out much longer, and when he announced his commitment today it was not exactly the news that Auburn fans were hoping to hear.
Instead of joining former would-be teammate Traore on the Plains, Phillips will be taking his talents to the University of Tennessee. Although fans would have rather seen Phillips in an Auburn jersey next season, there’s no doubt the Tigers are still going to be great with all the star power Pearl has packed into the upcoming roster:
Ouch sucks but we’ll survive https://t.co/A7GDfO3anq
— A1 Auburn Fan 🦚 (@A1Auburn) May 12, 2022
Hate that for @AuburnMBB darn! https://t.co/UJH2pkkF56
— Fjord Manderson (@FordManderson) May 12, 2022
You recruit players on Phillips' level, gonna miss more often than you hit
— Jerry Hinnen (@JerryHinnen) May 12, 2022
Auburn's still going to be
*checks notes, notes include "roster includes Johni Broome"*
really freaking good
Although the former LSU commit would have been the icing on the recruitment cake for Bruce Pearl and the Tigers, Auburn basketball still has a bright future ahead of them in the 2022-23 season.