Bruce Pearl zeroing in on underwhelming frontcourt addition for rebuilt Auburn roster

After taking Auburn to its second Final Four in program history, Bruce Pearl has his work cut out heading into Year 12 of his phenomenal tenure. With four graduations and a transfer departure, Pearl has to replace his entire starting five, along with plenty of his bench depth, and much of that reconstruction is occurring in the transfer portal. 

Pearl has already added four incoming transfers: Keyshawn Hall, KeShawn Murphy, Kevin Overton, and Elyjah Freeman. And while that’s a talented group, primarily of versatile two-way wings, Pearl must add more talent alongside Murphy in the frontcourt after leading the most successful season in program history with the duo of Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. 

While Broome was a former mid-major transfer who Pearl turned into a First-Team All-American, and Cardwell was a long-term developmental project in his program, Auburn’s interest in pairing Texas Tech big Federiko Federiko with Murphy leaves a lot to be desired. 

Auburn among schools interested in Texas Tech transfer Federiko Federiko

After adding Overton from Texas Tech this offseason, Pearl appears to be interested in prying more talent away from Lubbock. As Joe Tipton of On3.com reports, the Tigers are among a long list of teams interested in Federiko. 

The 6-foot-11 junior started just six games for the Red Raiders last season, averaging 5.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in fewer than 20 minutes a game while shooting nearly 75 percent from the field. That level of efficiency is intriguing, but it’s hard to imagine Auburn defending its regular-season SEC title with two forwards who both came off the bench and their previous stop. 

Murphy only started three games at Mississippi State, though he was a much more prolific scorer, averaging 11.7 points a game in 24 minutes a night while shooting 56.6 percent. Both Federiko and Murphy could flourish with expanded roles, but a year after earning the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, it’s a surprise that Pearl appears to be shopping in the bargain bin when it comes to transfer portal additions. 

Hall is the most proven commodity that Auburn has added this offseason, and Overton was a useful starter for Grant McCasland at Texas Tech, but both Federiko and Murphy came off the bench on lesser teams than the Tigers, and Freeman is making the leap from Division II to the SEC. 

Pearl’s incoming freshman class has significant promise, so he may rely on that group of young players to keep his program atop the SEC, but ranked as the 15th best class in the nation, Auburn isn’t exactly recruiting like Jon Scheyer at Duke or John Calipari at Arkansas. 

Federiko would be an additive player to Auburn’s roster, but it could be time for Pearl to take a big swing to land one of the top players on the market this offseason.