3 Auburn basketball players who probably won’t be back next season
Auburn had a loaded roster a year ago, but not enough star power. As Bruce Pearl hunts for the latter, he'll likely lose a few established veterans who led his team to the SEC Tournament title.
By Josh Yourish
One of Auburn’s greatest strengths in the 2023-24 season was depth. Bruce Pearl went 10-11 deep on his bench with a rotation of four steady guards around freshman Aden Holloway and it led to a great regular season. However, when Chad Baker-Mazara was ejected from Auburn’s first round NCAA Tournament matchup against Yale, the lack of top-end talent was revealed.
Pearl’s team was bounced early and what was viewed as a feature was exposed as a bug in the system. Johni Broome was asked to carry the Tigers on offense, something he wasn’t forced to do for long stretches in the regular season. Broome finished with 24 points, but the supporting cast wasn’t acclimated to deferring, so he only took 10 shots while KD Johnson went 3-9 off the bench.
The hierarchy wasn’t clearly established, but it appears that Pearl is finally ready to this offseason. Johnson has already entered the portal and he won’t be the only player leaving the program. Broome, Johnson, Chris Moore, Dylan Cardwell, Carter Sobera, and Jalen Harper were all recognized on Senior Day, but all have one year of eligibility remaining. Of that group, these three are least likely to return.
Chris Moore. . 6'6" 220 lbs. Senior. 525. . Chris Moore, F. Chris Moore, F. 3. player
Chris Moore has been at Auburn for four seasons and if his opportunity to shine hasn’t come yet, it’s safe to say it’s not going to. Moore has to option to simply move on from college basketball or to enter the transfer portal to play somewhere else and potentially showcase himself before a professional career overseas.
With his participation in Senior Day, it feels like he could simply be done with college hoops, but with his remaining year of eligibility, he’s eligible for this list as well.
Moore has good size on the wing and for the limited minutes he’s played is a quality rebounder at 6-foot-6. However, his three-point shooting dropped off from 40.9% in 2022-23 to 26.1% last season, on the same number of attempts.
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