Bruce Pearl admits he had ‘no expectation’ Auburn would be this good

Not even Bruce Pearl expected Auburn to dominate like it has this season.

That now includes the top-ranked Tigers (27-2, 15-1 SEC) locking up the 2024-25 SEC regular-season championship with a week to play — Auburn’s second regular-season title in the last four seasons — with Saturday’s convincing 94-78 road win over No. 17 Kentucky.

That was the Tigers’ 16th Quad 1 win this season and 10th victory over AP Top 25 teams as Auburn has held onto the No. 1 overall rankings for a program-record eight straight weeks.

“It’s really been the journey. I had no expectations that this team would be this good,” Pearl said postgame Saturday.

Pearl credits that success to an unbreakable team chemistry that is increasingly rare in the day-and-age of the NCAA Transfer Portal, where malcontent players can leave at a drop of a hat.

That wasn’t the case last offseason as the Tigers retained six key veterans — including returning starters such as National Player of the Year contender Johni Broome and do-it-all wing Chad Baker-Mazara — to allow Pearl and company to be selective with its 2024 recruiting class, including adding senior guard Miles Kelly, a highly-coveted transfer from Georgia Tech who scored a season-high 30 points against Kentucky.

Bruce Pearl on building 2024-25 roster: ‘Sometimes less is more’

“I think one of the things about putting the roster together … sometimes less is more. I have 12 guys on scholarship, not 13, because I can’t keep 13 happy. I have one player that’s on scholarship knowing he was going to be in practice all year, which gets us down to 11,” Pearl continued. “Now the risk you run is injury, but (by) taking that risk, almost all my guys are playing. So when we lost Jaylin Williams a year ago, who was one of our best players, we didn’t dip in the transfer portal to try to get a five-star four man to replace Jaylin Williams.

“I told Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell and Chaney Johnson, ‘I’m empowering you guys. I’m going to make this big lineup work,’” Pearl added. “They’re all seniors, they all paid their dues, whether we won or not they had all earned the right for me to not bring in a big-time player over their head. That’s when the chemistry was built, and those guys appreciated it and trusted us.”

That trust was key, especially as Auburn added Kelly and SMU forward Ja’Heim Hudson out of the transfer portal as well as 2024 four-star freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford, a McDonald’s All-American who just dropped 21 points off the bench Saturday vs. the Wildcats.

“I think you can still make great decisions in the transfer portal. … Denver Jones was at Florida International. Chad Baker-Mazara was at junior college. Chaney Johnson was at Division II. Miles Kelly, who won his first championship in his life he just told me, was at Georgia Tech, and … he was a three-and-D guy (3-point shooter that plays strong defense), and when you got some of the quality size we have on the other side, you can get another three-and-d guy out there. … And obviously the pieces have come together nicely.”

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