Auburn basketball is a top four team in the SEC after using the transfer portal

It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day! I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. I'm going to show you how to make a new product. Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers got better in the transfer portal. This is a special basketball edition of Lockdown Auburn. This is happening in Auburn, Alabama! Listen, we're a football school and we're also in everything school. You are a Lockdown Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on into Lockdown Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn your first lesson every single day. And the everydayers know that when we talk basketball, we bring in the Montgomery radio vet, Darrell Daprich, the man who built the house. He was born in Darrell looking at everything Bruce Pearl did via the transfer portal. There was some drama that went along with it. We're bringing in Denver Jones, bringing in Chad Baker, Missouri, bringing in Chady Johnson. Oh yeah, the Aiden Holloway kids pretty dang good. Auburn got better over the last few months than where they were a year ago. They really did. There was an obvious roster reconstruction and it is great to be talking basketball. It feels good. It's been such a long delay and it's been a tumultuous off season with certain things, but it's been good. You have the glow when you talk about it. I love it, man. And I love off season. The transfer portal makes it so much fun. It does. It goes past recruiting and now you've got to do a roster reconstruction. He hired a new assistant coach. He did a great job in my opinion with this roster reconstruction. We heard a lot of names, kids that were tied to Auburn. At the end of the day, again, Bruce Pearl went out and filled his largest knee. And that is they needed to get better from the perimeter. They needed better outside three point shooting. They needed guys with three point field goal percentages over 35%. They got a natural two guard in Denver Jones. They got a nice three that's six, seven. Chad Baker, Missouri shoots 40% from three left hander. Very athletic, very lean, very long. Nice wing, prototypical wing at the three. And then Chaney Johnson, a kid from UAH that you and I and Clay Sharp watch at the exhibition. And I couldn't take my eyes off them because he lit us up for 16 or 17 points and he looked really good playing against SEC competition. Remember, that's how Bruce Pearl got to an I broom. They played against Auburn against SEC competition and Bruce Pearl. He stood out to Bruce Pearl. Same thing with Chaney Johnson. He's a natural four, a in Holloway coming in, everything that I've heard. He can make an immediate impact as a freshman. It could be a stud, freshman point guard. So he did, Bruce Pearl did a great job assessing needs and flaws of the roster. Yeah, yeah. And I think there is going to be a little bit of addition by subtraction as well. Wendell Green entering the draft. We'll see certainly how that goes for him. And then Alan Flanagan, he's out no longer a part of the program as well. And so now all of a sudden you look at the culture that's been a big thing about this. And then you look at their ability to score from the perimeter. Like you said, that was an emphasis on all this. This team getting more efficient from shooting from behind the arc, which is whenever Bruce Pearl teams win a championship, which fortunately has happened a few times since he's been here at this point. They've been able to shoot better at the three and they've been long enough to play good effective defense. And you can certainly do this with the guys that they've put on this roster now. So looking at it, let's go through what we think the two deep could possibly be with this squad, Daryl. So I think at the point guard, I think Aidan Holloway is going to start at the point. I think he's going to come in. I love Trey Donaldson. He really emerged in the NCAA tournament. He's that guy that's going to improve and give you quality minutes. But that's okay. The Auburn team that went to the final four had a nice little one, two punch with Jared Harper and J. Von McCormick, you need that point guard that can come in and play 15, 20 minutes, split it up. I like that, especially with Holloway being a freshman, him and Trey Donaldson carrying that load. So there's your two point guards at the two guard. Denver Jones comes in from Florida national. He immediately slides in 18, 19 points per game guy can shoot it from three. Katie Johnson's is back up. Good experience. Good coming off the bench. Instant energy. You love that role for him at the three. I think Baker Mizzara starts. The kid from Northwest Florida that came in. And I think Chris Moore, who I really like, he's your hard hat guy, got all the tools. It does everything it takes to win. Everything you need, he's the Allen wrench, right? The Swiss Army knife. He'll back up at the three, at the four, Jalen Williams, so I think he'll emerge and really become even a go to a higher level. He has to. He needs to improve. But I think he's got the capability to do that. He'll play the four and this Cheney Johnson will come in off the bench. It's going to be interesting. My prediction is by the end of the year, even though Jalen Williams, I think it's going to be even better than last year, him and Cheney Johnson are going to have similar minutes. It's going to be hard to keep Johnson off the floor. And then hopefully Broome, which draws his name from the draft, comes back to Auburn. Indications are that he will do that and Dylan Cardwell is your backup at the five. Leor Berman, you're utility to do. Plug them in. Let's take a second. You mentioned Janae Broome there. He went and was going to test the NBA draft waters. He kind of got hot. It's like, you know, and all of the scrimmages and type games that they play throughout the NBA combine. He's playing it's up over the best basketball. He's playing his career, which also shows maybe for wasn't constantly in foul trouble. I think you as you see, officiating how possibly be for this team. I'm still the mindset there that I don't think he will go to the NBA draft. But if he does, that'd be really bad. Like it'd be a really bad situation for this team because you can kind of tell like they didn't really pursue any centers. Like they need they were playing on having Janae Broome another year. It would be very difficult. Put you behind the eight ball. The only saving grace you might have is if there's a kid that's a grad transfer. There's on a current roster right now. Saw that Broome left and then said, Oh, I can slide over to Auburn and start at the five at that program. I'll leave. That's the only hope and saving grace you have is there's a kid right now that's sticking with his team because there's no opening. But if that opening happened because Broome went to the draft, then maybe you'd see some movement, but you can't have a project at the five. You better have somebody that can give you double doubles instantly to plug in. Or this team on the front line standpoint. The only thing you could do is you could go a little small like Bruce Pearl did with Macklemore that year and put Williams at the five and Chaney Johnson at the four and then have Cardwell be the backup. You could do that. You may get beat on the boards a little bit, but Bruce Pearl has had teams that he's got a little bit small like that that would be an option. And then you just get a center for backup, but I go get a guy like that. Ooday from Kansas or whatever that they've offered as a backup for debt. Yeah. And Jalen played center was it is freshman year at the Sharif Cooper year. He was he was starting center. So I mean, it's definitely not his natural spot, but as a worst case scenario, you know, break the last. Oh, I'm in Williams. Is he saying? Let's see. Because here's the thing. Janae Broome is 68 to 30. Okay. Janae Broome, six, nine. So I mean, you're not you're losing an inch at the five position. He's listening to the roster, but I totally feel you. Yeah. And Jalen Williams, a little more explosive than Janae Broome. He is from a lift verticality standpoint. He is. So that may be your plan B. If you don't get a center that's a grad transfer that jumps into the portal if they saw Broome leave, but what we want is plan A and that is Broome to come back. And that's and that solves everything. Yeah. So I think it's still in card. Well, just still in card. Well, it's a guy that you want to play 12 minutes in the SEC. Yeah. The offensive set is limited. The offensive skill sets a little limited in the tool bag. So that's why he's he's high energy guy dunks around the ram. Good defense, but he needs needs a little more tools. Yeah. Off it's a standpoint of a 12 minutes a game. Like he's, he's perfect. He's exactly what you want. Six, six points, eight points a game, five rebounds. A couple of blocks. And the way he gets the crowd height, that's what you need. You need guys. He's a glue guy. He absolutely take it. All right, Darrell, let's talk about expectations and who who's the leader on this team now? Because it kind of seemed like it was zep. And now we'll see who it is moving forward. Today's show brought to you by our friends at Bird Dogs, Bird Dogs, my favorite pair of shorts ever. I've got two pair. Darrell, you were you were looking at a few of them as well earlier this week over at birddogs.com. You head over birddogs.com slash locked on college to check out all of the great value that you can find. They've got that liner in them though, which makes them versatile. There you can, you can wear them anywhere and people aren't going to know that they're not like super, you know, dressy, dressy shorts, but they kind of look it. They look the part. They look great. They feel great, very versatile. Head over once again to birddogs.com slash locked on college and use code locked on college. All one word you can see it there on the screen if you're watching on YouTube. Use locked on college for a free tumbler with every single purchase. You can see the color on the screen if you want. You can see the color on the screen if you want. You can see the color on the screen if you want. I think Auburn is in a situation where they can still be a top quarter team in the SEC this season. Alabama lost a lot of players and then Betty Aco decides to stay in the draft at the time we're taping this. So Arkansas is going to be like you said, a force we reckon with because of muscle men. I mean, I think he went after every portal guy there is, but I like Auburn's roster from a chemistry standpoint. I know that may sound weird that you're bringing in three new guys. I think he goes back to that addition by subtraction thing that you talked about. I think this is going to be a closer basketball team. Have a little bit more chemistry, a little bit more glue factor there. So I like Auburn. I like Auburn finishing the top three in the SEC. I like that roster. I like that depth. And I think they address needs. I believe they address needs. And I think that Denver Jones to me is one of the most underrated transfer portal gets in the whole SEC. This is a two guard that can absolutely score the basketball and they don't grow on trees and Auburn was seriously lacking in that. When you take your biggest weakness and you find what you need times three, three dudes that can stroke the three, and then you have the other players around it and the key is going to be to me hollow. I know people have this fear factor that, oh, all these five stars or four stars that are hype, what happened with Westree and Treyport, completely different players, completely different circumstances. Don't get caught up in all that. Yeah. Aidan Holloway is special and he'll make an impact. I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. Could you describe, Laura, could you compare Denver Jones to another player? Does he remind you of anyone that played at Auburn or just a year? He doesn't have to be an Auburn guy. I mean, if there's an Auburn guy that comes to mind, sure, but it doesn't have to be. Man, he's a two that can shoot it but it's also a good slasher to the rim. He reminds me a little bit of Bryce Brown. If I was sticking to the Auburn aspect as far as how he could shoot it, but he could also put it on the floor and blow by you and slash to the basket, he's not a just sit out behind the perimeter shooting kind of guy. He can put it on the floor and blow by you. He's six, three, six, four, decent size. So yeah, that's what he reminds me of. Chad Baker-Mazarro reminds me of a guy that I'm really throwing it back. A lot of these guys that are listening and watching this, there's a guy that played for UNLV named Stacey Augman and he was about six, seven left-hander, very lean. They called him the rubber band man, very straight. I mean, and that's what he reminds me of. When I watched him play and that Gilchrist kid from Kentucky to a little bit that left-hander, very skinny kind of thing. So Shay Gilchrist, so that, even though it doesn't run the point. And then Chaney Johnson's just, he reminds me of a little bit taller Malik Dunbar. I'll take that. Dunbar was six, four, Johnson, I think is six, six, but he does so many different things. He can shoot the three surprisingly for playing from the four position, but he's a good rebounder and he's really, really good attacking the offensive glass. Hopefully all that translates to Auburn, that they do the things that we just talked about at Auburn though. Sure, right. As far as like the leadership factor and all this, we talked about chemistry and, you know, historically Bruce Burrell teams, they all seem to like love each other. You know, like they all seem to just have this super close family feel that makes them better as a team. I don't think we saw that last year, but we've seen it most gear since Bruce has been here. Who, who could be that guy, do you think? Can Aidan do it as a freshman? Because naturally your point guard is kind of that dude typically. Who do you think it could be? Jalen Williams perhaps? I think Jalen Williams and Janai Broome are going to have to emerge as the two guys, especially Broome started taking on a little bit of that mantle towards the end of last year. Good point. As far as, you know, on the court and off the court from the bench, being that cheerleader guy kind of getting, but he seems to have that leadership mantle that he can translate same with Williams and don't underestimate even though he's a transfer, a guy like Denver Jones who's so seasoned and has played so much basketball coming in. And as the season turns from non-conference to conference and he's played 12, 13 games with Auburn, he's a guy from the guard position that I'd like to see. I think we'll see some leadership from as well. Sure. Sure. I feel like since we're talking basketball, like when we normally throw to Henry's for a second. I know. I think maybe Bruce Pro, a pod, Henry service company to be like, yeah, let's fix the three point shooting and Clay Sharp hooked them up with all these guys. That's kind of what it feels like. We didn't have a little catchy phrase though, right? To start this show with, we didn't have that little play on words that we normally have. That's a lot of fun that I'm looking forward to next year, every game coming out with those to kick off the show. They're great. Yep, for sure. Darrell, how can people give you some love, brother? Dap, 6410. Follow me on Twitter with you once a week, just depending on what we need to talk about. Love being unlocked on Auburn and then on Tuesdays at 11.15 on the Max Roundtable. Absolutely. Thanks for tuning into this special edition of Locked on Auburn. We'll be back on Monday. Once again, this has been Locked on Auburn. Mmm. I'm going to be talking about the first time I've ever seen a game. I'm going to be talking about the first time I've ever seen a game coming out of the game. I'm going to be talking about the first time I've ever seen a game coming out of the game. I'm going to be talking about the first time I've ever seen a game coming out of the game. I'm going to be talking about the first time I've ever seen a game coming out of the game. Thanks for making Locked on your first listen every day. The NBA Draft is June 22nd and Locked on NBA Big Board is the only daily NBA Draft podcast. Get the latest on all the prospects and your team's needs with Locked on NBA Big Board, available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. The frenzy around college recruiting is at an all-time high. Locked on Podcast Network knows you need all the best insights, so we're happy to welcome Brian Smith to the network. With an unparalleled 30 years of experience, Brian delivers boots on the ground perspective that you can't get anywhere else. 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