AUBURN | I’ll look back on the brief Sharife Cooper era and the 2020-21 season as what could have been.

Auburn finished last season 13-14 overall and 6-11 in the SEC, a record more reminiscent of Bruce Pearl’s first two teams from 2014-16 when he was rebuilding the roster.

But it could have been so much more had Cooper been eligible from the get-go and not missed the first 11 games of the season, if Justin Powell hadn’t suffered a severe concussion and missed the final 17 games and if Auburn hadn’t self-imposed a postseason ban due to the actions of former assistant Chuck Person more than three years ago.

The point guard position was a thorn throughout the season and that leads to another what-if, which was the development of Tyrell Jones and the decision to not bring in another point guard last spring or summer.

I don’t blame Pearl for putting his faith in Jones, who was regarded as a hard worker. And I don’t blame Jones, who began the season as the team’s starting point but saw his playing time decline as Powell and Allen Flanigan took over the duties. By December, after playing in seven games with three starts, Jones was transferring to South Alabama.

That transition to point guard just never really clicked with Jones. Sometimes those best-laid plans just go awry.

Pearl believes in his players. He put his trust in J’Von McCormick after Jared Harper left, and the former junior college transfer responded with a terrific season in 2019-20, starting all 31 games.

Pearl’s been right a whole lot more times than he’s been wrong. It didn’t work out last season but his faith in his players usually pays big dividends, which brings me to the offseason and building the 2021-22 roster.

Pearl is not really in a position where he is relying on a particular player to step up into a much bigger role for next year and at point guard, he’s looking for two new ones — really one now — after adding College of Charleston transfer Zep Jasper.

The trust Pearl and his staff put on next year’s team is that the returning players will continue the developmental track they’ve been on and that the highly-recruited incoming players like Jabari Smith and Trey Alexander come in ready to work and make the transition from high school to college, especially on the defensive end.

With the right two or three players added to the roster over the coming weeks — another point guard, shooting guard and a big — Auburn should have the pieces back in place to return to competing at the top of the SEC and making a postseason run.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 33 years and the release of one of the greatest debut albums of all time. On April 5, 1988. Tracy Chapman released her self-titled album, Tracy Chapman, and it went on to sell more than 20 million copies, ranking as one of the top 70 albums and top 10 debut albums of all time. The album received seven Grammy nominations and won three for Best New Artist, Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Chapman’s performance of the lead single, Fast Car.

Chapman was raised by a single mother in Cleveland and started playing guitar and writing songs at age 8. She attended Tufts University where she began performing as an opening act for Linda Tillery. A fellows Tufts student, the son of a record producer, helped Chapman sign with Elektra Records upon her graduation. Fast Car started rising up the charts after Chapman performed it at the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute concert in 1988. Her fourth album, 1995’s New Beginnings, included the hit single, Give Me One Reason, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 100 and won the Grammy for Best Rock Song. She has released eight studio albums along with a Greatest Hits album in 2015. Chapman in a number of charity concerts and is especially active in human rights causes.

She started writing immediately after signing with Elektra and came up with a demo tape that included all of the songs that would be included on her debut album except Fast Car. After writing Fast Car and recording it on a demo, her producer, David Kershembaum loved it, but Elektra wanted to cut down on the long buildup to the chorus. Chapman and Kershembaum resisted, however, and the song was composed unchanged as part of an eight-week recording session at Powertrax Studio in Hollywood, California. Fast Car tells the story of a woman trying to escape poverty, homelessness and an alcoholic father in a fast car only to see the cycle repeat itself when the man in the fast car can’t get a job and becomes an alcoholic. Fast Car peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 100. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 167 on their list of the 500 Greatest Song of All Time and it’s the highest-ranking song performed and solely written by a female artist. The song is credited for reviving the singer/songwriter tradition.