AUBURN | It’s just the start of June and there’s already growing anticipation for Auburn’s upcoming men’s basketball season.

There’s been plenty of years of my 25 covering Auburn that nobody even thought about the basketball program until October except for the occasional check-in on recruiting and camps during the summer.

But that’s all changed under Pearl.

He’s presided over by-far the best eight-year stretch in program history with three SEC regular season titles, two SEC Tournament championships and two trips to the Final Four.

In the 108 seasons before Pearl was hired in 2014, AU amassed three SEC regular season titles, one SEC Tournament championship and zero trips to the Final Four.

Remarkable.

But it’s this upcoming season, Pearl’s 12th, that might be the most exciting. Not necessarily because of the potential outcome next March, but because he’s building an almost entirely new roster from scratch.

And I can’t help but marvel at how well Pearl and his staff have assembled a group that currently includes 10 newcomers and just one returning player — but a very important one — in Tahaad Pettiford.

They signed a solid freshman class that includes at least one early contributor in Kaden Magwood and a couple of upside guys in Sebastian Williams-Adams and Simon Walker.

They added two junior college signees in Abdul Bashir and Emeka Opurum, both with high upside, that could end up being starters, key bench contributors or perhaps needing more development.

They added three D-I transfers in Keyshawn Hall, KeShawn Murphy and Kevin Overton. Hall and Murphy are accomplished players that are very likely starters while Overton was the sixth man on an Elite 8 team last season with plenty of motivation to take a step forward as a starter this year.

And then probably the most intriguing addition of them all in D-II transfer Elyjah Freeman, who was under-recruited partly due to a late growth spurt that saw his add six inches over the last couple of years and grow in to a 6-foot-8 guard, who dominated as a freshman at Lincoln Memorial last season.

And the staff filled the last big need by landing 6-foot-9, athletic Serbian forward Filip Jovic.

This team is loaded with athletes. It looks like Pearl will be able to rotate at least eight or nine regularly instead of the seven that played the majority of last season.

This will be a team should thrive in transition.

And if there’s one coach in the country I’d want when it comes to building a team out of 10 newcomers, it’s Pearl. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to call him a master team builder.

That team building has already begun in Neville Arena and I can’t wait to see the results in five more months.

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Auburn’s baseball team continues to play with a lot of grit. A lot.

I don’t think the Tigers, despite their lofty No. 4 national ranking, held a huge talent advantage over their three NCAA Regional opponents, but they wound up never trailing and out-scoring all three by a combined 28-11.

One of the most important factors in making postseason runs is having a handful of players step up their performances. AU had two big ones from freshmen this weekend.

Bub Terrell was named Regional MVP batting .727 (8 of 11) with three doubles and 10 RBI. Terrell has had a good season but in a three-week stretch near the end of the regular season, Terrell batted just .163 (8 of 49).

Andreas Alvarez made just three appearances in the previous 42 days before shutting out N.C. State for 5.0 innings in an 11-1 NCAA Regional-clinching win Sunday night.

They will certainly need even more step-up this upcoming weekend against Coastal Carolina in the Super Regional.

The Chanticleers are the nation’s hottest team with 21 consecutive wins and out-scored their three Regional opponents 29-9. You better believe Coastal, which improved to 51-11, believes they’re far better than their No. 13 national seed and should be hosting a Super Regional of their own this weekend.

It’s a program with a lot of success and a lot of pride, which won the 2016 College World Series. It’s also got a pitching staff with a 3.24 team ERA.

It should be a great series. Record Auburn crowds helped make a difference in the Regional win and can do the same, along with a little more grit, in AU’s first-ever Super Regional at Plainsman Park.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 32 years to the airing of a T.V. concert that would be one of the final performances of its lead singer, who left to pursue a solo career, and produce the band’s best-selling album and single. On June 1, 1993, MTV Unplugged aired a set with 10,000 Maniacs featuring a stirring performance by lead singer Natalie Merchant. Her cover of “Because The Night,” which was accompanied by a string section, was eventually released as a single in February of 1994 and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 100, the band’s highest-charting song. The album sold more than 3 million copies. “Because The Night” was written by Bruce Springsteen and first recorded by Patti Smith. MTV had a policy to only allow bands a single appearance on Unplugged. But when they learned of Merchant’s imminent departure, decided to invite 10,000 Maniacs back for a second time. Merchant would perform for the final time with 10,000 Maniacs in July of 1993 and release her first solo album, Tigerlily, on June 20, 1995. The album was certified five-times Platinum and included three hit singles in “Carnival,” “Wonder” and “Jealousy.” 10,000 Maniacs has continued with a string of different lead singers but has had just one single chart on the Billboard 100, 1997’s “Rainy Day,” since Merchant’s departure.

Natalie Anne Merchant was born in Jamestown, N.Y., in 1963 the third of four children. Her parents divorced when she was 7 and she was raised primarily by her alcoholic mother, who often took her to the symphony and played classical music and show tunes. She was a shy child who discovered music as a way to express herself. She attended an open mic audition in 1980 for a band called Still Life. They hired her at the age of 17 and quickly changed their name to 10,000 Maniacs. Despite her age, Merchant wrote the lyrics for most of the band’s songs. Their first minor hit was a cover of “Peace Train” in 1987 and then came a few more including 1989’s “Trouble Me,” 1992’s “These Are Days,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, and 1992’s “Candy Everybody Wants.” Merchant’s solo career produced another minor hit single in 1998’s “Kind and Generous.” Merchant lost her signing voice in 2018 after surgery to remove three bones from her spine due to degenerative spinal disease. She was able to regain her voice within a year and released an album, Keep Your Courage, in 2023. She was a part of eight albums with 10,000 Maniacs and nine more as a solo artist. Merchant has been involved in a number of activists causes including fracking and domestic violence.