Despite the circumstances, Auburn basketball isn’t lacking its signature team chemistry heading into an important stretch of the offseason.

Though one of the youngest squads in the SEC, this year’s Tigers are handling the bizarre and suboptimal hand they’ve been dealt with maturity. During their workouts and activities, players like Sharife Cooper and Devan Cambridge post daily about their grind in the Auburn Arena practice gyms, sharing intense exercises and regimens.

They’re not forgetting to have fun, though, as any fan who follows the team on their personal social media mediums is well aware.

That’s now customary for Bruce Pearl's players — loose, funny and comfortable in their own skin. That’s how the past three seasons’ teams, who set the SEC ablaze and pivoted Auburn’s program from bottom dweller to title contender, have been. But Pearl and his staff have largely had to watch the team's growth the past two months from afar, as the NCAA-mandated workout periods did not permit coaches to give instruction.

That embargo ends this week.

Beginning Monday, per NCAA rules, players are allowed eight hours per week of weight training and conditioning, and four hours per week of “skill instruction” on the practice courts with coaches. Auburn basketball will take a critical next step in feeling like it's operating as close as possible to a status-quo offseason.

Pearl has been plenty involved already. Since July began, programs have been permitted to hold team and individual meetings, as well as film study sessions.

And he’s made sure to be a positive face in the fight against the coronavirus, as well, sharing how his players are being responsible with their health during the pandemic, while also urging Auburn fans to do the same (“Wear your mask so I can wear my jersey,” sophomore guard Tyrell Jones said).

The head coach has been around his team on a daily basis. But nothing can replace the squeak of the sneakers and the swish of the nets.

Pearl and his assistant staff can now work more closely on fundamentals with their blue-chip freshmen for the first time since the youngsters arrived on campus in June, reconnect on the court with veterans from last year’s 25-win team, and more practically implement lessons learned from earlier film study sessions.

Nonphysical activities and virtual meetings can still be held, given they don’t combine with workouts to exceed the weekly eight hours allotted.

The new-look practices will occupy a large bulk of Auburn’s offseason sessions, running exactly four weeks from Monday until Aug. 17, Auburn University’s first day of fall classes.

The NCAA’s approved summer proposal from last month aims for programs to begin standard, preseason practices 42 days before their season openers. Auburn is slated to begin its 2020-21 campaign Nov. 10 against North Alabama, meaning its preseason practices should open Sept. 29.

Auburn is expected to settle in the top half of the conference next season as a young and talented but mostly inexperienced team of underclassmen with a top-10 coach and a high ceiling. However, Auburn has yet to appear in ESPN’s projected 2021 NCAA tournament bracket through seven offseason installments.

The Tigers return Cambridge, a high-scoring wing likely to be a starter as a sophomore; Jaylin Williams, a probable frontcourt starter who was one of Pearl’s most effective weapons toward the end of his freshman year; Allen Flanigan, a high-level defender with a skill set that bodes well into Pearl’s system; Jamal Johnson, a ­­­­­­­3-point specialist who will have to fight for minutes after struggles in conference play last season; Babatunde Akingbola, a former 4-star prospect with the length and athleticism to be a relied-upon rim protector as a sophomore; “Turbo” Jones, a blazing-quick combo guard expected to see an increased role his sophomore season; and Javon Franklin, a big and athletic small forward who hopes to find a spot in the rotation after he appeared in just five games in 2019-20 while recovering from a leg injury.

Auburn’s 2020 recruiting class, which is the highest rated in program history while still with one roster spot to fill, brings in Cooper, the 5-star, phenom point guard; Chris Moore, a 4-star small forward who won Arkansas high school Player of the Year; JT Thor, an athletic big man with a wildly versatile game and the handles of a “big guard,” according to Pearl; Dylan Cardwell, a 4-star center well-equipped with offensive and defensive skill sets and providing much-needed depth down low; and Justin Powell, a sharp-shooting 2-guard from Kentucky looking to become the next 3-point bomber in Pearl’s offense.

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