Projecting Auburn's depth chart as 2020 class takes shape

And then there was one.

With 4-star center Dylan Cardwell on board, Auburn basketball has only a singular scholarship spot remaining for its 2020-21 squad. Could it ultimately be for a reclassified Jonathan Kuminga, a transfer from the open market, or simply another prospect from the 2020 class?

Technically, Bruce Pearl has until the end of the signing period on Aug. 1 to figure that out. For now, his roster is beginning to take shape, and the possible lineups for the Tigers as they attempt to make their third straight NCAA tournament (or fourth straight, if you consider they were going to get a bid this past season) are coming into focus.

Based on last season’s usage, what Pearl has said about incoming players’ roles and the general makeup of the roster, here’s our best stab at what Auburn’s lineup would look like if basketball season tipped off tomorrow.

Because the 2020-21 iteration of Auburn basketball is so young — rising redshirt junior Jamal Johnson is currently the only upperclassmen returning from last year’s rotation — 5-star freshman Sharife Cooper could immediately be looked to as the team’s offensive leader.

Cooper, the highest-rated prospect in program history, is a sub-6-foot ball-handling wiz with nifty passing ability across the court and strong finishing moves at the rim. There’s little doubt he’ll be running the show for Pearl from Day 1 — and he may be Auburn’s most talented player on the roster the moment he steps foot in the gym for the first time.

At the backup spot, Pearl will look to former 4-star prospect Tyrell Jones to take a big step forward his sophomore season after he appeared in just a handful of games as a true freshman. Granted, he wasn’t particularly needed, as starting point guard J’Von McCormick played 30-plus minutes a game and shooting guard Samir Doughty used his prior experience as a PG to run point often when McCormick needed a breather. Plus, Jones was coming off a preseason leg injury.

Speaking of the 2-guard spot, Jones said he’s been studying and training how to be a combo guard for Auburn next season, so there’s a chance he and Cooper could be on the floor often.

Jones is undersized for an off guard at 6-foot-1, but he was a sniper of a shooter in high school and could be one of the Tigers’ better 3-point marksmen next season.

Okay, so Pearl has never technically released a depth chart before, and basketball lineups are much more fluid and less cut and dried than football. So it’s unlikely Pearl would ever implement Gus Malzahn’s infamous “OR” option — which denotes essentially a tie, an “either or” situation in the lineup — but for simplicity on our list, we’ll take a page out of the football coach’s book.

Really, it shouldn’t matter who the starters are at the 2 and the 3; Devan Cambridge and Allen Flanigan should play a comparable amount of minutes regardless of where they line up, with Jones serving as a wild card depending on his development in playing shooting guard.

Cambridge, a 6-foot-6 sophomore who, in a close race with big man Jaylin Williams, was probably Auburn’s best freshman last season, occupies the wing as a high-volume 3-point shooter and an explosive put-back dunker. He’ll be looked to by Auburn to improve on both ends of the floor as a starter.

From there, Pearl can obviously play around with various lineups depending on who the Tigers are up against at a given point in a game. Jones could be at point guard, Flanigan can play shooting guard and Cambridge played a lot of the 3 spot last season.

But the battle for the backup role at the 2 is between really the only true shooting guards on Auburn’s roster in Johnson and Justin Powell. It will obviously be the veteran Johnson’s job to lose, up against a freshman whom many called the best high school shooter in the state of Kentucky.

Shooting guard has also been the position Pearl has been most after in the transfer market this offseason, and it’s very possible he’ll add an experienced wing to this mix for next season.

Flanigan was an underrated piece for Auburn last season. He wasn’t incredibly consistent, but the son of Auburn assistant Wes Flanigan had spurts where he was one of the Tigers’ best on-ball defenders, then would come down and attack the basket with power on the other end.

Auburn will need a lot more of that if he’s to have a starting spot next season. At 6-foot-5, Flanigan doesn’t have the length of a prototypical SF, but he’s stocky and strong and is one of Auburn’s best at keeping both guards and swing men alike in front of him.

Again, Auburn could go the Cambridge route here and start Jones at the 2, but it may be more probable that’s a small-ball lineup for various points in a game, not a starting group. Maybe if Cambridge bulks up big time, but for now he’s still less than 200 pounds at 6-foot-6, and Cooper and Jones are a small backcourt duo, as well.

Flanigan plays bigger than he is. He took hints from starting SF Isaac Okoro last season as a defender, even starting three games in February while Okoro nursed an injury. Flanigan will need to drastically improve his shot, however, after turning in a team-low 14.3% clip from deep. That won’t fly in a Bruce Pearl offense.

Realistically, with Pearl rarely running bigger than a 10-man rotation, there isn’t much room for backups at the 3; as with the reserve shooting guard slots, it’s more likely players like Flanigan and Cambridge will cross over from 2 to 3 throughout the game. Still, redshirt junior Javon Franklin is a freakishly athletic JUCO player who rarely appeared last season while coming off a leg injury, and 4-star freshman Chris Moore is a strong finisher and rebounder at either forward position.

Who knows how big of a name Williams would be if he had played all season for Auburn?

The 6-foot-7 rising sophomore appeared in the Tigers’ final 14 games, and all he did was shoot a team-best 73.6% from inside the arc, turn in efficient performances game in and game out in terms of his plus/minus numbers, and throw alley oops off the backboard and dish no-look passes under the rim while he was at it.

JT Thor is a 6-foot-10 monster of an athlete who is Auburn’s second-best prospect this class, but Williams has earned the starting role come Day 1 of preseason practices.

Williams didn’t flash much an outside game during that final stretch of the season, but he’s a crafty scorer and athletic defender who has tons of upside for the future. Meanwhile, Auburn hopes Thor is molded into a Chuma Okeke type, with a mix of outside shooting ability, open-floor passing and strong moves to the rack.

Auburn can’t go wrong with either former 4-star true center, but after garnering some experience in spots down the stretch of the season, Babatunde Akingbola is likely the first option at the 5.

“Stretch” Akingbola, as he’s called, is still very much a work in progress with his offensive game. But with easily the largest wingspan on the team, he can chip away at that while serving as a lengthy rim-protector on the other end.

Cardwell, a near-7-footer, is a stockier option with maybe a more polished skillset with his back to the basket.

Neither big man spot will be overhauled in a day. The combination of Anfernee McLemore and Austin Wiley both coming on or off at the bench for years won’t be easily replaceable.

Pearl certainly has the talent on his 2020-21 roster to make for an exciting future in the frontcourt, though.

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