ALEXANDER CITY | The pieces are almost all in place. Now, comes the hard part.

Bruce Pearl and his staff will start constructing Auburn’s 2025-26 team next week with nine newcomers set to report on Monday.

Another one or two transfers could join group shortly along with sophomore Tahaad Pettiford, who is considering whether or not to remain in the 2025 NBA Draft.

“I like the group,” said Pearl. “I think it's going to be a group that works hard. I think we've got really good character guys. And we've got to reinvent ourselves. We've got to reinvent our culture. This summer is going to be more important for me, having breakfast and Bible studies, than ever before.

“Just trying to get these guys to understand who we are and what we do and why we do it the way we do it. I don't have Dylan Cardwell to just go, 'Hey, be like him.' Or Denver Jones or Chaney Johnson or Miles Kelly. So many guys on the team. But I like the group we've got. I'm excited. They'll all come in on Memorial Day.”

Pettiford is the only potential returning player from last year’s SEC Championship and Final Four team. The newcomers include four transfers, two junior college players and three freshmen.

Three of the transfers, wing Keshawn Hall, forward/center KeyShawn Murphy and wing Kevin Overton, have Power Four experience while wing Elyjah Freeman was a standout at D-II Lincoln Memorial.

Center Emeka Opurum and wing Abdul Bashir signed out of junior college while guards Kaden Magwood and Simon Walker, and forward Sebastian Williams-Adams signed out of high school.

“There’s so many pieces,” said Pearl. “I don’t know who’s going to be great in ball screens. I think I’ve got some guys that can shoot the basketball, but I don’t know who else is going to be able to make plays in that ball screen. We don’t have a Johni Broome down there to just throw it to and we’ll get a bucket or get a short roll and make a play out of it.

“I will have to evaluate this team and decide how we’re going to play. We might have to play faster than we did. We’re not going to be as big, so we’re going have to play faster and quicker maybe, but we’ll see.”

Auburn came into last season ranked 11th in the AP poll and eventually spent a program-record eight weeks at No. 1.

“There’s no question that we will be the most difficult team in the country to predict where we’re gonna finish,” said Pearl. “I mean, there’s 16 teams in the SEC, they’re not gonna put us in the top five or six for sure. It’ll be interesting to see where they do pick us, because everybody’s new.”