SAN ANTONIO — Auburn basketball's coaching staff has quite the undertaking on its hands.
The Tigers are playing in their first Final Four since 2019 on Saturday, (5:09 p.m. CT, CBS) in a rematch with 1-seed Florida. It's the close of the 2024-25 season, and it couldn't be more vital. But that doesn't mean Bruce Pearl and his assistants aren't preparing for next year.
The transfer portal opened 11 days ago. Thousands of players have already put their name in it, and the Tigers are trying to stay ahead of the curve. On Thursday, they signed Central Florida transfer Keyshawn Hall. But between scouting the Gators and trying to build next season's roster, it has "been quite the juggling act," associate coach Steven Pearl said Friday.
"Coach (Bruce Pearl) is trying to put as much time as he can into game-planning, and we're trying to pull him away for a little bit of time each day to try and get him in front of these guys, because obviously, in this locker room, there's only two guys that can potentially come back out of our rotation guys," Steven Pearl said. "We've got to go in the portal and be aggressive, but at the same time, we've got to concentrate on this, because our ultimate goal is obviously to win a championship."
Steven Pearl said the program's doing three to four video calls a day with prospect transfers, adding that the program's assistants have "had to go into overdrive."
"The good thing is, I think, most of these kids recognize the fact that we're spending a little bit of time with them while we're also in the middle of this tournament run, it speaks volumes," Steven Pearl said. "I think it's helped put us in a decent ...
