Auburn is coming off of a great win against last year’s NCAA runner-up Purdue but Bruce Pearl still has some reservations. The Tigers’ first-round defeat vs. the Yale Bulldogs at the 2024 NCAA Tournament was a wake-up call for the head coach. And while the No. 2 team is boasting an impressive 11-1 record for the season, it’s a different team from last year and the coach is not necessarily a fan.

On The Field of 68: After Dark, host John Fanta asks Pearl about the students and players he’s coached over the years at different schools and how he’s changed their lives and watched them grow.

Pearl answers, “There’s nothing wrong with college basketball. The kids still wanna be coached, they wanna be held accountable, they wanna get their degrees. What a blessing they’re finally able to be compensated for what they’re worth. We’ve graduated 43 kids at Auburn the last 10 years.”

It is quite a breath of fresh air to see a head coach finally agree with how NIL is working in favor of the college athletes. However, he too has some issues but it is not directly a hit at the NIL.

Fanta’s question is more geared toward the next few days, keeping Christmas and the holidays overall in mind – what has the impact been like for Bruce Pearl as older students of his send in wishes? While Pearl talks about the spirit of Christmas in general and celebrating with his family, there is one thing he wants for Auburn basketball-wise.

“Now and then, my only frustration is how difficult sometimes recruiting still is. I’m still losing kids to great great programs,” the coach said. Just last year, three Tigers left to enter the transfer portal.

KD Johnson, Tre Donaldson, and Aden Holloway. Johnson made a case for himself and wanted more time on the court. By his third year, Johnson was on the bench more than the court and was a backup shooting guard behind Denver Jones. After he announced his decision to transfer, Pearl made it clear that it was a good decision for the player because, “There’s only so many minutes, only so much opportunity.”

Holloway, for his part, was a former five-star recruit and an elite shooter, even if his college game saw him struggling with scoring as well as around the rim.

Meanwhile, Donaldson, who also played football in high school and was rated the 23rd-best player in the country for his position in his class per 247 Sports, was a backup point guard with the Tigers. Averaging 10 minutes per game as a freshman and 20 as a sophomore, he ultimately shifted from being a two-sport athlete to focusing on hoops at Michigan.

The team Bruce Pearl has right now is obviously doing things right to be consistently ranked in the top 3 and yet, there are still some players he would have rather kept. But there is one thing to look forward to.

Bruce Pearl might see KD Johnson at Auburn again

No, not as a Tigers player. KD Johnson was already a transfer from Georgia to Auburn before moving on to George Mason. Playing in a total of 102 games and starting 32 of them, Johnson was averaging 9.4 points per game at Auburn. But even at another university now, it seems like he’s not a graduate transfer.

Bruce Pearl had said in March, “KD Johnson will return to Auburn to receive his degree when the time comes. He’s really close to his degree, and he perhaps could go someplace else and maybe get that degree in this next year. But he really wants to be a unit short. He wants an Auburn degree. So does his family. When he’s done playing wherever he goes and plays, we’re going to make that happen.”

He was the first to leave Auburn by entering the transfer portal and two others followed his lead. While Pearl has had to replace his team members, based on his comments, the coach would much rather recruit top star prospects rather than lose them. Honestly, who wouldn’t?