Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl returned from an eight-day vacation to host the Children Golf Classic at Willow Point Golf and Country Club. Before teeing off, he talked about adjusting to changes in the recruiting calendar as it translates to the transfer portal, combined with the evolution of Name, Image, and Likeness.

“You know, last week was the perfect week to be gone. We had graduation. We had no class,” Pearl said. “It was the right time to be gone. I might have to push it back a week when I go next year because of the recruiting calendar. But how do you visit kids when your team is on break? How do you have official campus visits? So, combining the portal and the NIL together has made it challenging.”

Traditionally, there was more of a lull in the college basketball calendar following the Final Four. Now, the recruiting cycle seems to come around much faster as AAU basketball has started much sooner.

“The biggest change is April and May, in the sense that all of a sudden, at the end of the year, you’re dealing with your own roster changes — which you never had before. I never had guys transfer. Hardly ever. Now you’re dealing with that. And you’re dealing with all these guys; I don’t know the number, like 1,700 in the portal. 1,700? Three to three-and-a-half per roster, 13 scholarships, and that’s every year? So, as a result, April and part of May become months that you’re working.”

Auburn has three scholarship players expected to return from last season’s team that lost to Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. K.D. Johnson, Tre Donaldson, and Chris Moore are the three holdovers. This could change if Johni Broome, Dylan Cardwell, and Jaylin Williams withdraw their names from consideration for the 2023 NBA Draft.

Allen Flanigan entered the transfer portal. All-SEC second team point guard Wendell Greene declared for the NBA Draft. While Pearl seemed hopeful that Broome, Cardwell, and Williams could return, he seemed resolved that Green is gone even if the NBA doesn’t work out for him.

“Wendell had a huge imprint on this team. Not many Auburn basketball teams have gone back-to-back to the NCAA Tournament and won first-round games, and Wendell’s teams did that — to his credit,” Pearl said. “I feel very comfortable with Aden (Holloway), Tre, K.D., and Denver (Jones), particularly in the backcourt. We’ve got a chance to add another one. Lior’s coming back. Chris Moore can play the 3 as well as the 4. I still feel really good about our backcourt.”

Pearl regularly encourages players to leave if they can get drafted in the first round. He admitted that creates conflicted feelings as Broome and others go through the process.

“We’re rooting for Johni on one hand, Pearl said. “On the other hand, we’d obviously love to have him back because he could be one of the best players preseason in college basketball next season.”

Chance Westry (Syracuse) and Yohan Traore (UC Santa Barbara) left the program after their freshman season. Pearl acknowledged how the portal gives and takes from teams.

“I think everybody’s in the same boat. You lose them on three ends,” Pearl said. “You lose them right across your own roster, with guys getting in the transfer portal; you lose them on one end with them trying out for the league and leaving early. And you lose them on the freshman end, where they don’t play as much as freshmen, get frustrated, get disappointed, and want to do something else. It makes roster management really, really difficult.”

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.