The Auburn Tigers are gearing up to begin preseason play later this week, and the college basketball world is starting to spring to life in preparation for the upcoming season. One popular ranking system, the KenPom rankings, recently released its preseason rankings, and the Tigers cracked the list at No. 25.

The KenPom rankings are quite different from the typical AP or Coaches’ rankings, as the site’s creator, Ken Pomeroy, ranks teams by Net Rating, a stat that subtracts a team’s defensive efficiency from its offensive efficiency, resulting in a rating that represents the number of points a team would outscore an ‘average’ team by.

For context, offensive efficiency in this poll is how many points a team would score against the average team in 100 possessions, while defensive efficiency is how many points a team would allow against the average team in 100 possessions. 

The Tigers’ net rating in the preseason KenPom rankings is +22.73, just over ten points less than the No. 1 team, Duke, which has a rating of +34.42. 

The Tigers are no stranger to the top of this poll, as their 2024 squad peaked at the No. 1 spot and held it for multiple weeks during Bruce Pearl’s final season as the Tigers’ head coach, though the Tigers struggled to find a top spot on the list last season.

Now, though, the team has undergone a massive rebuild, keeping just two starters in Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton while replacing the entire frontcourt and supplementing depth with talent from all over the country–and even two notable additions from overseas. 

By far, the most well-known pickup for the Tigers this past offseason is Narcisse Ngoy, a 7-foot French big man who was the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the French Elite 2 league last season after leading the league in blocks per game and rebounds per game. 

After some doubt as to whether or not he would be allowed to play, Ngoy was recently approved for eligibility by the NCAA, though that came with a slight caveat.

The biggest question mark for the Tigers at this point in the offseason is the eligibility of their other key overseas transfer, Mantas Rubštavičius, a Lithuanian guard who projects to add an immense amount of value to the roster, though he has yet to be approved to play like Ngoy was. 

The Tigers have three exhibition games scheduled ahead of their regular season tipoff on Nov. 4, including tune-up matchups against Florida State, Samford and even a preseason Iron Bowl against Alabama on Oct. 22. 

Pomeroy’s rankings will adjust based on preseason play, so these matchups matter for the Tigers if they want to be atop the list. Strong showings could land the Tigers near the top, but if they struggle, they could be working all season just to climb the list again.

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