According to Chris Moore, the previous season could have been so much better. The team, according to Dylan Cardwell, was composed of cliques.
They both agreed that there was a cultural issue. Last year’s squad was branded as self-centered. They claimed it hindered them.
All of this culminated symbolically two hours up Highway 280 from a catastrophe that began with a glimmer of its potential against the top-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament.
The coaches then convened a meeting. It needed to end. That was when it had to end.
“We were seated,” Cardwell remarked. “We’re going to alter our culture,” they declared. And we carried it out.
It may not have been known at the time, and perhaps it would not have occurred if head coach Bruce Pearl hadn’t had the insight to identify a different kind of player through the transfer portal, but this meeting, which took place some time between the Houston defeat and the commencement of summer practices, laid the groundwork for Auburn’s development into the nation’s deepest team and SEC champion.
Pearl had to make a sacrifice in order to assemble a group of 11 players who were all willing to play with less for themselves in order to win, proving that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
That indicates a very high degree of buy-in. The process of establishing buy-in is so drawn out that it begins with a team gathering a few weeks after the previous season concludes.
Buy-in necessitates the complete dedication of each and every participant as well as a culture that is so deeply ingrained to make it last.
After tearing down the Bridgestone Arena nets, this group of components sat in a Nashville locker room together for almost a year.
Perhaps there had never been more buy-in.
Cliques don’t exist, according to Cardwell. We are a single entity. There will inevitably be certain individuals on the team who are closer to one another than to others, but ultimately, there isn’t a clique.
For me, that’s a first.Auburn demonstrated why this culture is effective at the SEC Tournament. Auburn is the most enjoyable team in our league.
As the season progresses to single-elimination basketball games, there are moments of mischief during pre-game shootarounds, such as a quartet heaving up half-court shots before returning to the locker room, or a mosh pit with fictitious boxing matches and smiles so contemptuous of the businesslike demeanor of so many others.
That is Auburn, and in the 2023–24 season, that is how this squad has always operated.
According to forward Johni Broome, “this is probably one of the closest teams I’ve been on.
” “Everyone adores one another.”
This resulted in Auburn continuing to dance onto the platform and raising a trophy as the SEC winners on the court on Sunday at center court.
In two of Auburn’s three SEC Tournament games, including the final match against Florida, all ten players in the lineup following Lior Berman’s ACL injury scored goals.
This depth set Auburn apart from a tournament full of upset candidates and demonstrated why the team was capable of winning in March.
