New Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been able to generate excitement similar to the last several coaches, but in November the AU Family will start to find out if that excitement is justified this time around.

The Auburn men’s program has been living in darkness for some time, having not made the NCAA Tournament since 2003. But with Pearl manning the bench that may change sooner than later.

Pearl is the second fastest coach to reach 300 career wins, needing only 382 days to do so. At Tennessee from 2006-11, Pearl’s teams finished atop the SEC East three times, and all six teams made the NCAA Tournament.

Pearl is a winner, and it’s shown with the way recruiting has gone since he took over Auburn in the spring. It’s also shown through enthusiasm on campus.

On Oct. 30, an estimated 2,500 students were in attendance for Pearl Jam, an event set up by the coach to give students a chance to get a feel of the team. After the initial surprise of Pearl emerging from the tunnel dressed as Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn subsided, it was all basketball.

The Tigers’ first scrimmage is scheduled for Nov. 7 against West Alabama. The season opener is a week later against Milwaukee.

Auburn has a lot of familiar faces returning this season, starting with K.T. Harrell.

The senior guard started 30 games last year and averaged 18.3 points per game, including scoring double-digits in the first 21 games of the season. Harrell finished the season sixth in scoring in the conference.

Auburn has more guard play than just Harrell, returning sophomore Tahj Shamsid- Deen and newcomer T.J. Lang, but the Tigers have a chance to put up numbers in the paint this year, which has been an issue in the past.

Auburn was able to land transfer Cinmeon Bowers, who was listed as the top- ranked JUCO player by 247Sports. Bowers is expected to make an immediate impact. He averaged 12.4 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game last season for Chipola College.

Returning at forward also includes Jordan Granger and Matthew Atewe. Neither player did much last year statistically, both coming off the bench, but this season they’re expected to play bigger roles.