There was a time when Auburn’s Sweet Sixteen trip to Atlanta would be nearly as important for future national championship runs as it would the current one.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl has built his title-contending program in part by recruiting metro Atlanta, one of the top high school talent zones in the country.
A couple of NCAA Tournament wins at State Farm Arena would further strengthen Pearl’s reputation among local talent-rich programs such as Overtime Elite, McEachern High School and Wheeler High.
Nicknamed “Auburn East,” Atlanta likely will be flooded by droves of local Auburn fans when the top-seeded Tigers tip off against No. 5 seed Michigan at 9:39 p.m. Friday. A strong fan base combined with wins in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight might have increased Auburn interest for metro Atlanta recruits of a previous generation.
But Pearl doesn’t see the same value in winning local games for Atlanta legacy anymore. He says high school recruits’ growing focus on NIL profits has weakened the significance of Auburn’s presence in metro Atlanta.
“It’s great to be in Atlanta and it’s great to point out the quality of Atlanta basketball, particularly Atlanta high school basketball,” Pearl said. “It’s as good as it is anywhere in the country, but honestly, winning here won’t mean anything when it comes to recruiting anymore.
“Right now, when it comes to recruiting, I don’t know how much that means to an Atlanta high school player. Right now, it is more about the NIL.”
Auburn center Dylan Cardwell and forward Miles Kelly both celebrated the significance of playing near their metro Atlanta hometowns.
Cardwell, a McEachern graduate, reminisced on watching the Hawks play at the same host site as a child. Kelly echoed the significance of playing back in his home state.
Cardwell and Kelly both signed out of high school in 2020, months before NIL was legalized by the NCAA. Cardwell signed with Auburn, while Kelly returned from a high school in Virginia to play for Georgia Tech.
“For me, it means everything,” Kelly said. “When I was coming out of high school, that’s why I chose Georgia Tech to stay kind of close to my family, and then Auburn, coming here, Atlanta’s only like an hour, hour and half away.”
To be clear, Cardwell and Kelly both have benefited from NIL later in their collegiate careers. It just wasn’t the deciding factor for their initial recruiting decisions.
Auburn’s track record with metro Atlanta recruits is nothing to overlook. Pearl has coached six such players who became NBA draft picks in the past six years, including top-10 selections Jabari Smith and Isaac Okoro.
It’s a feather in Pearl’s cap that he doesn’t hesitate to discuss. Cardwell and Kelly are two of four Georgia natives on Auburn’s roster.
But the focus has shifted from development to dollars, and Pearl has to shift his approach with it.
“I love to talk about Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith and Chuma Okeke and JT Thor and Sharife Cooper and about seven or eight Atlanta kids that are in the NBA that developed at Auburn, won championships,” Pearl said. “It’s become way more transactional, and they don’t care about the fact that I’ve graduated 46 student-athletes in the last 11 years, that I’ve graduated 33 African American men in the last 11 years. That stuff used to matter.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter as much anymore. It still matters to me.”
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