Why Bruce Pearl's coaching history bodes well for Auburn basketball freshman Aden Holloway
AUBURN — Incoming Auburn basketball freshman Aden Holloway was a composite four-star when he announced his commitment to the Tigers last August.
Now on campus for summer workouts almost a year later, Holloway received a rankings bump from the various recruiting services, gaining that fifth star and becoming the second-highest-rated prospect Auburn has ever signed, according to 247Sports. That bump stems from the senior season he had at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, as the 6-foot-1, 165-pound guard averaged a team-high 18.5 points to go along with 5.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.
"He's gotten a little bigger. He's competed well at those higher levels," AU coach Bruce Pearl said of Holloway in May. "That's what we hoped. We hoped a guy that we would sign or commit, a year later, would be showing that he's moving up the rankings. I think it shows you we made a good decision there.
AUBURN FOOTBALL: What's it like to be a transfer QB for Hugh Freeze? Let Bo Wallace tell you
SUNI LEE: Former Auburn gymnastics star registered for 2023 U.S. Classic in August
"(Assistant coach) Ira Bowman did a great job recruiting Aden, and I think Aden and Tre (Donaldson) are going to have a tremendous competition for the starting point guard position. They're both going to play. The good thing is that both are good with the ball and without the ball. That's going to be fun to watch."
But how much more can Holloway improve? That's the big question for the Tigers with the 2023-24 season looming, as the season opener against Baylor at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is scheduled for Nov. 7.
The only recruit with a higher ranking coming out of high school and to the Plains was Jabari Smith Jr.
Smith, who was drafted with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, averaged 16.9 points and knocked down 42% of his 3-pointers during his lone season at Auburn, helping the Tigers reach the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll for the first time in program history.
But even though Pearl often likened Smith's game to that of a big guard — Smith stands 6-10 — Holloway compares much more to the long list of shorter guards Pearl has tapped to be his offense's engine over the years like Sharife Cooper, Jared Harper and Wendell Green Jr.
When Pearl identifies a player in that mold, success often follows. Dating back to his first team at Auburn in the 2014-15 season, each of his starting point guards have been 6-1 or shorter, and in seven of those nine seasons, that player has averaged at least 11.4 points. KC Ross-Miller in Year 1 and Jasper, who played alongside future first-rounders Smith and Walker Kessler, are the two exceptions.
Even Davion Mitchell, a four-star guard in the Class of 2017 that committed to Pearl before transferring to Baylor after his freshman season, went on to become the National Defensive Player of the Year and won a national championship with the Bears in 2021. In 60 starts at Baylor, he averaged 12 points per game.
Holloway is walking into a changing situation at Auburn; the Tigers will have three new starters with Green, Jasper and Allen Flanigan all leaving this offseason. But given Pearl's history, he's in position for success.
“Auburn has become a place where fast, quick, creative guards have flourished,” Pearl said in a statement when Holloway signed his National Letter of Intent in November. “Aden is a special winner. He has a high basketball IQ and the unique ability to create for himself and others. People just love playing with him.”
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Aden Holloway: Why Auburn basketball freshman fits well with Bruce Pearl
