Preseason KenPom ratings place Auburn at No. 31

Auburn basketball will start the Steven Pearl era ranked No. 31 in the preseason KenPom ratings.

The Tigers face one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. They will play No. 1 Houston, No. 3 Purdue, No. 11 Michigan, No. 15 Arizona, No. 37 Oregon and No. 38 NC State before SEC play begins.

This comes one season after Auburn defeated Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, Purdue and Ohio State in non-conference play, with a close loss at Duke the only blemish before conference play began.

Auburn finished No. 4 in the final KenPom ratings each of the past two seasons. Last year, the Tigers won a school-record 32 games, reached the Final Four and ended the year with the No. 2 overall strength of schedule.

Steven Pearl takes over for his father, Bruce Pearl, who retired in September after building Auburn into one of the nation’s most consistent programs. Auburn will look to maintain its recent success while facing another difficult slate of opponents.

The SEC is expected to be one of the strongest leagues in college basketball again this season. Florida is No. 2 in the KenPom ratings, followed by Kentucky (No. 4), Tennessee (No. 9), Vanderbilt (No. 19), Alabama (No. 23), Ole Miss (No. 24), Mississippi State (No. 26), Missouri (No. 28) and Arkansas (No. 29).

Auburn’s No. 31 ranking marks a lower preseason position than in recent years, but the Tigers have a rebuilt team, so it makes sense. With a new roster and several major early tests, Auburn will have plenty of chances to move up quickly.

After back-to-back top-five finishes in the analytics and another season of high expectations, Auburn will try to show that its standard remains the same under its new head coach.

The Tigers start exhibition play against Oklahoma State on Oct 15 in Birmingham, Ala. before playing Memphis in Atlanta, Ga. on Oct. 30.