Friday, Nov. 7 marked the beginning of the Bruce Pearl era of Auburn basketball as the team took on West Alabama.
The team, despite lacking depth in some areas, is looking to improve on last year's 14-16 record.
One of the positions Pearl has tried to fill is point guard, often manned by former leading scorer Chris Denson and Tahj Shamsid-Deen, a player Pearl said he would like to see off the ball more often.
Patrick Keim, true freshman and preferred walk-on for the Tigers, will be one of the players vying for the open position.
In high school, Keim was a two-time 6A state champion, three-time team captain and is the winningest player in Birmingham's Mountain Brook High School history, among other awards.
When asked about his game, Keim was very upfront about his skills and what he believes he can provide the team with.
"You know, if anything, I believe I bring a competitive mentality on defense," Keim said. "In high school, we played a press defense, so I believe I can bring some sort of knowledge and experience, at least, to practice."
Mountain Brook High School head coach Bucky McMillan coached Keim from 9th-12th grade, and said Keim's defense will set him apart from the rest of the competition.
"What I think separates Patrick is that he can go in there and guard SEC guards right now," McMillan said. "That's the thing that most freshmen can't do."
McMillan, former Division I basketball player at Birmingham Southern, also said despite Keim being a freshman and possibly not getting much playing time, his defense will be one of the most valuable assets he can bring to the team.
"That's the thing that he'll always be able to bring: instant defense," McMillan said. "What a steal for a place like Auburn, because even if he's not the starting point guard, he'll be giving their point guard a lot better look in practice because he'll actually be able to guard him."
Keim said the transition from high school to college athletics was difficult like he expected.
"There's a lot less room for error," Keim said. "You can get away with reaching in or taking a few bad shots in high school, but now it's a lot more disciplined. There were a lot of things that once I started to play, I saw that I needed to improve."
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