Auburn Basketball Preview Series: Dylan Cardwell

Cardwell has shown incredible energy and enthusiasm throughout his career as Tiger. He offers great height and length as well as a skill set that most centers coming off the bench in the SEC don’t have. But his energy that he brings to the jungle and Neville Arena and what he does on the basketball court is invaluable to Auburn’s success.

If Cardwell could develop a more refined post presence consisting of post moves to give him the ball and get points, he could be even more energetic and important for this team.

Cardwell is a very energetic guy, but when Kessler came out of the game last year, Auburn needed others to score the ball, which is good if you have guys like Jabari Smith, KD Johnson and Wendell Green. But he would bring much more offensive value if he was more of a threat after the scoreline.

In one of Auburn’s most competitive, home-and-away matchups of the year at Coleman Coliseum, Kessler was called early for several “questionable” calls. Cardwell stepped right into that starting center role and played exceptional basketball. Cardwell played a season-high 18 minutes, scored six points and added 6 rebounds in the win over the Tide. He also added a season high of 4 blocks in his performance.

It’s easy to see Cardwell coming off the bench in 2022 behind guys like five-star rookie Yohan Traore or Morehead State transfer Johni Broome. But after getting advice from an NBA scout and learning what he needed to improve to take it to the next level, I could see Cardwell really improving his game, especially offensively, and integrating that into his new role. upper class.