Auburn is No. 1 overall seed, but still somewhat under radar in Final Four

Bruce Pearl is bullish on his Auburn team even if Tigers are not commanding attention most overall No. 1 seeds do at Final Four. (Photo by Luca Flores/The Auburn Plainsman)

SAN ANTONIO — From a basketball history perspective, it would be easy to dismiss Auburn ahead of this weekend’s Final Four, seeing as how the Tigers are on this stage for just the second time in school history.

When comparing the SEC champions to their competition in San Antonio, it becomes even easier. Florida, who Auburn will face Saturday with a national championship game appearance on the line, has two titles in its trophy case. Houston lacks hardware, but is now in its seventh Final Four and has reached the final game twice. Then, there is Duke, the most accomplished of the remaining quartet, with five championships and chasing a sixth.

But for head coach Bruce Pearl, Auburn’s status as something of an afterthought is actually refreshing for a proven winner who simply hopes to sustain the first real taste of hardwood success on The Plains.

“What I’ve tried to do all year long is demonstrate that this is uncharted waters for Auburn men’s basketball,” Pearl said Thursday. “We had some great moments in our history, great coaches—Sonny Smith and Cliff Ellis—great players in Charles Barkley and Chuck Person, (but) no real sustained, great success. Here we are at the Final Four.”

“We come in as the overall No. 1, but we’re probably considered the fourth-best team here right now. There’s nothing new. I prefer the underdog role rather than having to prove we’re as good as we say we are, so we’re going to take that underdog role into the Final Four and see if we can capitalize on it.”

Auburn was knocked for hiring Pearl amid a show-cause penalty that still existed when he took the job in 2014, stemming from the infamous barbecue he hosted in 2008, in which Aaron Craft—then a high school junior before signing with Ohio State—attended despite NCAA rules prohibiting him from doing so. Now over a decade later, with Auburn basketball seemingly having overtaken football as the marquee sport on campus, the decision has paid off handsomely. Still, Pearl is appreciative of the chance to reach a national semifinal, and also eager to prove that the Tigers are far from lightly regarded.

“You don’t know that you’re ever going to get there once in your career, so you feel incredibly blessed and grateful to have a second opportunity,” he reflected. “To be able to come out of (the SEC) as a regular season champion was quite an accomplishment.”

“The question then was, is there anymore step up in your game? Because that’s what you have to do in March. I thought that through the Creighton, Michigan and Michigan State games, we demonstrated that we had more in the tank.”

Auburn will look to avenge a home loss to Florida suffered in February, when Walter Clayton, Jr. led the Gators to a statement victory at Neville Arena. Pearl considers his conference brethren the team to beat by virtue of its current form, but refuses to count his own squad out.

“I think Florida’s playing the best basketball of anybody in the country,” he said. “Is that a slap in the face to Duke or to Houston, or to my Auburn team? No, it’s not, but that’s how I’ve felt. Does that mean we can’t beat them? Of course not.”

“There’s a level of desperation knowing tomorrow could be our last game every single time for this group. They don’t want this to end.”