AUBURN | That one stung, for sure.

Perhaps not as much as the 2013 BCS championship game or the 2019 Final Four, but it was a tough one.

Much like 13 or 19, there will always be what-ifs, such as what a healthy Johni Broome could have done in the second half.

Auburn’s All-American had 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the first half. But as his elbow took more blows, his production waned, totaling just three points, three rebounds and no blocks in the second.

But when I look back on the semifinal loss to Florida, I’ll recall Bruce Pearl saying a couple of times before the game that Auburn can’t win if Walter Clayton Jr., is the best player on the floor again.

He absolutely was to the tune of 34 points on 6 of 8 3-pointers. And I consider that the main reason the Tigers finished two games short of a national championship.

He’ll have an opportunity to show he’s the best player in the entire NCAA Tournament against Houston later tonight. I certainly wouldn’t bet against him.

And as the dust settles and the heartbreak eases, I think most Auburn fans will look back on this season with fondness and agree with Pearl that this was Auburn’s best-ever team and best-ever season.

Maybe Pearl can top it in the coming years, but the 2024-25 Tigers set a new standard. Here’s just a short list of their achievements, which is not comprehensive by any means. It began by winning the Maui Invitational for the first time in program history.

Auburn’s 32 wins are a program record as were the eight SEC road wins and the eight weeks atop the AP poll.

AU played the toughest non-conference schedule in school history, won the regular season SEC Championship in a year the league sent a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament and beat Alabama in the first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 game between conference teams.

AU also tied the school record with 15 SEC wins.

Johni Broome joined Charles Barkley and Chris Porter as SEC Players of the Year, and set single-season records with 389 rebounds and 21 double-doubles. He’s also the first D-I men’s player to record 2,500 points, 1,500 rebounds and 400 blocks in his career.

Chad Baker-Mazara (.8823) and Denver Jones (.8817) are first and second in AU career free throw percentage.

Pearl became Auburn's all-time winningest coach (232) and Dylan Cardwell the all-time winningest player (120). Cardwell is also AU’s career leader in field goal percentage (.709)

And I’ll leave you with Cardwell, who was the heart and soul of this year’s team. This is what he said in the locker room just minutes after AU’s loss…

“It’s been a fun season. A real fun season. I had the time of my life. Best year of my life, for sure. It’s cool all the memories we made, all the laughs we had. Best year of my life, for sure.”

He then went on to say…

“Don’t hang your head on this loss. We made history. We were the best team in college basketball, best team in Auburn history. Remember the good. Don’t let today tank the legacy we left here. It’s been a great year. It’s been fun. We left the national championship on the table but at the end of the day, it’s over now. All we can do is look back on the good times we had. That’s all we can control.”

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 47 years to the release of a debut single that was ignored in the UK before becoming a hit in the U.S. and being re-released to wide acclaim in the UK a year later. On April 7, 1978 the Police released “Roxanne,” which BBC Radio 1 refused to play. It finally began receiving interest when an Austin, Texas DJ began playing it and it finally entered the Billboard 100 in February and peaked at No. 32. The re-release peaked at No. 12 on the UK singles chart. “Roxanne” was written by Police lead singer and bassist Sting in a seedy Paris hotel in 1977. The song’s title character comes from an old poster from the play, Cyrano de Bergerac, which was hanging in the hotel lobby, and it tells a story of a man that falls in love with a prostitute. Sting was inspired walking through the red-light district near a club the band was playing in. During the recording session at Surrey Sound Studios outside London. Sting accidentally sat on a piano and the sound was recorded along with his laugh and mixed into the intro. “Roxanne” is ranked No. 388 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

The Police were formed in London in 1977 by Sting, who was going by his real name, Gordon Sumner, at the time, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Henry Padovani, who was replaced by guitarist Andy Summer a few months later to form the core group. They initially started out playing in clubs in and around London as part of the punk scene. Their debut album, 1978’s Outlandos d’Amour, included “Roxanne,” and a couple of other UK hits in “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “So Lonely.” Their next album included two UK No. 1’s in “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon.” Their first big international hits came with 1980’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da.” The Police’s first top five hit in the U.S. was 1981’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and their first and only No. 1 on the Billboard 100 was 1983’s “Every Breath You Take.” The 1983 album, Synchronicity, which would turn out to be the band’s last, won three Grammy Awards and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It included a number of hit songs in addition to “Every Breath You Take” including “King of Pain,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “Synchronicity II.” The band broke up in 1986 with the members pursuing solo careers. Sting has released 15 solo albums and had one No. 1 in the U.S. in 1993’s “All For Love,” which was a collaboration with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, and a couple of other top five hits in 1985’s “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” and 1991’s “All This Time.” Sting has appeared in close to 50 films, plays and T.V. shows. He won six Grammy Awards with the Police and 11 as a solo artist. The Police played “Roxanne” when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, which was the first time they played together publicly since breaking up 17 years earlier.