Bryce Brown sat in the Sprint Center locker room after his perfect second-half shooting performance and Jared Harper's unstoppable get-to-the-rim attack that pushed Auburn to an Elite Eight victory over Kentucky. Brown answered questions about the undersized, under-recruited backcourt going up against the group chock full of McDonald's All-Americans.

He didn't want to come off as arrogant, but he also wanted his point to be heard, to be felt.

"Best backcourt in the nation," he said.

They were certainly the best in Kansas City. Now Bruce Pearl is eager to see if they'll be the best in Minneapolis, too. That will really support Brown's claim.

Pearl has been, as he calls it, "on my soapbox" late this year about the Bob Cousy Award watch list. When he looked at the list the first time, he recognized an immediate snub: No Harper. Pearl has used that list as fuel for Harper since then. He's made similar comments about Bryce Brown not being on Jerry West lists for the nation's best shooting guards.

But you haven't heard him go so far as Brown did — at least not yet.

"You’ve never heard me say they are the best backcourt in the country, and I don’t say that because ... I’d like them to be considered," Pearl said. "I’d like them to be on the list. I believe they are worthy of that. When the season’s over, we’ll determine whether or not they are the best backcourt in the country."

During Pearl's press conference Tuesday, he turned to Auburn publicist Cody Voga to ask a question.

Pearl asked Voga last week how many teams remaining in the Big Dance didn't have an all-conference member on their team. At that time, the answer was five. Two games later, Pearl asked Voga again, wanting to know how many of the Final Four teams were without an all-conference player.

Voga held up one finger: Auburn.

Virginia, Texas Tech and Michigan State all have all-conference players on their team. As a result, when the AP All-America team released Tuesday, all three of those teams had members on the first-, second- or third-team and had others listed among honorable mentions. To earn honorable mention, a player must receive two All-America votes and be on their all-conference team in some capacity.

Because Harper or Brown or Chuma Okeke didn't make the all-conference team, they didn't have a shot at honorable mention. They knew these specifics going into the voting.

But still, it's added motivation.

"So I guess Auburn right now is the only team in the Final Four that didn’t have a player on first-team all-conference. And so yeah, that should be a motivating factor for our guys. And I say that with all due respect to the guys that were first-team all-conference in our league. I don’t know that I would have changed a single one of them, because they were all deserving," Pearl said. "But yeah, it is a motivating factor.”

Virginia guy will have Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome. Michigan State has Cassius Winston and Matt McQuaid. Texas Tech has Jarret Culver, Matt Mooney and Davide Moretti.

Two games in three days will decide a national championship. By association, Pearl thinks it may also decide Brown's claim once and for all: Who is the best backcourt in college basketball this season?

"I think it’s really good to get them on the [award watch] list. And if they’re not on the list then you have to ask why," Pearl said. "But right now, Virginia’s got a pretty good backcourt. Michigan State’s got a pretty good backcourt. Texas Tech’s got a pretty good backcourt. We’ll go see who the best backcourt in the country is."