Auburn's seemingly impossible, undefeated run through March — a run that carry the program into the Final Four next weekend for the first time in school history — is rooted in the team's bitterly disappointing trip to San Diego in 2018.
That is coach Bruce Pearl's opinion, anyway.
The Tigers narrowly defeated 13th-seeded College of Charleston last spring for their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2003. Two days later, Clemson mauled Pearl's team by 31 points to leapfrog their lake-less cousin into the Sweet Sixteen. That loss turned Auburn's locker room into a vortex or embarrassment, disgust and personal anguish.
Those feelings, Pearl said Monday, set the table for Auburn's miraculous postseason run in 2019.
"We got down to seven scholarship players, we had a number of key injuries, we got destroyed by Clemson in the second round. We just were totally unable to be competitive," Pearl said. "Our guys from that moment forward — our (theme) this year was “unfinished business.” When Auburn goes to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003 ... you’d wouldn’t think the kids would be talking about unfinished business. You think they’d be slapping themselves on the back and being pretty proud of what they accomplished. Not this group."
It's true that Auburn's most experienced players, specifically Bryce Brown and Jared Harper and Horace Spencer, derived little joy from the team's successes until the win against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament final. Until that point, the team's leaders still were desperate to forget those Clemson memories for good — and replace them with an accomplishment they deemed worthy of such a swap.
Capturing the tournament title provided them a chance to smile.
Pearl was glad to see the whole thing unfold. He's always endeavored to build teams that feature a level of accountability and what he calls "buy-in" that fuels it from the inside. The Auburn coach accomplishes that goal by adding as many players as possible into the every-game playing rotation.
"Before Chuma went down, we were playing 10 guys double digit minutes," Pearl said Monday. "When we went down in the game against North Carolina, we got down to nine (players). Some people think nine is a lot, but it isn’t for me. It makes for a healthier locker room. When your guys begin to trust and rely on each other, it makes you a more dangerous team."
