SAN ANTONIO | Bruce Pearl calls it the back nine, but not the 18th hole quite yet.

Auburn’s 65-year old head coach, who is in his second Final Four in 30 years as a D-I college coach, knows his opportunities to win a national championship are limited.

This weekend could be his last.

“We're excited about being back at the Final Four,” said Pearl. “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.”

Pearl does have a D-II national championship, which he won at Southern Indiana in 1995. Now, Auburn’s all-time winningest coach is just two wins away from adding some special hardware to the trophy case.

The Tigers’ players are determined to make it happen.

“At the beginning of the year, he told us how special we could be with this team. A lot of people didn’t believe that,” said Chad Baker-Mazara, one of AU’s 10 seniors or fifth-year players. “He stayed in our ears telling us, ‘You guys really got this.’ You’ve just got to focus, lock in and we’ll be able to determine our own future.

“Having a coach that bring that confidence in you like, ‘I know you guys got this.’ We just want to make sure we get him one. I feel like we owe it to him by putting this team together the way he did.”

Standing in Pearl’s and Auburn’s way Saturday will be Florida, which beat the Tigers 90-81 at Neville Arena Feb. 8. The Gators are on a 10-game winning streak including winning the SEC Tournament and the NCAA West Region.

But Baker-Mazara probably knows better than any other player on Auburn’s team that the past doesn’t have to define your future. Pearl and his staff never turned their back on Baker-Mazara after a couple of high-profile ejections.

“Having a coaching staff after the multiple times I’ve messed up, they still have not given up on me,” said Baker-Mazara. “How can you not play your best basketball for somebody like that? How can you not go out there and say, ‘F-it, I’m going to go out there and give everything?’

“That’s how I feel. I feel like they’ve given their all to me and the least I can do is give my all to them.”

Tip-off at the Alamodome is scheduled for Saturday evening at 5:09 p.m. CT on CBS.