SAN ANTONIO | Auburn spent much of the season as the No. 1 team in both polls. The Tigers earned the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after running through a gauntlet of a non-conference and SEC schedule.

Yet, with the Final Four coming up on Saturday in the Alamodome, Bruce Pearl's squad is considered an underdog.

That's not a worry for the Auburn head coach.

"We come in as the overall No. 1, but we're probably considered the fourth-best team here right now," he said. "There is nothing new. I prefer the underdog role rather than having to prove that we're as good as we say we are."

Chris Moore, the fifth-year senior who has spent his entire collegiate career at Auburn, says this team is full of underdogs, and they relish that role. Johni Broome was an afterthought during his recruiting, eventually signing with Morehead State before arriving on the Plains. Chaney Johnson started out at Division-II Alabama Huntsville, Denver Jones at a community college, and then FIU.

And Chad Baker-Mazara? As Johnny Cash would sing, he's been everywhere, man. The Dominican Republic native thinks he and his teammates thrive when overlooked.

"I love that stuff," Baker-Mazara said. "I feel like guys take the disrespect in the right way, and I feel like that builds a fire under us."

The one Auburn player who wasn't overlooked is freshman Tahaad Pettiford, the 5-star recruit out of New Jersey who burst onto the college basketball scene with an impressive performance against Houston, another Final Four team, in November. Still, he realizes his path to this moment is far from what many of his teammates have gone through.

"We have a lot of guys that came from close to nothing," Pettiford said. "JUCO, D-II, the lowest you can get, and just seeing them where they're at now and how far they came is really nice."

Broome isn't buying the underdog story, though. The All-American and National Player of the Year candidate knows how good the Tigers are and what they can do this weekend.

"Y'all got us underdogs, that's fine," Broome said. "We think we're the best team here. So, however we get painted, we come here to win."

Jones is using what he could consider some disrespect as fuel.

"I just feel like Auburn has never really got the credit," he said. "That's why we still need to carry that chip on our shoulders just to keep proving ourselves."