AUBURN | Auburn’s basketball season cam to an abrupt end nearly two weeks ago before the No. 2 seed Tigers could take the floor in the SEC Tournament.

Auburn was guaranteed to play at least two more games, but could have played as many as nine. Below is a look at what the team lost after finishing 25-6.

** Five seniors lost an opportunity to complete their season, win back-to-back SEC Tournament championships and make another run to the Final Four.

** Freshman Isaac Okoro, who is projected as a lottery pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, lost an opportunity to play in the postseason for probably his only college season.

** An opportunity for Allen Flanigan, Jaylin Williams, Devan Cambridge and the rest of Auburn's newcomers to gain valuable postseason experience going into next year.

** An opportunity to win a fifth consecutive SEC Tournament game for the first time in program history.

** The seniors were one win away from the 100th win of their career and from tying last year’s seniors for the most wins (56) in a two-year period. They already hold the record for wins in four years (99) and three years (81).

** Up to $3 million in additional revenue had it made a second consecutive trip to the Final Four.

** An opportunity to win the most games in a single season in program history. A 26th win would have tied the 2017-18 team for the third most wins. Last year’s team set the record with 30 wins. The 1998-99 team had 29.

** The 2019-20 team finished with 551 free throws made to rank 4th in program history. The program-record 647 made free throws by the 2017-18 team was in reach.

** The 2019-20 team finished with 151 blocked shots to rank 8th in program history. The program-record 190 blocks by last year’s team was in reach with a long run in both tournaments.

** Samir Doughty’s 148 made free throws is tied with Wally Tinker for the 7th in AU single season history. A top three finish was in reach with Chris Denson at 3rd with 176 made in 2013-14. John Mengelt has the top two with 180 in 1969-70 and 208 in 1970-71.

** Bruce Pearl gave a long answer during a teleconference when asked about what his team could have accomplished during the postseason.

“That is just such speculation,” Pearl said. “I've seen some coaches commenting on what they thought their team was capable of doing. You know, I liked the way our team played at Tennessee. I said after the game, I thought that would've been one of their best efforts. Tennessee had just come off of beating Florida and Kentucky, two teams that were, at that time, first and second in our league. And then we go to Knoxville and play really well. That certainly would’ve given us momentum. We were only three wins away from being SEC champions again, and you know, obviously, the kids felt like three wins in Nashville, being a two-seed, were something that they were capable of doing.

“But I wouldn’t begin to even predict what that would look like, because I think in doing so—I’d said all year long that it was the most competitive league we had been in; teams with the best record could beat the teams with the worst record. LSU and Vanderbilt was a case in point. I am extremely proud of this group for finishing in second place because the league was so good. I felt like this was a team that could finish in the top five. Several of you that have interviewed me, I may have talked about fourth or fifth—which is about where we were picked, and I felt that was accurate. So, to finish higher than we were picked and within range of the champion, I was very pleased.

“These kids really cared, they grinded, they won four overtime games, or five—four or five overtime games—and I’m proud of them for the way they competed and the way they grinded, especially with a roster that was really a lot of seniors that had played supporting cast roles the year before and played dominant roles. I mean, J’Von McCormick taking over for one of the greatest point guards to play in the SEC. Samir Doughty taking over for Bryce Brown, the second—maybe one of the top two or three shooters to ever play in the SEC. Those two kids—both Jared and Bryce—were second-team all-conference players. You know, Danjel Purifoy and Anfernee McLemore sort of taking over for Chuma, who was the 16th player in the draft. Just go up and down the roster. So, we certainly were in position to be competitive in postseason play again, and I could tell you that our seniors were extremely disappointed, but they got it in perspective because as you look around and you see people that are out of work, businesses that are failing, having really serious health issues—particularly in urban areas—and it’s going to get worse before it gets better, none of our guys are complaining.

“Where I’m at is trying to have a balance between, OK, we’re talking basketball, but I think people want to hear about how we feel—but I’m not interested in being in the news right now from the standpoint of, unless it was just to love on my players and love on our fanbase and try to, where and when it’s appropriate, to rebuild our roster in such a way that we continue to be a top-20 men’s college basketball program.”