Why a national title would cement Auburn as one of college basketball’s all-time great teams

Auburn professor Dan Padgett was delivering a marketing lecture just over a decade ago when the school’s newly hired men’s basketball coach interrupted.

Bruce Pearl enthusiastically burst through the lecture hall door, joined by the school’s marching band, cheerleaders and even Aubie the Tiger.

For the next 10 minutes, Pearl transformed Padgett’s class into an impromptu pep rally. He clapped along to Auburn’s fight song, urged the students to stand at their seats and asked for their support when the season began.

“You guys know KT Harrell?” Pearl asked, pointing to Auburn’s leading returning scorer.

Some students in the lecture hall said they did.

“Not enough of you know KT,” Pearl continued.

“Our team is working really hard to try to make some progress on the court. Together we can do great things. I really do believe that we can become relevant in the world of college basketball.”

Ten and a half years later, Auburn is more than relevant. The Tigers are dominant. A program that made only eight NCAA tournaments in its wretched history before Pearl's arrival enters March as the AP Top 25’s unanimous No. 1 team and the favorite to win the national title. In fact, should the Tigers climb ladders and cut down nets on April 7, they’ll be remembered as one of those teams, an all-time great that’s a tier or two above the average national champion.

If it sounds implausible to suggest that Auburn has a chance to join the likes of 2012 Kentucky, 2018 Villanova and 2024 UConn, consider what the Tigers have already accomplished. This is a team that is 27-2 so far against the toughest schedule any men’s college basketball team has faced this season.

This year’s SEC established itself as one of the best leagues in recent memory after it won an unprecedented 88.9% of its non-conference games and went 58-19 against the other four power conferences. Less than two weeks before Selection Sunday, 14 of the SEC’s 16 teams are still in contention to earn at-large NCAA tournament bids.

To say that Auburn has overcome that gauntlet doesn’t do the Tigers justice. Auburn is 15-1 in the SEC and clinched the outright league title on Saturday with one week left to play. The Tigers are now three full games clear of second place Alabama after they overpowered Kentucky at Rupp Arena and the Crimson Tide lost at the buzzer at Tennessee.

Even before SEC play tipped off in early January, Auburn was already off to a ridiculously good start. The Tigers faced six non-conference opponents currently projected to make this year’s NCAA tournament. They took down Houston, Iowa State, Purdue, Memphis and Ohio State and came closer to toppling second-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium than anyone else has this season.

The nerdier you get, the more impressive Auburn’s résumé becomes.

Auburn’s 16 Quadrant 1 victories are six more than anyone else in college basketball has tallied so far this season. The Tigers need only one more Quadrant 1 win before Selection Sunday to match the most any team has amassed since the NCAA introduced its NET rankings before the 2018-19 season.

College basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy ranks teams by calculating the number of points they would be expected to outscore the average Division I opponent by over 100 possessions. His site allows users to see teams’ adjusted efficiency margin at any point in the season dating back to 1997.

As of Sunday, Auburn’s adjusted efficiency margin was 37.65. Only two teams in Pomeroy’s database have ever had a higher score on March 2 of their respective seasons: 1999 Duke (41.52) and this season’s Blue Devils (39.09).

It’s safe to say that preseason expectations for Auburn did not include not getting mentioned in the same sentence as Shane Battier-Elton Brand-Corey Maggette-era Duke. The Tigers returned five of nine rotation players from the team that was upset by Yale in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament. AP voters ranked them No. 11 in the preseason poll. Even Pearl himself told reporters this past Saturday, “I had no expectations that this team would be this good.”

The collection of players that Pearl brought together took wildly different paths to get to Auburn. National player of the year co-favorite Johni Broome spent his first two years of college at Morehead State. Standout guard Chad Baker-Mazara came from junior college after failing to live up to his academic responsibilities at San Diego State. Denver Jones began his college career at Florida International. Chaney Johnson transferred from Division II Alabama Huntsville. Miles Kelly led Georgia Tech in scoring last year.

Only McDonald’s All-American freshman Tahaad Pettiford and former AAU teammate Jakhi Howard were prized recruits out of high school. Pettiford chose Auburn over the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, UConn and UCLA.

Credit Pearl for assembling a roster that fits on and off the floor, for putting players in position to succeed and for getting them to play with maximum effort, energy and cohesion. For weeks, Pearl has challenged Auburn to prepare like the No. 1 team in the country and play like the No. 1 team in the country. The Tigers have consistently delivered.

Auburn hadn’t beaten Kentucky at Rupp Arena since 1988 prior to Saturday, yet Pearl’s pregame message to his team oozed confidence. Ignoring the history, Pearl reminded the Tigers, with ESPN’s cameras rolling, which team was 14-1 in the SEC and which was 8-7.

“Have they gotten ready to play every night?” Pearl bellowed.

“No, sir,” Auburn players responded.

“Has this team gotten ready to play every night?” Pearl shouted.

“Yes, sir,” the Tigers said.

“This team deserves a [SEC] championship,” Pearl concluded, his voice already raspy. “Let’s win it tonight.”

It was 19-6, Auburn, after less than six minutes. It was 49-34, Auburn, at halftime. The Tigers led by 13 or more the entire second half despite Broome enduring a rare off night and Jones logging only eight minutes as a result of a bone bruise.

What Auburn has achieved already this season is more than Pearl could have realistically hoped for 10-plus years ago when he was crashing marketing classes to generate interest in his long-ignored basketball program. In those days, Pearl did anything from don a blonde wig and lip sync to a Taylor Swift song, to sit in a dunk tank at a fraternity fundraiser, to hand out his personal cell phone number at a meet-and-greet with Auburn alumni.

Now Pearl doesn’t have to work so hard to pack Neville Arena. He has a team that is favored to win the national title and has a real opportunity to establish itself as one of college basketball’s all-time greats.