AUBURN — The history of Auburn men's basketball has been designated by a few great moments, sometimes decades apart, and particularly by the bittersweet brevity of those moments. An unforgettable season here or there. A generational player. An unprecedented run in March. It's safe to say the 2021-22 Tigers have already cemented themselves within the ranks of those memorable teams, but whether they transcend the others will be determined by whether they can build on a recent pattern of sustained success. Growth in coach Bruce Pearl's program can be measured by continuing to reach heights that no other Auburn team has. That's primarily in reference to postseason performance, yes, but other milestones will certainly help in the record books. The Tigers can check off a major bucket-list item now. On Monday for the first time in school history, Auburn is ranked No. 1 in the country in the Associate Press poll. The program had never accomplished it: Not Isaac Okoro and the 2019-20 juggernaut that was defending a Final Four trip. Not Chris Porter and coach Cliff Ellis in 1999, despite a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed. Not the two-loss 1959 squad. Not celebrated and soon-to-be bannered coach Sonny Smith's 1986-87 team that reached the top five. Not even NBA legend Charles Barkley, who peaked at No. 14 and No. 16 in the coaches' and AP polls, respectively. That was in 1984, near the end of his Auburn years.
As you walk into Auburn Arena, the home of the Auburn Tigers, it’s hard not to look up and notice some of the greatest names in basketball history hanging from the rafters. Players such as Charles Barkley and Chuck Person once put this basketball team on the map at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, and the tradition of greatness is still alive and well today. With head coach Bruce Pearl at the helm of the men’s basketball team this season, the Tigers are a top-notch team and have a real shot at winning the first national title in program history.
Auburn’s history in the NCAA Tournament isn’t as storied as most men’s basketball programs as the Tigers have made just 10 total NCAA appearances, all since their first time making a March Madness bracket in 1984. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great runs by the Tigers including the program’s first Final Four in 2019 that included a three-game sweep of blue blood programs Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky. With Auburn self-imposing, a postseason ban for this season, the streak of two straight tournaments will come to a close but expect Bruce Pearl and the Tigers to be back on the national stage in 2022.