NASHVILLE, Tenn. – "Let's make history," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl told his team in the locker room before Saturday's semifinal game against Florida.
The Tigers did just that. They beat Florida to advance to the championship game of this year's SEC tournament. That alone is quite the accomplishment. The last time Auburn played in the title game of this event (2000), some of the current players weren't even walking yet.
"This is the best team I've been a part of," senior Horace Spencer said. "It's probably the best team that's been at Auburn since 2000. It just means a lot that we're capable of repeating history."
However, while it was worth celebrating the victory over Florida and what it means for this program to play in the championship game, the post-game message from Pearl in the locker room was more about what still lies in front of Auburn this season.
"We are not done," he told the team. "We are not even close to being done."
That's because the Tigers didn't come to Nashville just to make it to the final. They felt what it was like to win a championship last year when they won the SEC regular-season crown, and though they couldn't replicate that feat this year, this is their opportunity to experience it all over again. This is their chance to cut down the nets.
On Thursday, that might have seemed like a long shot to some. But three days and three games later, only Tennessee stands between this team winning a championship.
"It's something that we prepared for," Auburn sophomore Samir Doughty said. "It's something that we worked for throughout this whole year. We had a great offseason. We work hard every single day. It's just something that we expected. It's nothing new to us. It's not surprising that we're in the championship.
"But we're here to win championships, not to get to championships. That's our main focus right now – to figure out how we can beat Tennessee."
Last weekend, Auburn beat this Tennessee team in the only meeting between the two sides this season. The win vaulted the Tigers into a tie for fourth in the SEC, setting up their tournament run this week, and it cost Tennessee a share of the regular-season title.
This weekend, however, nobody is giving Auburn much of a chance to do it again. In fact, there was talk that Saturday's semifinal game between Tennessee and Kentucky was essentially the championship game. The game more than lived up to the hype, but there was no trophy ceremony after Tennessee won. There's still another game Sunday, and Auburn is eagerly awaiting their chance to prove people wrong.
"This whole time we've kind of had a chip on our shoulder," Doughty said. "Teams didn't expect us to be here. They expected us to lose to South Carolina. They probably expected us to lose to Missouri. That's something we don't even worry about. We just worry about winning the games and doing what we know how to do."
"We're motivated enough in this locker room to do what we want to do," added Jared Harper, the hero of Saturday's semifinal game. "Our goal was to come and win an SEC championship, cut down the nets and get a ring."
The last time Auburn basketball won the SEC tournament? 1985.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf