AUBURN, Ala. – For Bryce Brown, Horace Spencer, Malik Dunbar and Cole Blackstock, Saturday's game against Tennessee will mark the final time they run out of the locker room and onto the court at Auburn Arena as a member of the Auburn men's basketball team.
They all have different skill sets. They all call a different state home. But regardless of where they go after Auburn, there will always be a bond between them.
It's a senior class that will be remembered for a long time at Auburn. Though Dunbar arrived two years after the others, they each played a part in turning around the program and winning an SEC championship. And there's still time to add to that legacy, beginning Saturday.
Q: What are you going to miss most about playing at Auburn Arena?
Brown: "I'm just going to miss the crowd, our loyal fans – how they've supported me since my freshman year when times weren't easy to the point now where won an SEC championship my junior year and we're just a nationally relevant team. I'll just remember all the things and where the program came from."
Spencer: "I'm going to miss the fans. I'm going to miss how much they love to see us play, see us do great. It always seems so genuine with everybody. Even when I'm subbing out of the game, they're always cheering for us and just love us."
Dunbar: "The fans. I'm going to miss that fan love, just all the love that the Auburn family gives when you play in this arena. I'm going to miss how loud it gets when we play Alabama, when we play Kentucky. I'm going to miss all that hype that Auburn comes with, especially in the rival games. It's really been a good time. I'm going to miss that."
Blackstock: "What I'm going to miss most about getting to play here at home is just the atmosphere our fans and our students bring. I would argue it's one of the toughest places to play as an opponent. I've been in a bunch of arenas and played in front of a bunch of different crowds, and ours is by far one of the best."
Q: What's your favorite memory inside Auburn Arena?
Brown: "My favorite memory is definitely between beating Kentucky and beating South Carolina to win the SEC championship. But it's probably the championship and South Carolina just because me personally, I never won a state championship, I never won a tournament championship. So to come to the collegiate level and to do that, it just means a lot to me."
Spencer: "My freshman year, first game. I had the game-winning block. I don't really care about that. It's how my teammates reacted to that game-winning block, how they showed me so much love after that. They showed me so much support. It all goes back to that game. This is what I wanted to do. I wanted that image of love and support to go throughout my whole career at Auburn."
Dunbar: "Last year Kentucky or last year Alabama. I feel like those are the loudest games I've ever been in. I've never been in a gym where it got that loud before, especially that Kentucky game. That Kentucky game last year was crazy. It got so loud in there, I couldn't here myself to talk."
Blackstock: "My favorite memory was my freshman year when we beat Kentucky. That's the first time that's happened in our arena in a long time, and just to get to experience that and be out in the middle of the court with all of our fans jumping around, screaming and enjoying it together – it was great."
Q: What's it going to be like running out of the tunnel one last time?
Brown: "It's going to be sad. I feel like it's going to be loud. There are going to be moments that I probably won't see again with our home crowd no matter what level I go to after this. Our home crowd and our home atmosphere is just so supportive, loving and caring."
Spencer: "There are going to be butterflies. I've never thought about that. It's going to be emotional, but it's my last step to my first step to the rest of my life. That's how I think about it. It's my last step here at Auburn, and I'm going to use that to keep that running going. With my last runout, I'm going to keep on running. I'm going to miss it, though."
Dunbar: "I'm just going to try to treasure those memories. My family is going to be here. It's going to be all right. I'm going to be back watching games and trying to walk out of the tunnel again."
Q: What's it been to like to be part of the turnaround at Auburn?
Brown: "It's been big. When I first got here, I came here just to further my basketball career and hopefully play in a big league one day – not even envisioning that the future was that close to winning an SEC championship. It just lets me know that my hard work that I put in, the team's hard work that we put in, it's definitely paid off. Hopefully the program has changed forever."
Spencer: "I feel like we changed the culture. My class came in, and we were the first building block – we were the foundation. And then it was just adding onto that foundation and just building up. Just keep on building up. As years went on, we got better. And as time goes, Auburn will be recognized as a potential powerhouse."
Blackstock: "It's been incredible to see how far we've come. I come in and Coach Pearl promised me that we would make it to the tournament in my time being here. To actually see it and get to experience it and be a part of making history here at Auburn, it's been great."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf