AUBURN, Ala. – When Bruce Pearl wanted to announce his team's Most Valuable Players at Auburn men's basketball banquet, he instructed the audiovisual operator at Auburn Arena to push play.
Instantly, the hundreds of guests in attendance knew which players were taking home the hardware.
'Jared. Chuma Okeke. Any my guy Bryce Brown, shooting that thing from way downtown.'
"We've got Jared," a song Auburn University graduate Drew Crowson wrote and recorded in his guest room in an hour in March, proclaimed the Tigers' trio of MVPs.
Crowson lifted the tune from "Sugar, Sugar," a 1969 No. 1 song by The Archies that a Liverpool soccer fan reworked to create "We've Got Salah," the inspiration for Crowson's creation.
Auburn basketball fans know what happened next.
During the Tigers' historic run to the Final Four, "We've Got Jared" was everywhere. The players enjoyed it. The pep band performed it during the NCAA Tournament. Music graduate assistant Brady McNeil arranged it for Auburn University's Chamber Choir.
"Somebody with an immense level of musical talent, much more than I have, spent a lot of time arranging this, and those kids singing it," Crowson said. "It was beautiful."
When the Tigers went to Minneapolis in early April for the Final Four, Crowson planned to spend that Saturday morning with his wife before watching the game.
Ready to roll: 'We've Got Jared' creator Drew Crowson at Samford Lawn. Photo: Phillip Smith/Auburn University
It was his first free Saturday in nearly a month, having helped with disaster relief in Lee County in March in his role as campus life director for Youth For Christ East Alabama.
Less than 24 hours before tipoff, Drew's plans changed.
"All of a sudden, I find out I'm going to Minneapolis," he said. "That was crazy."
His mother and friends from his hometown of Longview, Texas, pooled enough money and frequent flier miles to provide Drew's airfare.
A plane ticket was one thing. A game ticket was another matter.
"Auburn fans who loved the song had been sending money on Venmo because the song's available for free," he said.
A friend took to Twitter to encourage Auburn fans to donate. One sold Drew a ticket for less than he'd paid for it.
On multiple occasions in Minneapolis, fans asked Drew for pictures.
"I told them this is the craziest thing," he said. "It's just going to be a picture of you with some random guy. No one is going to know who this is."
During the game, Auburn's pep band played "We've Got Jared."
"A surreal experience for me," he said.
Late in the second half, the Tigers trailed by 10 points. Crowson mentally prepared for defeat.
"You know what, what a ride," he remembers thinking. "This has been amazing to even get this far. Who would have ever thought I could own a t-shirt that said Auburn and Final Four on the same shirt?
"All of a sudden Bryce Brown goes off and we start chipping away at this lead, and then we take the lead. I'm convinced it was because it showed Bo Jackson on the Jumbotron. Bo's on the screen, we're still losing, but it doesn't matter. UVA is not going to win this game. I even told a Virginia fan that. 'Sorry, guys, I didn't know Bo's in the house.'
"Then we take the lead and I am flipping out. We all thought we won, because I didn't see the foul called. At that moment, I'm losing it. I'm hugging strangers, I'm hugging a Duke fan sitting next to me who was cheering for us. That was wild. And then just the rollercoaster going down. They're giving him three free throws. He makes all three of them."
As the NBA Draft begins two months later, Drew Crowson's song is no longer accurate. Jared Harper, Chuma Okeke and Bryce Brown will soon be suiting up for pro teams.
But the memory of Auburn's remarkable run, and the one-hit wonder who rode the wave, will last.
"That was the perfect team, the perfect time," Crowson said. "I don't think there's another team in the country that would have embraced the song the way this group of guys did. And it's because it embodied the silliness and the fun that this team had with one another.
"They were serious business on the court, but they loved each other so much off the court. They were able to have so much fun."
"The idea that I recorded this in my guest room... and now, the players are singing it in the locker room, is really wild."
— Jeff Shearer (@jeff_shearer) March 27, 2019
🗣@SonOfCrow2 on "We've got Jared," his @AuburnMBB tribute tune. 🏀 🎵 🎤 @Therealvinoo @chuma_okeke @Bwb_2 pic.twitter.com/fpAWXZ3OqK
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer