Auburn Basketball was an underdog going into the NCAA Tournament, but they have overcome all the odds to make the Final Four. How did it happen? The Final Four teams in the NCAA Tournament are all a bit surprising. Outside of Michigan State, there is no experience in this Final Four. Out of the four teams, the biggest surprise is definitely the Auburn Tigers. Bruce Pearl is one of the most experienced coaches that has never made the Final Four. However, that is no longer the case, as he has taken his Auburn Tigers to their first Final Four in the history of the program. Thanks to Jared Harper and Bryce Brown, this team can score with the best of them. In fact, they are one of few teams in the NCAA to score over 80 points a game. This goes with the fact that they force turnovers with the best of them. Their defense is stellar, and their transition pairs with it really well. This season started with high expectation due to the returning talent from last season. Their only key player lost from last year was Mustapha Heron, and that’s less than almost every other team in the conference. However, they struggled early in the season. It was hard for them to find their way, but they finally made it work towards the end of the year. They’ve peaked at the right time, and that’s the only possible way they could’ve made the Final Four. So, what truly is the story of the Auburn Tigers? Allow me to explain.<doc-sep>AUBURN, Alabama—Following a physical practice in their own gym, the Auburn Tigers (30-9) hit the road for Minneapolis and the Final 4 on Wednesday as Coach Bruce Pearl’s team prepares to face the Virginia Cavaliers (33-3) on Saturday at 5:09 p.m. CDT in the first of two games. The second game features Texas Tech (30-6) vs. Michigan State (32-6). With a big group of fans in attendance to see the team off, Pearl had some final words for those in attendance. “Auburn is going to the Final 4,” Pearl shouted. “Now it’s our job to show that we belong, but I tell you what, you guys belong there. We would not be where we are today without y’all. We appreciate you and we’re going to do the best we possibly can to represent and bring home a championship. War Eagle!” Auburn enters the first Final 4 in school history on a 12-game winning streak after taking home the SEC Tournament Championship and beating New Mexico State, Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the final weekend of play.<doc-sep>MINNEAPOLIS – One of the architects of this Auburn semi-miracle we're witnessing has a full Saturday. Harris Adler has to work at the family pharmacy in the morning. He has a T-ball game with his 4-year old son in the afternoon. And then, maybe he'll get to relax in a local pub to watch the Auburn program he helped assemble in the Final Four. "We're not here without Harris," Auburn assistant Steve Pearl said. "Harris Adler kind of got this whole thing started." That's quite a declaration. Adler, 43, quit the program as one of Bruce Pearl's top assistants in May 2018 to go back home to Philadelphia. It was time. It not only was about being near his mother Jeannette who is fighting ovarian cancer, it was a quality of life thing. "I still work harder than anybody," Adler said. "The biggest difference is my phone doesn't ring non-stop -- texting, checking social media. When you get out of it -- I don't want to use the word 'toxic' – [you don't realize] how non-stop it is." That helps paint a picture of bittersweet for Adler as he watches the Tigers play Michigan State on Saturday. He left his mark during his four years at Auburn, recruiting several of the current Tigers including the self-proclaimed best backcourt in the country. "I've actually talked to him a few times in the last week," Auburn guard Bryce Brown said. "I know he definitely wants to be here. I'm pretty sure he kind of regrets it right now. He did a lot for me." Brown and teammate Jared Harper started calling themselves the best backcourt shortly after Auburn's Midwest Regional win over Kentucky. They had reason. The seniors combined for 50 of Auburn's 77 points that afternoon. They have been the driving force behind a program that plays the biggest game in its history Saturday night against the Cavaliers in a national semifinal. Adler's name was brought up several times this week, almost like he was still part of the staff. Twenty years ago, Adler left Adler's Pharmacy, the family business in South Jersey. He struck out on his own to be a basketball coach, working his way up from Rowan to Centenary to LaSalle to Auburn. Adler had an eye for talent. So much so that he was able to land Auburn forward Horace Spencer in the last days of Bruce Pearl's three-year show-cause for lying to the NCAA. Adler also recruited both of those Georgia natives in the backcourt that hold the whole thing together. Harper was the better prospect with offers from high major programs. Brown wasn't exactly a sure thing. He was headed to Charlotte when he got an offer from Auburn – because of Adler. "Sometimes your eye sees certain things," Adler said. "I had heard decent things about him. I go watch Bryce and it was, like, 'Wow.' There were a lot of mid-major schools saying, 'Get out of there. He's not good enough.' " Bruce Pearl said Brown was a "mid-300s" prospect in the nation. "I didn't like him when he first saw him, I loved him," Pearl said of Brown. His son Steve described the 5-foot-11 Harper as, "this little midget with skinny arms probably 110 pounds soaking wet." But -- and there's always a 'but' with this Auburn squad -- "Jared can shoot the ball. He was the fastest guy on the court. He had the most confidence of anybody on the court. That's what sold us on Jared," Adler added. Bryce Brown and Jared Harper are the key to Auburn's offense. USATSI Adler stayed on the pair because of the culture Auburn itself had developed. Type "#whynotus" into your search engine and see what you get. "We always recruit guys with chips on (their) shoulder," Steve Pearl said. There have been reminders all over the place since Auburn became a national story these last few weeks. Steph Curry took notice. The Golden State star had boxes of his signature shoe delivered to both Texas Tech and Auburn. "It was amazing," Brown said. "He gave us a special shout out. He gave us some pretty nice gear. He gave us good luck statement. He was saying just like himself, he was an underdog. He felt like our run was similar to his with Davidson." "This kind of embodies what you guys have done to this point," Curry said in a video. "You're a five-seed taking down the big time teams in the tournament. We're all underrated but we're beating expectations with you guys in the Final Four." The #whynotus crew is ready to ball. "They said I'd never be able to play at this level," Brown said. "They said I'd never be able to play in the SEC. They definitely said I'd never make it to the Final Four. "We feel we're just as good as a lot of these high-name profile teams. They get a lot of attention. We feel like we should be getting that attention too – [from] bluebloods to be specific." Adler saw Brown in a back gym at what he recalls was some "Peach State Tournament". There's a big difference between that and the illustrious Peach Jam. Bruce Pearl compared Harper to smaller guards in his past – B.J. Armstrong at Iowa; Michael Adams and John Bagley at Boston College. "I just asked him point blank, 'Do you think Kentucky, Florida, or Georgia -- three other schools he probably would have loved to have gone as a kid from Atlanta … are they going to offer you a scholarship?' Bruce Pearl said. "And he said, 'No, probably not.' And I said, 'Well, I am, and I want you to be my point guard of the future.' " As they go, Auburn goes. The 6-3 Brown is No. 1 in scoring (16.0). Harper is No. 2 (15.4). With inside force Chuma Okeke lost for the season, the pair are the most active on defense accounting for almost three steals per game. As a team, Auburn is one of the best teams in the country at that metric averaging more than nine per game. "Most backcourts do what they have to do on the offensive side," Brown said. "Me and Jared both knock down shots. We're quick guards, athletic guards, can find our teammates. But one thing about me and Jared is our defense. We can pressure anybody, I feel like. "We get after it on defense. We get steals. We get into the ball-hander. Most backcourts worry about their numbers and offense." There is no need for Adler to take a bow. He has done enough to get this team to its first Final Four. His best contribution might be the future. Auburn basketball has one now as a national program. "To me," he said, "it was always about finding diamonds in the rough."<doc-sep>
Auburn is going to the Final 4 It was close to 11 p.m. when the victorious Auburn Tigers returned home after beating Kentucky in the Midwest Regional Final in Kansas City, but that didn’t stop several thousand fans from greeting Bruce Pearl and his team after advancing to the first Final 4 in program history on Sunday. Just over five years after he was hired to head up an Auburn program that had not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2003, Pearl has taken the Tigers to the mountaintop of the college basketball world and on Saturday the Tigers will be on the biggest stage the sport has when they face Virginia at 5:09 p.m. CDT in the first of two national semifinals in Minneapolis. For senior guard Bryce Brown getting to the Final 4 is beginning to hit home and arriving back to thousands of fans only reinforced things for him. “We’ve got an amazing fanbase out here to welcome us back,” Brown said. “It’s all starting to sink in and feel really good.” With well over 2,000 fans on hand to greet the team Brown saw more faces on Sunday night than he did at several of his games in his first year with the Tigers. My how times have changed. “I was like ‘dang, this is serious’,” Brown said. “This means a lot to these fans and it means a lot to us. We didn’t know we had that many people behind us. It was crazy.” Arriving home to a hero’s welcome, Auburn is celebrating beating North Carolina and Kentucky over the weekend, but senior Horace Spencer said this team isn’t done. “It just hit me when we just got back, I’m not going to lie to you,” Spencer said. “We’re not done yet. We’ve got hats and nets, but we want more than just that.”