Days like this don't come around very often.
Auburn, armed with its new (and wholly deserved) reputation as demystifier of blue-blood basketball, will play Kentucky for a trip to the Final Four. You know the stakes. You know because you watched this team dismantle Kansas last week and wondered if this was real life. You watched this team dismantle North Carolina the other day and wondered again if this was real life.
Then you realized: Auburn really is this good. Auburn really has come this far. And if it manages to topple a third consecutive blue-blooded opponent, well, history will be made.
This will be framed as a David-versus-Goliath showdown because America loves that storyline. It's familiar. It resonates with people who fancy themselves as the underdog, which is basically me and you and everybody we know. The stunning loss of Chuma Okeke to a torn knee ligament on a non-contact play Friday adds even more complexity to a task that Auburn already has failed twice this season.
Yet this underdog role feels forced, undeserved.
Auburn is the hottest team in America. It has not lost a game since Feb. 24. Eleven consecutive wins coming off a drubbing to this same Kentucky team has proven many things to be true. This team evolved from a two-man show into a symphony of contributors. This head coach, Bruce Pearl, has proven that he still has what it takes to field a team capable of competing at the highest level. This university has rallied behind Pearl's fifth Auburn team with remarkable fervor, even spawning a cute song and a cool hashtag (#DoItForChuma) and some of the most entertaining sports banter ever televised thanks to Charles Barkley.
Underdogs don't have that. Any of it.
Point guard Jared Harper on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon described Okeke as the Tigers' most valuable player. He's correct. Okeke's versatility — his ability to hit threes and turnaround jumpers from 10 feet on consecutive possessions and defend guards and forwards alike — is the biggest reason this team learned to cope when Harper and shooting guard Bryce Brown couldn't deliver. He's become a tremendous player, but Okeke also is such a vital element inside the locker room as well. The sophomore lives in his own world, sure, but it's a happy world. He's a happy person. His happiness and happy-go-lucky attitude have brought serenity to a locker room that, frankly, was far too fractious a year ago.
He's obviously a difficult player for Pearl to lose heading into this rematch with Kentucky.
He's also the perfect guy to spawn an emotional rally. Why? Because Okeke is so popular and lovable and understated and largely forgotten by folks outside of Auburn. How else can one explain Okeke's omission from the All-SEC teams this season?
Replacing Okeke's contributions will be a challenge, especially given Kentucky forward P.J. Washington's triumphant return from injury Friday night, but Auburn believes it can manage things with nine healthy contributors. It has the lopsided loss in Lexington on its mind. It has Okeke's injury in mind. It has recent, dominating victories over Tennessee and Kansas and North Carolina on its mind.
Auburn might be the team in better position today.
Look, this season already has been a runaway success. We're talking about a program that hasn't made the Elite Eight since the 1980s and was an SEC also-ran as recently as two years ago. Pearl promised championships (plural) and already has delivered a regular-season title and a conference tournament title.
Still, this team doesn't yet feel any sense of accomplishment.
When Pearl huddled with his team Friday night and talked about needing three more wins to finish this season, nobody giggled. There was no side-eye. These players have been building for this, anticipating this kind of pressure-packed challenge, and there's nothing they'd rather do today than compete against Kentucky for a shot at the program's first Final Four.
That such a test comes against the bluest of the blue bloods just makes it that much sweeter for guys like Brown and Harper and most everyone else on this roster — guys who weren't recruited by bigger programs with bigger expectations.
Today is the day they can make Auburn one of those bigger programs with bigger expectations.
And they'll do it with a smile on their faces.
This is their dream. This is what they do.
Today is the day when the dream can become reality.
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