The Auburn Tigers have stepped into the quicksand, and now there seems to be no way out. For many, it’s quite surprising that a team like Auburn that found so much success during the legendary era of Bruce Pearl himself is now a shell of its former self, slowly dwindling into obscurity. Former UConn great Emeka Okafor recently joined the CBS Network to address the situation.

“If the metrics were moral victories, he would be in firm contention to be in the tournament. But we talked about February. They only had one win in February, and they lost seven out of the last eight, and when you start talking those terms, it feels a little bit tough to have a conversation tilt the way Auburn would like. So you know it’s rough,” said Okafor, weighing in on the situation

Okafor was blunt in analyzing the situation, and though it might sting Tigers fans, he based it on facts. After trading wins and losses early in the season, the team found itself facing a stark reality when it grappled with the who’s who of the NCAA competition.

Apart from that solitary win against Mark Pope’s Kentucky (under controversial circumstances), they had nothing else to show for their efforts. Tennessee, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas all managed to plunder Auburn.

Their last victory came against LSU (88-74) recently, but will that be enough? Steven Pearl indeed did not have it easy. With a total of 16 Quad 1 opponents, Steven Pearl knew his work was cut out for him, and in his first year as coach, he seemed at his wits’ end to handle the load.

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At this point, Auburn wants to be in the NCAA tournament conversation, but their record (16–14 overall, 7–10 SEC, 11th place) and poor finish make it nearly impossible to justify. Add to that the regular disciplinary issues in the team, and you get chaos of the highest order in the locker room.

Steven Pearl Clears Up About The Latest Disciplinary Issue In His Team

Little did Steven Pearl envision a future where he would have to be part of a team where everything would seem to go topsy-turvy. Losing game after game is one thing, but when there are repeated disciplinary issues, it makes you wonder what exactly is going wrong behind the scenes.

Steven Pearl’s awfully short postgame press conference following Auburn basketball’s loss to Ole Miss over the weekend indicated something was amiss. Keshawn Murphy found his name omitted from the starting lineup because he was late to a film session.

Pearl shared his views on exactly what happened in the Murphy situation.

“Murph’s been late once all year; that was an honest mistake. I have so much love for Murph, but I’ve been pretty consistent in my discipline for guys who haven’t been on time. I can’t change that standard just because one guy that’s been consistent all year wasn’t. Everybody’s got to get treated fairly and treated the same. Murph was late one time, and he didn’t start because of it,” said Steven Pearl

Indeed, you can’t be biased in your attitude towards your players, and that explains the behavior, but this wasn’t the first time this happened this season. So far, five different Tigers — Kaden Magwood, Kevin Overton, Keyshawn Hall, and Tahaad Pettiford, have faced the wrath of the coach for “disciplinary issues”.

The reasons have been varied, and the punishments have been, too. Some totally had to miss out on games, others came off the bench, and the rest saw their time on court reduced. Now, this wouldn’t have mattered had the team been doing well, but when you look at the stats for some of these players, you see they are actually trying to make a difference.

You can only afford luxuries when your basic requirements are met, and not before, and maybe now is just not the right time to discipline your best players when you cherish hopes of an NCAA slot.