Bruce Pearl Dedicates Auburn's SEC Regular-Season Title to Charles Barkley

The Auburn Tigers clinched a share of their first SEC title since 1999 on Saturday with a 79-70 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks, and while the current players are the reason for the success, those who came before them were not lost in the mix.

Coach Bruce Pearl made a point to shout out to Charles Barkley, who played for Auburn from 1981 to 1984, and other Tigers greats for helping the program be what it is today.

"There's guys like Charles Barkley right now ... who is celebrating this victory," Pearl said, per ESPN.com. That was for you, Charles, and a lot of those guys who wore this uniform."

Auburn's basketball program does not have the history of a Kentucky or North Carolina. And that's exactly what makes this team special. This team won just the program's third regular-season conference title and is going to make the NCAA tournament for just the ninth time.

Barkley's teams went 49-38 during his time on campus, but his contributions on the court will never be forgotten at Auburn. He was a part of the Tigers' first-ever NCAA tournament back in 1984. That started a string of five consecutive trips to the Big Dance, a feat that has not been matched by the team since.

Now, as the 25-6 Tigers are SEC champs and are headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003, they salute the past as they look at how far the program has come.

"It's unreal. It's unbelievable, knowing where the program came from,'' Auburn junior Bryce Brown said, per ESPN.com. "When I signed here, of course our goal was to win a championship. But I don't know if I really, truly felt like we were going to be able to. Three years later, here it goes."

Barkley has continued to support his alma mater through the years and is routinely spotted at Auburn sporting events. This little shoutout is just the Tigers' way of returning the love.