Auburn Basketball Self-Imposes Postseason Ban After Bribery Scandal

The 2021 NCAA men's basketball tournament will not feature the Auburn Tigers.

As Justin Ferguson of the Auburn Observer shared, Auburn self-imposed a postseason ban for the bribery case involving former assistant coach Chuck Person.

"This was a difficult decision but the right decision," head coach Bruce Pearl said. "I hate it for our current players. They lost the opportunity for the postseason last year because of COVID, and now they will miss the postseason again. It's a two-year postseason penalty for them. However, we need to take this penalty now to put it behind us."

This is a difficult blow for a Tigers program that is becoming more of a national presence under Pearl.

Auburn went to the Final Four during the 2018-19 campaign and was a threat to do so again last season at 25-6 before the postseason was canceled. Pearl also led the team to the NCAA tournament in 2017-18, which was its first appearance in the Big Dance since the 2002-03 season.

Unfortunately for the program, it will not be able to build on that momentum with another postseason run in 2020-21.

As for the violation in question, Tom Green of AL.com pointed out Person was arrested in 2017 as part of the FBI's extended investigation into college basketball recruiting. Mark Murphy of 247Sports noted the Tigers fired Person in the aftermath.

That did not stop former Auburn center Austin Wiley from missing a season of eligibility because of Person's actions.

The Tigers start their season Thursday against Saint Joseph's.