Found a cool basketbal article from this summer

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(Bruce) "I walked into Auburn Arena and I asked, 'Where is that Sports Illustrated picture of Chris Porter?' It's got to be around here some place. It's got to be around here big as life. Because I remember Auburn basketball being ranked No. 1 in the country. I want my guys to remember it wasn't so long ago that Auburn basketball was ranked No. 1 in the country, and that's because of the players who are here tonight."

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"That basketball team right there is going to be picked near the bottom of the SEC. That basketball team right there will finish nowhere near the bottom of the SEC," Pearl said.

"I'm not asking you to be patient. We've been patient long enough.

"My goal is earn the respect, and as much as anything to earn the respect of some of the great coaches I'm following: Coach Eaves, coach Sonny Smith, coach Cliff Ellis. My goal is to do enough here to earn those coaches' respect."

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"Two Sweet 16s, an SEC championship, three NCAA appearances, so it can be done," Ellis said as he turned to Pearl.

"Now, don't go .500 because the next year they fired me. I had one .500 team, and outta here."

That brought laugher.

"It wasn't funny at the time," Ellis said with a chuckle on himself.

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Barkley: "I've been so blessed. I've had an amazing life. I'm an old geezer now. I came here in 1981. Auburn is amazing."

Barkley couldn't leave it there. He turned to Pearl and reminded him of what Ellis said.

"If you go .500, we're going to fire you, too," Barkley said.

"Hey," Pearl shot back, "if I go .500 and you fire me, have you seen my buyout? You'd have to donate a lot of money."

"I've got that," Barkley said without missing a beat, "in my back pocket."

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