The Auburn Tigers are a very different team since Charles Barkley went to the NBA in 1984. Sir Charles watched from the TNT booth as they made it to the March Madness in the 2023-24 season. He was rooting for them all the way till Yale eliminated them. Sir Charles hosted the ninth annual Bruce, Barkley & Basketball Golf Classic to raise funds for the Auburn basketball program. While they successfully raised $1 million, Barkley reflected on the journey to get there. It wasn’t easy, and sometimes Chuck wanted to give his teammates a violent reality check.

He credited the current Tigers HC, Bruce Pearl, for the team’s steady success and was proud of the young athletes. He especially sympathized with today’s college athletes, who are under a lot of pressure. It’s easy to forget it was different about three decades ago till Chuck reminded he played under different circumstances.

“You guys don’t remember my time, when we first got here… it was like, we were .500 and they were like going crazy,” Chuck told the media at his fundraiser. “I’m like, ‘no, we suck!’ Like no, this is unacceptable. I mean, I lost like five games in high school and every time we lost, we went ballistic. And my freshman year, I almost beat the hell out of a couple of guys ‘cuz they were excited.”

Barkley may not realize they were excited because of him. The Tigers were 9–16 in the 1980-81 season and lost to Florida in the first round of the 1981 SEC Tournament. Then, in 1981, they had a star recruit from Leeds High School, Charles Barkley.

Freshman Chuck led them to a 14-14 record and the second round of the SEC Tournament. They deserved to celebrate making it that far. But Chuck didn’t agree with premature celebrations and still maintains, “We suck.” As per Barkley, they could celebrate freely even when they lost. But the pressure on college athletes today is different and gives them no room to celebrate their accomplishments. Once more, Chuck called out the NCAA for not taking care of the young athletes.

Despite not living up to the high bar he set himself, Barkley remains extremely attached to his alma mater. And what he accomplished there is more important to him than his NBA career.

Charles Barkley’s proudest accomplishment

In his junior year, Charles Barkley had a rough start to the season with a back injury. But his team was on track. In 1984, The Round Mound of Rebound led the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament in school history. Before losing to Richmond in the first round, Chuck finished with 23 points on 80% field goal shooting, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks.

Barkley left for the NBA draft right after but that tournament left a lasting impression on him. “I’ve always said it’s one of my greatest accomplishments when I left here [Auburn]. We made it to March Madness my last and from the time I got here, when we had never been above 500 or did anything to get in three years to get us to March Madness, I really am proud of that accomplishment,” Barkley said on Monday, four decades since he last played in the NCAA tournament.

It gets on his nerves that the situation is different today. But he applauds Bruce Pearl for building a strong team amid the pressure.