Charles Barkley gives locker room speech to Auburn players: ‘Seize this opportunity’

Hours before playing the first Final Four game in school history, the Auburn Tigers were visited by their most famous basketball alumnus.

Charles Barkley addressed the team inside the Auburn locker room at US Bank Stadium before the Tigers played Virginia in the first of two semifinal games Saturday night.

His message, shown on CBS Sports Network: “Seize this opportunity. You ain’t got to do anything different. Y’all played great to get here. But don’t take this thing for granted.”

Barkley left Auburn after his junior season in 1984, when the Tigers made their first NCAA Tournament appearance. They lost in the first round. And until this year, they had only gone as far as the Elite Eight, once in 1986.

“I’ve had an amazing life as a basketball player,” Barkley says on the CBS video. “My number’s retired at Auburn. My number’s retired in Philadelphia. My number is retired with the Phoenix Suns. But you know what, I’ve never won a championship. Never won a championship. I have to live with that forever.

“You guys got a chance to do that. And it’s hard as hell to win a championship. But you guys undid the hard part just getting here.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2019 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Charles Barkley gives locker room speech to Auburn players: ‘Seize this opportunity’."