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Former Auburn head coach and college basketball analyst Bruce Pearl joined The Steakhouse on Wednesday to defend his comments about his former team and Miami (OH). They also discussed potential players the Hawks could target in the draft.
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00:00Making a name for himself, as he always does, done it in coaching, doing it in broadcasting as a journalist.
00:05Journalist!
00:06Joining us now, Bruce Pearl, on Sports Radio 92.9, The Game.
00:11Coach, always great to talk to you, buddy. How are you?
00:14Steg, I can't believe I've actually crossed over to the dark side.
00:18I mean, there's crossing over, and then there's like, I'm going to be a villain in my first Iron Man
00:24movie, like right out of the gate.
00:25What? As you told Charles last night, bring the smoke. I am not afraid.
00:32Oh, yeah. You think I need security? You don't think my head's been on a swivel my whole life, you
00:36know?
00:38Between?
00:38I feel like the ugly stepmother, you know? I'm the only guy picking against, not picking, but picking against Cinderella.
00:46My of Ohio, because I didn't think they were one of the 37 best teams based on when they selected
00:52at large.
00:53I would put him in because of the human element. I said it from day one, but my goodness gracious,
00:58you know, you'd have thought I, you know.
01:01But for a guy, listen, coach, I've known you a long time, and we were lucky enough to be together
01:05at 790 when you had a little hiatus from the coaching world.
01:08So you have never not been in some swirl of controversy, whether it's how you leave a school, how you
01:15get back in the game, the tremendous, overwhelming success you have had, losing big games that, you know, they're always
01:24going to say the coach could have done A, B, or C.
01:27Even politics now, where you've thrown yourself in the ring in numerous causes that we and you have talked about.
01:32But the point being, you know, you have a personality built for this, and it's not for the meek, it's
01:40not for the weak of heart, and you're built for it a little bit.
01:43I guess that's the New England background. I'll give it a little bias there.
01:46But, I mean, have you ever thought about how you put yourself in that situation time and again?
01:51Yeah, I guess, you know. But, you know, the challenging thing would be, like, I was on with Dan Patrick
01:58on Monday, and I love Dan and the work he does, respect him.
02:04But, you know, on the third time when he questioned my objectivity, I said to him, I said, Dan, you
02:11know, when Clark Kellogg talks about Ohio State, he roots for Ohio State.
02:14But do you not think he can be objective? When Jay Wright was calling the games, I mean, he's working
02:19for Villanova full-time, and Dan mentions the fact that I'm an ambassador for Auburn.
02:24I said, what does it have to do with, you know, 48 years of being in coaching, and you're going
02:29to ask me my opinion about something?
02:32And people that talk about it, I don't want to get all involved in it, but I know what scheduling
02:38is, and I know I have a schedule.
02:40When I was at Tennessee, I took my team to Chattanooga to play on the road so that it would
02:46count more, because I couldn't get other good teams to play me, so I played Western Kentucky in Nashville on
02:53a neutral site.
02:54When I was at Auburn, I took my team to Murray State. Why? So that it would be a quad
02:59two game on the road. Nobody else does that.
03:02So you can take your team on the road, and you can play a more challenging schedule.
03:07But when you're scheduling, when the teams like Auburn, Michigan, Florida, and Arizona had 17 quad one games, and Miami
03:19of Ohio didn't have any, we're not talking about, this is apples and oranges.
03:24But you can only, you are making a good point of what bigger programs can do, but if Miami of
03:32Ohio is desperate to get the quad one or quad two wins, but they can't get them scheduled, aren't you
03:39penalizing them for that?
03:41No, no, because here's a state, listen. So call Murray State and say, we'll go to Murray State and play
03:48you there.
03:48Now, all of a sudden, that becomes a quad two game. Instead of scheduling three division twos, call St. Mary's
03:57and Santa Clara and say, you know, we'll come to you.
04:00And all of a sudden, if you beat St. Mary's or Santa Clara there, that's a quad one game.
04:05And St. Mary's or Santa Clara would have been happy to have them.
04:08So I'm just, I do this for a living.
04:12Yeah, go to St. Louis, go to a St. Louis, go to a top tier in one of the other
04:19conferences, and just schedule the heck out of out of conference best you can to avoid the Bruce Pearls of
04:26the world leaving you out.
04:27I did this, but here's the deal. I'm not saying do it. I did it. All right? That's the biggest
04:33difference.
04:34So, look, I love, I didn't realize the stake, and I'm not, like, even right now, I'm not doing this
04:40right now to get hits.
04:42I'm not doing this right now to get, I'm doing this right now because this is what I believe.
04:46And I'm, right now, I'm obviously paid to be an analyst.
04:50I was a mid-major guy for a long, long time.
04:53I'm thrilled the MAAC got two teams in.
04:56I think Akron has got a chance to win their first-round game and pull off a major upset.
05:03I think Miami, Ohio, is going to beat SMU because, again, I think the last team in, SMU, actually had
05:13a worse resume than either Oklahoma or Auburn, who were the last two teams in.
05:18Am I saying that because, am I throwing Oklahoma in there because of some nepotism reason?
05:24No. I think Oklahoma was better. I think they had a better resume.
05:28SMU won five games away from home.
05:31SMU's non-conference strength of schedule was 191.
05:36They chose to play a schedule that did not, I think, make the test.
05:43But, look, nobody got screwed in this thing.
05:47Nobody.
05:49The last couple teams, they didn't get screwed.
05:51They didn't get screwed.
05:53So Auburn did not get screwed.
05:57100%.
05:57Auburn did not get screwed.
05:59You're talking to thousands and thousands of dads out there, okay, including one of three kids, including his son.
06:07There's no way that there can't be some emotion when you're putting Auburn up against Miami of Ohio, which is
06:15why I don't really have a big problem.
06:17It's like, well, don't ask Bruce Pearl to be completely unbiased when it's his son, it's his program, up against
06:23Miami of Ohio, and he has one of the biggest pulpits for college basketball in the entire country.
06:29I don't know why people would get so wrangled about that, but obviously that's a difficult thing to navigate and
06:36say I have no bias there.
06:38Well, there's a difference between bias.
06:40Look, I love my son, and I want my son to, if, personally, because of the human element, I would
06:49put an undefeated Miami of Ohio team in ahead of Oklahoma and Auburn.
06:54I would go ahead in the committee, and I would break the rules, because what they did was historic and
07:00unprecedented, and even a one-loss team.
07:03So I would put them in, but understand that we would be making an exception based on an incredible Cinderella
07:10season, not based on the metrics, not based on how the tournament is supposed to be selected.
07:15Yeah, Bruce Pearl with us from Turner and CBS and everywhere else.
07:20He's doing a fabulous job.
07:22How tough is it?
07:24And again, back to the dad question.
07:26And I've talked to dads, whether they're watching their 10-year-old pitch on a Little League game or just
07:31in general, anything they're doing, but in the sports world.
07:33How difficult, how are you as a dad watching Auburn this year, knowing how much is tied into it?
07:39A massive job and a massive first opportunity for him.
07:42How tough is that to watch, and how tense do you get?
07:46That's a great question, Stig.
07:47It's exactly like watching a kid pitch.
07:49That's exactly what it is.
07:50And the thank you for tying me to every other dad that's out there.
07:54You know, the only difference between some dads would be because I did it and everything as a coach.
08:03Look, you've got to throw strikes on.
08:05You know, you've got to win games.
08:07You've got to do this.
08:08You've got to do that.
08:08I think Steven's done an amazing job putting it in a really challenging circumstance following what we had done the
08:15last couple of years.
08:16We lost a lot of players in roster.
08:18We rebuilt a decent roster, but it wasn't a great roster.
08:22And there was a time, you know, he's won 18 games.
08:25That's the most games won by a first-year Auburn coach in Auburn basketball history.
08:31He's won 18 games.
08:33He's beaten three national champions, Todd Golden, John Calipari, and Rick Pitino.
08:39He beat Kentucky the first time he played them.
08:40I mean, he's done things in his first year.
08:43It took me 25 years to do.
08:45But his predecessor laid the groundwork for one of the great programs in all of college basketball.
08:52And his predecessor happens to be yourself that put Auburn basketball at a height they'd never seen before.
08:58And there was a major drop-off.
09:00So, listen, take up for your son 100%.
09:02I'm not here to speak for Auburn fans either way.
09:05But, dude, he's replacing an absolute legend there that had the program at a different level than it was this
09:12year.
09:13But I would not have done much better or better at all with the roster that we built.
09:18I wouldn't have.
09:19All right.
09:19Bruce Pearl is with us.
09:20And we built that roster together.
09:22Don't forget.
09:23I left in the fall.
09:25Everything you say is fair, my brother.
09:27Everything you say is 100% fair.
09:29Bruce Pearl with us.
09:30Let me ask you about being a number one.
09:33The number ones are loaded.
09:34I watched a ton of them this year.
09:35Obviously, Michigan, Duke, Arizona.
09:38Who am I leaving out?
09:42Florida.
09:43Florida.
09:43Florida.
09:43Yeah, the national champ.
09:44Michigan, Duke, Florida, Arizona.
09:46You've been in that position.
09:48It's certainly better than being a seven seed.
09:50What kind of pressure does a one seed feel?
09:53How do you talk to your team in round one versus the sweet 16?
09:58You know, ones are dominating of late.
10:02You know, the notion that you can't pick all number ones in the final four has gone out.
10:05But what is the difference of having that pressure on you?
10:09Or maybe it's just like, listen, if you got a number one, you got a lot of great players.
10:13That's not the same pressure as having a number six.
10:15So talk through that a little bit.
10:17I think there's a lot of pressure to get to the sweet 16.
10:19I think there's a lot of pressure to win the first weekend.
10:21And for all these number ones, they're going to have to beat a very good 8-9.
10:26I think Duke's got the toughest 8-9 in either TCU or Ohio State.
10:31Duke's a little banged up.
10:33I think Michigan's got the easiest road to the final four in the West region.
10:38No surprise that Alabama is in that region.
10:40They always get a nice, easy region.
10:44Oh, and I've got to throw some of these stuff out.
10:46I've got to have somebody say something else other than Miami to Ohio.
10:51I've got to do something else.
10:52Well, Michigan's got Georgia if Georgia beats St. Louis.
10:56You have to admit, Mike White has got a lot of personnel there.
10:59They beat Bama.
11:01They beat Kentucky.
11:03Who'd they beat?
11:04They've done a great job.
11:05They are one of the most athletic teams in the country.
11:09I mean, they are monsters.
11:11They play.
11:11Mike lets them go.
11:12They play hard.
11:14The way the game's officiated would be important if they let them play,
11:17which they typically do.
11:19Sometimes in the first round, they don't.
11:21But when half the officials are no longer working and you get nothing but the guys
11:26that see the kind of contact that we see in the SEC every night,
11:30if Georgia could get by the first one, they could athletically hang in there
11:34with anybody in this field.
11:38Arizona has got a tough draw.
11:42They've got the hottest teams in college basketball.
11:45Arkansas won the SEC tournament.
11:47Purdue won the Big Ten tournament.
11:48Wisconsin played great.
11:50Unbelievable guard play in the West region.
11:53Some of the best point guards out there.
11:55So that's going to be a challenge.
11:57Florida is going to have to go through Houston in Houston to get to the Final Four
12:01and repeat.
12:03Clemson could give them a shot.
12:05I think Clemson beats Iowa.
12:06But, yeah, look, it ain't easy.
12:09If it was easy to be a champion, anybody could be a champion.
12:12It's not easy.
12:13But you only got to win six games.
12:15You only got to win two to get to the Sweet 16.
12:17You only got to win two more to get to the Final Four.
12:21Have two weekends where you go 2-0 and you're in the Final Four.
12:24And, by the way, you'll be favored pretty heavily in the first few of them.
12:28Let me ask you this before we go because I know you've got a bunch of folks who want to
12:30talk to you.
12:31In Atlanta, where you're talking to all these folks, Hawks have won 10 in a row.
12:36They also are in good position to be in the lottery, whether or not you realize that the Pelicans pick
12:41or the Bucs pick, most likely it's going to be a top five.
12:45They're already turning into a dominant young team.
12:48Of all the guys in college basketball, and obviously DeBonza and Boozer and Peterson and maybe some other guys,
12:55who do you think is a game-changer that if they land on the Atlanta Hawks and the Hawks get
12:59really high in that draft,
13:02puts us in an NBA championship mode from the guys you've seen?
13:06Well, you know, I love DeBonza.
13:09He'd be a guy that I would like to take.
13:11Don't sleep on Caleb Wilson.
13:13He's at North Carolina.
13:14He's got as much upside as any of the guys that are in the draft.
13:19High school right after the kid.
13:20Yeah, goes to high school right at Holy Innocence.
13:22Yeah, no, great kid, great family, great work ethic, great motor, chip on his shoulder.
13:29You can't go wrong there.
13:31You know, people talk about Boozer maybe not having the upside, but you know what?
13:36All he's ever did has been the best player in high school, the best player in AAU, the best player
13:40in college basketball.
13:41I don't bet against kids like that.
13:43I know he doesn't jump.
13:44He's not a freak, but he gets it done at every level.
13:47Well, the Hawks are going to get a great player.
13:52They should partly draft, partly even, to what their need is because they're getting closer and closer.
13:59And they've done a terrific job with this rebuild.
14:02And I'm excited about the way the town is starting to get excited about it.
14:07The crowds have been good, and they've got a chance to make a run this year.
14:12Yeah, no doubt on that Wednesday.
14:14Before you go, I don't know if you read the piece on Darren Peterson yesterday in the Kansas City paper
14:19of trying to explain what that was.
14:22As a coach, have you ever had to deal with something like that?
14:24And what did you think of all that controversy with him not playing second halves and games and everything else?
14:29I haven't read the piece yet, so I can't cover the piece.
14:32I would say this.
14:34A lot of pressure on these young kids and a lot of different people in their ear.
14:38So when decisions are made about sitting out or not playing, injuries, so on and so forth, it's not always
14:49the decision of the student athlete.
14:52And so I think there are two things in that.
14:54One, I would have loved to have heard from Darren himself a little bit more because he stayed very isolated.
15:00The second thing is, obviously, the people that are responsible for helping him navigate as a younger person, they've not
15:08done a good job with this navigation.
15:10And the last thing would be this.
15:12Again, this has nothing to do with the piece because I haven't read it.
15:14But we have heard some levels of frustration from Bill Self.
15:19Nobody's done this longer or better than Bill Self.
15:22Nobody's dealt with NBA-caliber players much more so than Bill Self.
15:28And if so, where there's smoke, there's fire.
15:32Thank you, Coach.
15:33Always a pleasure.
15:34Try to just stay a little low-key.
15:36I mean, I don't know how many tweets you can field and phone calls and radio shows, but we always
15:42appreciate you coming on.
15:43Long friendship, and I can't thank you enough for coming on.
15:46All right, brother.
15:47You do a great job, Steak.
15:48Always.
15:49All right, that's Coach Bruce Pearl, who is in the fire with that Miami of Ohio-Auburn conversation.
15:54I think he's staying right up the street here doing the Turner stuff.
15:58Are you mushpukka with him?
16:00You guys are mushpukka?
16:01Well, we're buddies.
16:03A lot of connection.
16:04Gave his first job in broadcasting.
16:06You know that.
16:07He's very, very good.
16:08Yeah.
16:09He's great on the internet.
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