Alabama basketball fans might not have cared to watch Auburn and Oklahoma on Tuesday night. But Crimson Tide can't miss what Steven Pearl said about why his team lost, "We were entitled tonight. We were selfish tonight on the defensive end. We had no urgency. That's unacceptable."
Auburn fans are also finding something unacceptable. It is anything to do with a Pearl. The Auburn Creed tweeted, "I’ve never felt more vindicated about a take as I feel about Steven Pearl right now. This is only going to get worse until we have a head coach whose last name isn’t Pearl."
Alabama fans may not remember, but Bruce Pearl delayed his resignation as Auburn's head coach so that Auburn AD Jon Cohen had no good option other than taking Bruce's recommendation to promote his son to head coach. Now, plenty of Auburn fans want Steven Pearl to be fired. Auburn will likely give him another season. That makes Auburn fans more irate.
On Tuesday night in Norman, Auburn players mostly watched the Oklahoma Sooners make 13-of-19 threes. Steven Pearl said after the game, "We can’t keep having low basketball IQ mistakes that lead to just wide open shots."
A few days ago, Bruce Pearl predicted the Tigers would make the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. Now, almost no sensible bracketologist has the Tigers in the Big Dance field. Bruce also predicted that the Alabama Crimson Tide would lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bruce Pearl is an unabashed hypocrite
Bruce Pearl was a good coach. He led the Auburn Tigers to their highest level of hoops success. Beyond that, his most defining characteristic is a big mouth that spouts a wide range of opinions. One of his opinions is that Alabama Basketball should be banned from playing in the NCAA Tournament. He says Alabama broke NCAA rules by playing Charles Bediako. Bruce should know a lot about NCAA rules since he broke them at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tennessee, and Auburn.
Bruce Pearl is not a fan of Alabama basketball. He is entitled to his opinions, but his fixation with Crimson Tide hoops adds to his history of buffoonery. A good thing for college basketball (and Auburn) would be for Bruce to shut up. Unfortunately, he is paid to do the opposite, and even without compensation, he would probably be incapable of keeping his mouth shut.