If any coach has a reason to bash Nate Oats and push against Charles Bediako's eligibility, it's Auburn head coach Steven Pearl.
Pearl and the Tigers host the Crimson Tide on Saturday, one day after Bediako's preliminary injunction hearing in Tuscaloosa County that will determine his eligibility for the remainder of the season. Bediako will be eligible to play at least one more game for Alabama: Wednesday's home matchup against Texas A&M, thanks to a second temporary restraining order issued against the NCAA.
While other coaches across the SEC and the country have taken pot shots against Oats and Alabama over the Bediako case, Auburn's Pearl offered a surprisingly measured take on Monday when speaking at the Birmingham Tip-Off Club. He didn't come out and offer his outright support, but he offered a level of understanding that has escaped others, including his own father.
"All Nate is trying to do is win basketball games, that’s what we’re all trying to do," Pearl said on Monday. "I can’t say whether that’s right or wrong, that’s not my place... He’s trying to put his team in the best position to win games, and I get that.”
Steven Pearl's take on Oats/Bediako is surprising...and refreshing
Count me firmly in the camp of being surprised when I read what Pearl had to say in Birmingham on Monday. Especially after his father, longtime Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, called for the NCAA to ban Alabama from the NCAA Tournament as a result.
Maybe this is the younger Pearl's way of walking back what his father said. Maybe it's just really what he thinks.
It is undoubtedly the most measured and mature take on the situation from an outside perspective I have yet seen. And that's stunning coming from the coach of the Crimson Tide's chief rival, and who would benefit the most from instability in Tuscaloosa.
Oats and Pearl will compete head-to-head as head coaches against one another for the first time this weekend in Neville Arena. It will be a heated matchup, as every game between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers has been on the hardwood in recent years.
The Iron Bowl of Basketball has become one of the premier rivalries in college basketball. That will bear fruit again on Saturday, though Pearl's gesture on Monday is nevertheless appreciated.