Bruce Pearl has given some controversial opinions, to say the least. First, he claimed the unbeaten Miami (OH) does not belong in the NCAA tournament because “they’re not built for the grind of a Big Ten or even a Big East.” On the flip side, Pearl consistently insisted that his son Steven Pearl’s side, finished 17-16 overall, should make the tournament. After the dust settled, Auburn eventually missed out as the first team out, and Miami (OH) squeaked in. Even afterwards, Pearl maintained that his son Steven Pearl’s Auburn should have made it in, but not in place of Miami. 

“Auburn beat three champions this year,” He said on the Selection Show. “They beat Florida, they beat St. John’s, and they beat Arkansas. They played the toughest schedule in the country. Don’t know that they were rewarded for it. It’s hard to get another couple of SEC teams in when the SEC already has 10.”

Pearl is not wrong here. The Tigers had the third-best strength of schedule in the country, per the NCAA’s NET rating. They ranked 38th on KenPom with a net rating of +19.02. Auburn was the only team with a Wins Above Bubble score above 0.00 that did not make the NCAA Tournament. This is the metric that the committee has decided to focus on to determine just how strong a resume is. 

However, the NCAA committee has never put a 16-win team in the bracket in history. They’re also 4-13 in Quad 1 games and 7-15 in Quad 1 and 2 games and have a Quad 3 loss. It’s important to note that Pearl is Auburn’s “Special Assistant to the Athletic Director,” having reportedly received $156,250 in payments from Auburn since resigning as the school’s head basketball coach. So, his opinion on this is not exactly unbiased, especially since his son is the coach as well. 

In any case, if Auburn is going in for Pearl, who is going out? While Bruce Pearl acknowledged the abysmal win-loss record, SMU would have been out for him. 

“You’re going to either win your way in or lose your way out,” Pearl further said. “For me, you always say, okay, if you’re going to put one in, who would you take out? For me, SMU has a 191 out-of-conference strength of schedule. That I don’t know that they should have been rewarded. They only won five games away from home. For me, it would have been either Oklahoma or Auburn taking that last spot.”

SMU was one of the last teams with a record of 20-13 overall and Committee chairman Keith Gill acknowledged it was a cut-to-cut decision but ultimately the Mustangs’ quality wins were enough for them to get the seat. 

“I think when you look at the quality of wins, that is where it came down when you take SMU as the last team selected into the field,” Gill said. “You look at it when they had wins at full strength over North Carolina, Louisville, and Texas A&M. Six games ago, they lost one of their important players, (BJ) Edwards, and they’ve lost five of six of those games. He’s coming back; he’s the third leading scorer, defensive player. And so, the quality of wins—obviously them getting back to full strength allowed them to kind of get that last spot.”

Steven Pearl understood the reason why every game matters. Another win and Auburn would have probably made it in. Losses to Ole Miss and Mississippi State late in the season left the Tigers in a precarious position heading into the SEC Tournament. The team is 4-6 in close games. Those cost them dearly. While Bruce Pearl acknowledges some of his former team’s shortcomings, his stern take that Auburn should be above SMU has earned some ire from the university.

SMU Fires Back At Bruce Pearl Snub As Steven Pearl Can’t Escape Nepotism Allegations

While ending that segment on Auburn, Bruce Pearl said, “I am proud of my son.” That is a major sticking point in this debate. Bruce Pearl is a major influence in college basketball and as a CBS Sports Analyst he has a distinct conflict of interest. He can’t be trusted to give an unbiased opinion on his son’s team and the team he is still getting paid from. At least that is the popular viewpoint among fans.

Steven Pearl was already under scrutiny when he was appointed. These nepotism allegations aren’t new. So, after Bruce wanted to send SMU packing from the NCAA bracket, the social media team fired back. “We can’t all be named Pearl,” the official account wrote. It was a clear shade to Pearl’s ties to Auburn. This entire saga is only making matters worse for Steven Pearl. 

His father is in the news constantly, putting his team in the spotlight. It adds more pressure. Controversy breeds and in the first year, Steven needed anything but that. Regardless of the online chatter, SMU will face Miami (OH) in reality and Auburn will now depend on the NIT selection process. The Tigers are a strong candidate for a No. 1 seed there and have the opportunity to host postseason games.