re: Two and a half years in, how does AU like having Bruce Pearl at the helm?

I would bet money that most of them are ecstatic since they have only made 8 NCAA tournament appearances in their history.

I want to beat Auburn by 100 every time we play, but there is a very real part of me that is excited about the possibility of our basketball games having NBA players and being Top 25 battles.

Basketball isn't football. While I don't "root" for Auburn, I can appreciate the idea of both of us rising up at the same time and creating something awesome for basketball in the state.

"You have to be kidding me"

An NCAA bid is a long shot because of a terrible non conference RPI loss and two wins that most years would be great (Oklahoma and Uconn) being nothing special this year and the bad league start but with the emergence of Wiley they could go on a serious run in the league. I'm not saying they're dancing this year but they are recruiting far and away better than they ever have. They absolutely could be a consistent NCAA tourney team next year and the years after at the pace they are recruiting. As an Alabama fan I would love for it not to happen but looking at it objectively they should be an NCAA tourney team each year starting next year assuming Pearl continues to recruit the way he is.

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Auburn basketball is going to be consistently better than it has ever been under Pearl. Building a small but very nice new arena and taking a chance on Pearl when so many other ADs were scared to touch him

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We had a good run under Sonny Smith in the 80s with 5 straight NCAA tournament appearances and an elite 8. Cliff Ellis showed flashes of our potential but wasn't consistent.

But yeah I agree that Pearl and our arena have a chance to take us up a step and make us the type of program that can make the big dance almost every year. We have more young talent right now than we've had in a long long time, and with highly ranked guys already lined up for the next few years it looks like that's our new reality with Pearl instead of just a trend. Pearl is one of the best recruiters around and as a hype man and face of the program he's second to none, he's had the fanbase on the wagon and energized since day 1. But as good as he is at building the program off the court, he's not really an elite GameDay coach. He will establish us with some serious talent but I'm not sure he's the guy to take us to the next level after that with deep tourney runs. Whoever we hire after Pearl will be crucial to the future of our program, we may be able to sustain his momentum or we may sink right back to where we started. I give Jacobs all the credit for hiring Pearl, although it was an obvious hire at the time and I really hope he's not still here to make the next hire after Pearl.

Love Bruce! Best thing to happen to our bball program in 20 years!

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But as good as he is at building the program off the court, he's not really an elite GameDay coach. He will establish us with some serious talent but I'm not sure he's the guy to take us to the next level after that with deep tourney runs.

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While I agree that he wins by succeeding in the periods between games not his in game coaching, I disagree with his ceiling

I don't know if we can be better than sweet 16, but Pearl won't be the limiting factor on that. Winning 3 straight in the NCAAT just isn't easy, especially when you aren't an established program

Love it. Bruce is the best, a true showman. He inherited a mess of a program from an turd Barbee. It took time to rebuild, we all knew it would. Now he seems to be doing it.

Good luck with Tiny Avery playing his son every game.

How am I supposed to know that guy is a UGA fan? I do not care enough to remember, so how am I to know?

I don't know about Auburn people, but I would take him in a heartbeat.

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Auburns fans thought they were going to the sweet sixteen when he was hired

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The false narratives created on this site never cease to amaze me