re: Regarding the whole Bruce Pearl/Nate Oats comparison

Long time lurker, first time poster and finally decided become a user on here. I had to comment on this because even though I am an Auburn and USC grad (the real USC in LA), I played some basketball and love talking about basketball in general. The OP seems very misguided and lacks history of the two programs. Your coach inherited a team full of NBA and elite college talent, Johnson just couldn’t adapt to the college game, like other failed NBA players and coaches who have tried to cut in the college game. Your coach came in with so many advantages and didn’t really have to build much. He has an offense that is guard oriented and is similar to the NBA game. He also is at Nike school and is the state school. Those two are huge advantages, especially the Nike school. If you know anything about the AAU circuit, those coaches literally tell most of their players where to go to what college they’re affiliated with, such as Nike.

Also, congratulations on your run, but not all runs are equal. You played 2 12 seeds, the weakest 1 seed, and a 5 seed. Not exactly the toughest road. As someone else said, the tourney is really just the luck of the draw.

Now I will admit that Bruce has underwhelmed in the tournament with Jabari and this year’s team. I would be lying if I said I was not jealous of your team going further than us. However, you and most other UAT fans love to minimize the overall job he has done. Auburn was literally the worst power 5 conference team when Bruce took over. What he has done is beyond miraculous. If you want to slam a coach, at least look at facts first before you make these outlandish posts.