Selection Sunday often brings heartwarming stories for basketball programs, but for Bruce Pearl, it wasn’t short of a catastrophe. His son’s team failed to obtain an at-large bid, while teams like SMU successfully punched their tickets. And looking from the media box, Pearl, of course, wasn’t happy with this decision, prompting him to make a jab at the Mustangs that wasn’t to the fans’ liking.

It unfolded after the Selection Committee chair confirmed that SMU’s quality wins and BJ Edwards’ availability at March Madness boosted their chances for an at-large bid as the last team. “Quality wins, and Edwards availability were deciding factors for SMU being the last team in the field! Wow!” Pearl wrote while reacting to these reports.

Edwards’ presence on the court does strengthen the SMU Mustangs. After all, he’s averaging 12.7 ppg, while also leading the team in steals (2.3). Yet, despite that, the injury of a certain player contributing to a team’s March Madness call is quite new. But the point to highlight here is that, despite making the call on his availability, Edwards didn’t even take the court in the loss against Miami (OH).

This has led to allegations that the Mustangs have lied to the NCAA committee about Edwards’ availability. This does put the committee’s decision under the microscope. And this gives Bruce Pearl the leverage to criticize the committee’s decision to call SMU over Auburn, despite the latter having a difficult strength of schedule. Right after Selection Sunday, too, Pearl went on a rant against this decision.

“For me, if you’ve got to put one in, who’d you take out? For me, SMU has a 191 out-of-conference strength of schedule. I don’t know that they should have been rewarded,” Pearl had said.

Despite the controversy around Edwards and the SMU Mustangs, fans believe that Pearl is pushing his biased Auburn narrative a bit far now, and they didn’t hesitate to share their perspectives.

Fans React With Dissent to Bruce Pearl’s March Madness Narrative for Auburn

“And Auburn still wouldn’t have been in!” wrote a fan. 

“Auburn was down six at home at half to South Alabama in the NIT! Right where they deserve to be!” commented another. 

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Bruce Pearl’s statements can’t hide the fact that the Auburn Tigers have been immensely disappointing for a team trying to make it to March Madness. With 4 Quad 1 wins, the Tigers do stand at par with teams like SMU. But as a matter of fact, they have also conceded 13 Quad 1 defeats while losing 16 overall before Selection Sunday. Thus, even on merit, the Tigers fall short of the Mustangs, given that they have fewer Quad 2 wins than SMU, with fans believing that even with BJ Edwards’ unavailability, the Mustangs would have been better than Auburn.

Their struggles were evident in their opening round NIT game against South Alabama. Frequent turnovers and cold shooting plagued their entire first half against a team in the Sun Belt Conference. As a matter of fact, the Tigers just got the lead once in the first half of this game before being down 36-30 in the first half. His son’s team made a comeback in the second half, eventually winning 78-67. But those struggles were enough to define their March Madness snub.

“Does this guy ever quit flapping that damn jaw of his? We get it you’re upset Auburn didn’t make the tournament. Auburn would’ve been thrashed by Miami OH anyway, Bruce. Just saying,” stated a fan. 

“I’m an Auburn fan, but they tanked at the end. Absolutely tanked. No way did they deserve a chance,” chimed in another. 

Even after his retirement, Pearl hasn’t stopped fighting the media battles for Auburn. In the last few weeks, he has made the utmost effort to justify why the Tigers are a possible candidate for the March Madness, which obviously hasn’t sat too well with the fans. This further extension of his justification, even after the Tigers couldn’t make it to the tourney, has only added to the frustration in his analysis.

Furthermore, while proving his point, Pearl has looked down upon several teams like SMU and Miami (OH). In an interview following Selection Sunday, Pearl went on a viral rant against Miami (OH), claiming the Redhawks weren’t eligible enough for qualification given the MAC’s strength of schedule.

“If we’re selecting the 68 best teams, then Miami (Ohio) is going to have to win their tournament to qualify as a champion. Because as an at-large, they are not one of the best teams in the country,” he said. But as reality set in, the Redhawks proved their mettle, beating SMU in the First Four and urging their head coach to take a subtle dig. “Oh, we more than belong. We can advance deep into this tournament. Our group is fully confident in that,” Travis Steele said.

“Quit whining and tell your son to actually win games, and you will be in the tournament next year. Auburn was and is a bad basketball team that deserved to be nowhere near the tournament,” summed up another. 

In terms of carrying on the legacy of a veteran like Bruce Pearl, Steven has found himself much lower in the pecking order. What was called a decision for seamless transition has, of course, not gone well. In his first season at the helm, Steven has led the program to 18-16 overall record and 7-11 SEC play. On top of that, a second-round exit at the SEC Championships after a thrashing to Tennessee just hasn’t done any good to Steven’s first impression as the Tigers’ head coach.

For an SEC program like Auburn, a March Madness appearance has become the bare minimum in the last 10 years under Pearl. Still, Bruce Pearl’s son has an opportunity to give this first season at least some substance with a deep run in the NIT. They face the Seattle Redhawks next in the second round. Tipoff is on March 22 at the Neville Arena.