AUBURN — Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl isn’t naive.
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He sees what Alabama coach Nate Oats has built on the other side of the state, he’s aware of Arkansas coach Eric Musselman and the constant flow of elite recruits the Razorbacks seem to pull in each year and he knows what Kentucky coach John Calipari is capable of.
And that’s just some of the heavy hitters. Tennessee and Texas A&M exist, too, and that’s without mentioning teams such as Florida, Missouri, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
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The SEC has taken off in recent years, so Pearl has put in a concerted effort to keep Auburn’s brand in the national spotlight — his team’s season opener at the Sanford Pentagon against No. 20 Baylor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Tuesday (8 p.m. CT, ESPN) is just one part of that.
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“With the league being where it’s at, how do I stay relevant?” Pearl said in October. “How do I keep Auburn basketball relevant in this incredible league? I have to play Baylor in South Dakota, put it on ESPN (and) let my kids have a chance.”
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Auburn’s matchup with Baylor will be one of 29 games being played Tuesday that involves at least one Division I team, but the Tigers and Bears will be the only contest televised on ESPN.
“We’re going to try to make history tomorrow night, as we’ve never beaten a top-25 team in an opener,” Pearl said Monday. “People ask me: ‘Why the game? Why’d you take the game? Why go all the way to South Dakota?’ It’s real simple: Just to try to stay relevant in the world of college basketball, which is harder and harder to do now.”
Pearl is 27-1 in season openers as a coach, which is a record that includes a 9-0 mark at Auburn. The Tigers beat George Mason at home last season, 70-52, to open the 2022-23 campaign.
Star big man Johni Broome (shoulder) and five-star freshman Aden Holloway (ankle) are both expected to play against the Bears. Broome was recently named to the preseason All-SEC first team and Holloway was rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 18 player in the Class of 2023.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
