The No. 13 Auburn Tigers will take on the winner of the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Arkansas Razorbacks tomorrow afternoon.
What did Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl have to say before Auburn begins tournament play?
Pearl gave a brief overview of Auburn's season.
"I thought this team could be good," Pearl said. "I thought this team would be good with a chance to be very good. And I did think that picked sixth is about where I would've picked us, sixth or seventh. So they've exceeded my expectations a little bit. Instead, this was a team that was very good with a chance to be great. And the reason for that are the players. Period."
"The three transfers that came in — Denver, Chad and Chaney — have all had tremendous impact on our program, on and off the court. That's one of the more underrated and most successful (transfer) classes that we've had, and all those guys are positioned for greatness in the future. Jaylin's stepped-up play is a factor, and then of course, saving the best for last would be Johni Broome."
Pearl talked about the impact that Johni Broome has had this season.
"I don’t think when Johni went into the combine, when he first went in, I really think he was thinking about coming back," Pearl said. "But when he went into the combine and he was one of the very best players in that G League combine – he really was, there was nobody there better than he was – and then he got invited to the combine. And then when he went into the combine, he belonged. It gave him confidence."
"I think it was a great thing to go through that process. And then once he was evaluating his potential, late second-round pick or something without, really, any guarantees… It was the right decision for him to come back. Because right now, with NIL, you don’t have to go too soon. You don’t have to. You can go when you’re ready. So I think, again, it was a great decision. He’s made a lot out of that decision."
Pearl talked about how valuable his staff has been to the team's success.
"We don’t get away from what we do," Pearl said. "If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. So we’ll approach things the way we always do so the kids don’t see a whole lot different. We’ll travel to Nashville the way we always travel to Nashville. We’re staying in the same hotel we stay in when we play Vanderbilt. We just keep our routines. There’s going to be more media. Yeah… there's going to be more excitement because of the fans. Nashville’s going to be lit and we’d love to spend the weekend there. We’d love to work all weekend."
Tipoff will happen after the Tennessee Volunteers play the winner of the LSU Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs. The television broadcast can be found on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network broadcast can be streamed anywhere on the Auburn Athletics app.
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