Auburn is the most contentious bubble team in college basketball history. The Tigers, led by head coach Steven Pearl, would be the first team ever to receive an at-large bid to March Madness with 16 losses.
His recent pregame speech to players, which aired on ESPN, explains why they are not very good.
There are still a lot of different scenarios that could change the landscape of college basketball before the selection committee sets the NCAA Tournament field. It should consider this mic’d up moment.
Auburn finished one game above .500.
There are 12-16 teams on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament as of this writing. N.C. State, Santa Clara, UCF, Miami of Ohio, VCU, Missouri, SMU and Texas are likely going to get in depending on how things shake out over the weekend. Oklahoma, Auburn, Indiana and New Mexico would be the next four teams that could sneak into the field of 68. San Diego State, Stanford, Cincinnati and Seton Hall are out.
We are focused only on the Tigers.
Auburn finished the regular season one game above .500 at 16-15 against hardest schedule in the entire country. It played 12 games against ranked opponents, including four games against teams currently ranked No. 1-5, three games against teams currently ranked No. 10-15, and five games against teams currently ranked No. 15-25. That list does not even include six additional games against teams that are slated to make the NCAA Tournament. Challenging would be an understatement.
The Tigers had an opportunity to play their way into March Madness with a deep run at the SEC Tournament but blew a seven-point halftime lead against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second round to finish the season at 17-16 overall. A win likely would’ve put them in. A loss might put them out.
Should the Tigers make March Madness?
No team in history has ever received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with more than 15 losses. Steven Pearl still believes his team deserves to get in because of its strength of schedule.
Auburn has seven Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins on the entire season. He thinks that is more than enough.
“Our guys have some of the best wins in college basketball, and this team deserves to be in a tournament,” Pearl said. “It’s a team that can win games in the tournament, and I think they’ve done enough, ultimately, to have their name called on Selection Sunday.”
Pearl also pointed to Texas, SMU, VCU, Miami of Ohio, Missouri and New Mexico as examples.
“We have more top 25 NET wins than everyone in that group, [except] Missouri, we have more top 50 wins than everyone in that group. We have two Top 25 road/neutral wins, which is more than everyone else on the bubble. We have more wins over the projected field than anyone else on the bubble.”
Athletic director John Cohen also put pressure on the NCAA Tournament selection committee to give proper value to strength of schedule. Otherwise, if winning is the only thing that matters, the Tigers will schedule as many cupcakes as possible during the nonconference portion of the season.
“If you don’t take strength of schedule very seriously on a committee, then there’s no reason to schedule a challenging nonconference schedule,” Auburn athletic director John Cohen told ESPN. “When you put together a nonconference schedule, intent matters. And there’s no question when you study our schedule, the intent was to play one of the most difficult schedules in college basketball.”
We’ll see what happens on Sunday.
Steven Pearl is not exciting.
Auburn will either be one of the last four teams in or the first four out. Regardless of what happens this weekend, one thing is for certain.
Steven Pearl could not motivate a camel to drink water.
Bruce Pearl recently said what we already knew about his son and how he became the head basketball coach at Auburn University. It was preferential treatment.
“Am I rooting for my son to make the NCAA Tournament? Of course I am! Did I help my son get the job? Nepotism? Of course, I did.”
Steven never served on a staff that was not his father’s. He never served as a head coach at a smaller school. He just…. got the job when his dad suddenly retired just one month before the season.
There were multiple instances throughout the year where his inexperience was on full display. Strength of schedule aside, a 16-loss season speaks for itself.
His recent speech to players in the locker room might be the perfect example of how the Tigers got here.
Pearl, who was mic’d up on ESPN, delivered a pregame speech that could not feel more flat.
— Sam Holley (@samh0lley) March 9, 2026
I could not be less inspired to go out and win a basketball game after hearing him speak. It sounds like he asked ChatGPT what a head coach should say to his team. No wonder Auburn lost 16 games!