"It's hard to forgive a snake."
On Arkansas's upcoming game with Auburn
The Arkansas Razorback basketball team travels to Auburn Wednesday night to face off against the undisputed #1 team in the country.
A classic matchup between two storied college coaches, John Calipari and Bruce Pearl1.
And it’s hard not to be a fan of a guy like Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Sure, in the past, he might have played fast and loose with the rules of the NCAA. But really, who hasn’t run afoul of that august institution once in a while.
It isn’t like he recorded a phone call with a top recruit to try and entrap him into admitting to another team’s recruiting violations then turned it over to the NCAA, forcing the player to take a polygraph to prove his innocence.
Wait what? Pearl did that?
1989 was a long time ago. Lesson learned. Forgive and forget. Unless you are Deon Thomas, the player at the center of this controversy. He seems to have not forgiven Bruce Pearl. See quote above.
What’s really impressive is the guy has racked up almost 700 wins despite taking three years off in the prime of his career to accept a position as Vice President of Marketing for Knoxville wholesaler H. T. Hackney. It wasn’t exactly his choice, more of a mutual agreement between Pearl and the NCAA.
But Auburn is gonna Auburn and they hired Pearl just before his figurative 3 year stay in the desert came to an end.
Who could root for a grown man who likes to appear in public shirtless? No self-respecting fan. Wait what again? There are photos of me hugging my brother and nephew shirtless watching Muss run around with his shirt off after Arkansas upset Auburn in 2022? Have I mentioned I am a huge hypocrite?
Now that teams can legally pay players, Pearl has found a way to remain on the right side of the law. A true redemption story. And his team is rolling this season.
Auburn Basketball also gonna Auburn
I had the pleasure(?) of watching the Auburn Tigers live earlier this season when they made the trip to Austin to face off against the Longhorns. I lost 50 dollars to a friend on that game when Auburn failed to cover the 9.5 point spread despite leading by 21 points with 12 minutes left in the game. Because I was with a group of Texas “fans”, we left with around 10 minutes to go in the game. Texas was only down 13 points as we exited from the soulless executive suite. My friends didn’t believe me when I told them the game was never over because Auburn will always be an undisciplined team subject to blowing leads against inferior teams. Sure enough, by the time I got home Texas had pulled within single digits and narrowed the lead to three with 17 seconds to go in the game. Auburn held on to win the game but failed to cover the spread.
Am I bitter? Maybe a little. But I wasn’t wrong. Auburn threw up some bad shots, turned the ball over, let Texas get going and nearly gave the game away.
The main thing that stood out that game was how much better Auburn center Johni Broome was than any other player on the floor. Broome is the best player in college basketball to go along with being the oldest. This may not be a coincidence.
Broome’s play is particularly worrisome for the Hogs as they have struggled repeatedly against good bigs. See Baylor, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss and most recently Texas A&M. The only bright spot is Broome spends a lot more time around the three-point line than a dominant post player should. Arkansas center Jonas Aidoo will need to step up in a major way if Arkansas is going to have a chance to win this game.
Maybe Calipari will even consider starting Aidoo along with 7’2” center Zvonimir Ivisic, as Auburn starts another big banger in Dylan Cardwell. However, that would mean sending Karter Knox to the bench. And the freshman small forward is coming off a truly stellar game against Texas A&M where he was the best player on the floor for either team.
The Hogs will also need huge bounce back games from guards Nelly Davis and DJ Wagner. Early in the game against Texas A&M I leaned over to my dad and said, “Well at least Arkansas doesn’t turn the ball over much.” Arkansas proceeded to throw the ball to Texas A&M every other play. Note to self, try not to jinx my team in the middle of the game. Again, lesson learned.
What to Expect Wednesday Night?
Auburn is an emotional team coming off a huge win over arch rival Alabama in a #1-2 matchup. Maybe this will be something of a letdown for the Tigers. Maybe Aidoo shows up and has a throwback game to when he was an All-SEC type player last season. Maybe Davis and Wagner’s shots are falling and they are both difference makers on defense. Maybe Z has another otherworldly game where he is the best player on the floor. Maybe Thiero is over his illness and returns to form as an All-SEC player. Maybe Knox’s last game was not a fluke but a trend. Maybe Trevon Brazille and Billy Richmond III are plus players off the bench.
I suppose all those things could happen, but that’s a lot of maybes for one team.
A Quick Note on Arkansas’s Loss to Texas A&M last Saturday – Uniform Edition
Texas A&M revealed new home uniforms for the game on Saturday against the Hogs. The response on Twitter was not kind. Did Buzz Williams go to the designer and say, "Can you kind of make it like a girl’s soccer jersey? But worse. Much worse."
Apparently not, as teams around the country have trotted out similar uniforms. Adidas has provided this same jersey design to multiple teams, once again forcing Germans to ask themselves, “Are we the Baddies?”
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For the genesis of most of my Pearls of Wisdom about Bruce feel free to look up his Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Pearl