Fly War Eagle
Fansided

Auburn Basketball: Bruce Pearl will need more than just an increase in talent level moving forward

By Will Schuette

Dec 23, 2016; Hartford, CT, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl watches from the sideline as they take on the Connecticut Huskies in the second half at XL Center. Auburn defeated UConn in overtime 70-67. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2016; Hartford, CT, USA; Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl watches from the sideline as they take on the Connecticut Huskies in the second half at XL Center. Auburn defeated UConn in overtime 70-67. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Here we discuss how Auburn basketball head coach, Bruce Pearl, will require more than just talent to progress going further.

Bruce Pearl has brought tremendous energy to the Auburn basketball program since getting the job in March of 2014. However, Pearl is about to finish up his third season at Auburn, and the winning has still yet to come.

The Tigers are almost certainly missing the NCAA Tournament once again in 2017. They have not been there since 2003.

Although there were not many expectations for Bruce Pearl in any of his first three seasons in Auburn, he has grandly underachieved in comparison to his first couple years at Tennessee. Pearl’s previous head coaching job came at Tennessee from 2005-2011. In his first season in Knoxville, Bruce took a Tennessee team that had a losing record the previous year to the NCAA Tournament.

Bruce Pearl has always been an outstanding recruiter and has already brought that aspect of his skill set to Auburn. This year Pearl brought in two five-star talents, Mustapha Heron and Austin Wiley, along with a handful of other sought after high school players. So if the talent level is there, why is he struggling to find similar success to what he achieved at Tennessee?

The answer is simple. To this point, Bruce Pearl has completely failed to incorporate the culture and hard-nose style of play he was so successful in installing at Tennessee.

Throughout the 2016-17 season, Auburn’s defensive execution and effort has been dreadful. The low point came when the Tigers gave up over 60 points in the second halves of back to back games against Ole Miss and Florida. Auburn blew a 23 point lead in Oxford and days later gave up 114 on their home floor to the Gators. A team with the talent Auburn possesses giving up 114 points in one game is unheard of.

Bruce Pearl recently mentioned in a SEC Network interview that one of his former players, Dane Bradshaw, spoke to Pearl’s current team about how his Tennessee teams played harder than everyone else. Pearl coached Bradshaw from 2005-2007 at Tennessee.

Auburn has not played harder than its opponents this season, considering hard play typically shows up on the defensive end of the floor. It is ironic that hard-nose play made Pearl’s teams so successful at Tennessee, but it has been Auburn’s biggest weakness.

Next: All-Time Auburn Baseball Rotation

Bruce has brought the energy and the talent, but will soon need to produce an on-court product that the Auburn faithful can be proud of. If he continues to not be able to reach his players in the way he did at Tennessee, Auburn will continue a culture of poor basketball.

Home/Auburn Basketball