Bruce Pearl whining about officiating was hilariously dumb
I generally like Bruce Pearl and think he’s a good coach who is good for the SEC. An Auburn fan told me at a wing joint near campus that Pearl is to Auburn basketball what Nick Saban was to Alabama football in the sense that he made people care around there. It’s easy to respect the passion and his emotion, the way he wears it on his sleeve for better or worse. He gets it and has that program wrapped around his finger, clearly welcome around there until the day he’s ready to call it a career.
But he was a sore loser after his team was manhandled and he was outcoached individually.
Look, he gave credit where it was due big-picture, saying the Tigers were “outplayed” and the Cats “disrupted us.”
“They played well and we didn’t, and that’s why we got beat,” he said. “… If you told me we’re gonna hold Kentucky to only four 3-pointers, I’d say we would have beat ‘em. So give Kentucky credit for finding other ways to win.”
It’s hard to argue those things, though. If you have two eyes, you saw it for yourself. You’re not going to get a pat on the back for acknowledging the team that led for 38:39 of a 40-minute game and won by double digits was better. It wasn’t some fluky buzzer-beater deciding the outcome.
And your words ring hollow when you also hint that officiating is partially to blame when you get your ass kicked.
You could see it all game, Pearl berating the officials essentially every time down the floor — yet John Calipari was somehow the one called for a box warning. He was more focused on how the game was being called than coaching his own team. And it showed.
Then he whined that’d be having a word with the SEC about certain calls the officiating crew missed in a backhanded compliment about Kentucky‘s physicality.
“I thought they were more physical, I do. There were a couple of plays that I’m going to send into the league that were real physical. That’s what happens,” Pearl said. “What happens is — and I’ve seen this a couple times — when kids get challenged about not playing hard and not playing physical, well then they go out there and play hard and play physically.”
When asked to elaborate on his frustration and the specific plays he’d tattle on, Pearl doubled down.
“There were a couple of plays,” There are definitely going to be a couple of plays, because — boy I tell you, it happens in the heat of the battle, so. You’ve got to play hard.”
Will this be one of them, Coach?
At least we can agree on something: KD Johnson is a walking disaster.
Anyway, back to the officiating. Can we just point out that Auburn took 30 free throws compared to 24 for Kentucky, 18 to 12 in the second half? And the fact that the Tigers were called for 16 personal fouls compared to 23 for the Wildcats? If anything, Calipari deserved to gripe about the missed calls on essentially every drive and the phantom whistles resulting in six guys earning three fouls, three with at least four and one fouling out.
Give me a break, Bruce.
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