Bruce Pearl says Auburn is underdog to Michigan State. Tom Izzo laughs

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Sunday’s Elite 8 slate features Michigan St. vs. Auburn, Tennessee vs. Houston

Mackenzie Salmon breaks down Sunday’s Elite Eight matchups.

Sports Seriously

ATLANTA – Bruce Pearl had an interesting framing for overall No. 1 seed Auburn’s matchup with Michigan State on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four.

And by interesting, we mean utterly nonsensical.

“We’re a team made up of only one five-star (recruit),” Pearl said Saturday. “One of the things I reminded my guys of, there are several guys on the Michigan State roster that are McDonald’s All-Americans. I have one, and that’s Tahaad Pettiford. He’s pretty good.

“Most of our guys are guys that were mid-major (transfers) or junior college or Division II. I’m not going to let Michigan State play the underdog card even though we’re the No. 1 seed and they’re the No. 2 seed. No, they’re Michigan State. They’re Kansas, they’re Duke, they’re North Carolina, and we’re Auburn. We know our place.”

These blatant mind games are disingenuous on multiple levels, but that’s no surprise. We are talking about Pearl, after all, who has been the sport’s preeminent carnival barker (in addition, of course, to being a great coach) since he hit the big time 20 years ago.

Still, it’s worth pointing out that Auburn is rated higher than Michigan State in the predictive metrics like KenPom.com (No. 4 versus No. 7) and the Torvik ratings (No. 3 versus No. 12). The oddsmakers have made Auburn a 4½-point favorite. And as far as the McDonald’s All-American hit, he’s wrong about that one, too.

The Spartans have two former Burger Boys on the roster, and one of them – Xavier Booker – averages 12.8 minutes and didn’t even play in their Sweet 16 victory over Ole Miss.

And while it’s true that Auburn’s roster is heavily influenced by transfers from places like Morehead State (Johni Broome), Florida International (Denver Jones) and Alabama-Huntsville (Chaney Johnson), Pearl can’t exactly play the poverty card…

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Publish date : 2025-03-29 22:25:00

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