Pearl mentions SEC financial investment in hoops for record bids

• Ben BabyMar 19, 2025, 07:09 PM ET Close Ben Child covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various papers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Early Morning News where he covered college sports. He supplies daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL programs and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he finished from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an accessory journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Reporters Association (AAJA).

LEXINGTON, Ky.– It wasn’t long ago that SEC basketball was an afterthought, with just a number of entrants into the guys’s NCAA tournament.Those days are over

— a statement that was emphatically made when a record 14 SEC groups got bids to this year’s tournament.Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, speaking ahead of his team’s opening game Thursday, pointed to the financial investment level of each program into their particular lineups.”The distinction in between the SEC this year and why there was such a fantastic separation, top to bottom, there was commitment in the NIL and investing in our student-athletes, “Pearl stated Wednesday.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Auburn is the No. 1 total seed in spite of losing 3 of its previous four games.

The Tigers (28-5

) face 16-seed

Alabama State( 20-15 )at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena.It isn’t simply NIL; Pearl mentioned an improvement in training works with and staff resources that dates to previous SEC commissioner Mike Slive and has actually continued with present commissioner Greg Sankey.Tennessee coach Rick Barnes, who has spent the previous 10 of his 38-year career in the SEC, praised the quality of training throughout the conference.” I haven’t coached against any bad coaches,”Barnes said

.”I actually have not. I have actually coached versus coaches that haven’t had the very same resources along the method, and in some cases you can win a few of the time like that, but not overall at the level that you wish to be able to sustain it. “Barnes remembered Sankey’s very first address at the SEC spring meetings, throughout which the commissioner provided a”harsh “message. Every sport was trending upward except for basketball.Barnes pointed out that at the time, the SEC was amongst the worst in the country in nonconference scheduling.”Whatever that has happened in the 10 years has actually been a dedication from the top down,”Barnes stated.”I think at one time, I believe maybe athletic directors at one time seemed like you could not be excellent in every sport. “ Bruce Pearl, coach of No. 1 total seed Auburn, and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes attributed the SEC’s record 14 NCAA competition bids to years of investment by schools and athletic directors into basketball programs. Aaron Doster/Imagn Images Pearl pointed to one of the other Power 4 conferences, and two programs in particular.”Let’s simply say Louisville and Duke, for instance, in the ACC, “Pearl said.”Those two programs have been consistently well-supported. They got great history. “So when it comes to the NIL, they’re going to be invested. Not everybody in the ACC invested like those two schools.

“Louisville (27-7)is a No. 8 seed and faces No. 9 seed Creighton on Thursday in Lexington. If the Cardinals win, they will deal with the winner of Alabama State-Auburn. The ACC program is making its very first NCAA tournament look in nine years in coach Pat Kelsey’s first season.The SEC schools aren’t

the only significant players at the Lexington local website. Seventh-seeded UCLA( 22-10), led by seasoned coach Mick Cronin, ended up connected for 4th in the school’s very first season in the

Huge Ten.Men’s Tournament Obstacle Register now to play the # 1 Men’s bracket game for FREE!$135,000 in prizes.