Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Auburn’s Bruce Pearl on ESPN: ‘My guards aren’t pussies’
By ADAM ZAGORIABruce Pearl has never been afraid to speak his mind — and he certainly wasn’t after his team’s latest win.
No. 1 Auburn knocked off No. 8 Ole Miss, 62-57, to reach the SEC Tournament semifinals. National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome was dominant with 23 points and 15 boards, including a huge bucket over his right shoulder in the paint in the final seconds.
Speaking on the ESPN set after the game, Pearl lauded his bigs for being about to get out and defend on the perimeter — and also praised his guards.
“I’ve got bigs that can get out there and guard guards, and my guards aren’t pussies,” Pearl said. “They’re going to go down there and bang a little bit.”
When Seth Greenberg and the ESPN guys laughed about his comment, Pearl said, “Disney’s not writing my check right now, Auburn is.”
Despite back-to-back losses to close the regular-season the Tigers are the presumptive No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance and will next face No. 13 Texas or No. 4 Tennessee in the SEC semifinals on Saturday.
“[The SEC Tournament] means a lot to everybody,” Broome said. “We ended the regular season not the way we wanted to so we have a chip on our shoulder coming in here and we’re just looking to win two more games.”
He added: “This tournament, national championship, everything means a lot to us.”
Follow Adam Zagoria on TwitterFollow ZAGSBLOGHoops on InstagramAnd Like ZAGS on Facebook
Cooper Flagg headlines Naismith Award semifinalists
BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
The semifinalists for the two most prestigious awards in college basketball have been announced. Here are the names left standing for the Naismith Player and Coach of the Year awards:
Naismith Player of the Year SemifinalistsJohni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
Cooper Flagg, Duke
Kam Jones, Marquette
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton
RJ Luis Jr., St. John’s
Mark Sears, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
John Tonje, Wisconsin
JT Toppin, Texas Tech
Naismith Coach of the Year SemifinalistsDennis Gates, Missouri
Todd Golden, Florida
Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Pat Kelsey, Louisville
Grant McCasland, Texas Tech
Ben McCollum, Drake
Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Rick Pitino, St. John’s
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Jon Scheyer, Duke
Broome and Flagg have been the season-long favorites for the Player of the Year award as they led their teams to dominant regular seasons. Flagg sustained an ankle injury in the ACC quarterfinals and is expected to miss Friday’s semifinal against rival North Carolina.
Of course, this season’s breakout story was the work done by Pitino and St. John’s.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=adamzagoria&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px
The finalists for the Player of the Year award are expected to be announced on March 20, while the Coach of the Year finalists are scheduled to be announced on March 24.
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
