Bruce Pearl

Auburn felt like a special team early in the season after competing physically with Houston.

We had to play an an incredibly well coached, hard playing Houston team where we were gonna find out whether we were gonna be physical and tough enough... once we were able to beat Houston or at least be on compete with 'em, we felt like this team had a chance to be pretty special.

The 2025 Final Four features the four most deserving and dominant teams in the country.

I don't think you can name a fifth team that this year deserves to be playing for the national championship more than the four teams that are, are alive. And there's something really, really good about that.

The key to winning in the postseason is keeping players fresh by playing a deep bench of 9 or 10 guys

I'm not going to shorten my bench at all. And the hardest game for a team like us to win will be the first game, because we're going to play nine or 10 guys, but in game two, we have an advantage because I'm not playing Jabari Smith 35 minutes in game one. I think that's one of the things that's made us a good program in March is that we're not exhausted at the end of the year.

Don't play middle-of-the-pack SEC teams in the tournament

I'm just saying this. Look at some of the teams that finished in the middle of our league right now, some of the teams that are going to be seated anywhere from five to nine or 10... I'm just telling you, you do not want to play some of those teams in the NCAA tournament.

Jabari Smith is the best jump shooter I have ever coached

Go ahead and doubt [Jabari Smith]. Good luck. I'm just telling you do not doubt that kid. He is one of the greatest competitors that I've ever coached. He's the best jump shooter I've ever coached, and that's actually at any position.