Over the weekend RTC had correspondents reporting in real time from the Columbus, Columbia, Hartford, San Jose and Salt Lake City pods. Using social media to share information, we produced Rushed Reactions threads in Twitter for each game in those locations. Click within each tweet to see the entire RR thread for each game. Have a look below.S

#12 Oregon 73, #13 UC Irvine 54.

RUSHED REACTIONS: OREGON 73, UC IRVINE 54. The nightcap in #ncaasanjose certainly had its swings on its way to another Oregon victory. Let's take a look at our 3 takeaways…

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 25, 2019

#1 Virginia 63, #9 Oklahoma 51.

RUSHED REACTIONS: Virginia 63, Oklahoma 51. The Cavaliers become the fifth ACC school to advance to the Sweet 16. Here are 3 key Takeaways:

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 25, 2019

#2 Tennessee 83, #10 Iowa 77 (OT)

RUSHED REACTIONS – #2 Tennessee 83, #10 Iowa 77. Here are 3 takeaways on @Vol_Hoops dramatic OT win over the Hawkeyes :

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 24, 2019

#3 Purdue 87, #6 Villanova 61.

Rushed Reaction—Purdue 87, Villanova 61. Purdue dominated this game tip to buzzer.
1) Nojel Eastern totally changes the look of this Purdue team. He took Phil Booth out of the game for large stretches. The Boilermakers did a great job not letting Villanova into offensive rhythm

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 24, 2019

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Over the weekend RTC had correspondents reporting in real time from the Columbus, Columbia, Hartford, San Jose and Salt Lake City pods. Using social media to share information, we produced Rushed Reactions threads in Twitter for each game in those locations. Click within each tweet to see the entire RR thread for each game. Have a look below.

#12 Oregon 72, #5 Wisconsin 54.

RUSHED REACTIONS: #12 OREGON 72, #5 Wisconsin 54. Let's see how second upset of the day went down here in #ncaasanjose…

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 22, 2019

#1 Virginia 72, #16 Gardner-Webb 56.

RUSHED REACTIONS: Virginia 71, Gardner-Webb 56. It was very interesting for the first 20 minutes before Virginia roared out of the halftime locker room to take over. Here are 3 key Takeaways:

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 22, 2019

#2 Tennessee 77, #15 Colgate 70.

RUSHED REACTIONS – #2 Tennessee 77, #15 Colgate 70. Here are 3 takeaways on Tennessee’s narrow escape against @ColgateMBB:

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 22, 2019

#13 UC Irvine 70, #4 Kansas State 64.

RUSHED REACTIONS: UC IRVINE 70, KANSAS STATE 64. Let's look at how this upset occurred… #ncaasanjose

— RTC South Region (@RTCSouthRegion) March 22, 2019

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What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

Looking back at the first two rounds of the 2019 NCAA Tournament has to begin with the opening weekend’s most memorable game. In Sunday afternoon’s UCF vs. Duke game, there was much more to it than the average #1 vs. #9 match-up. How would the battle of Zion Williamson vs. Tacko Fall unfold? How would the pupil (Johnny Dawkins) fare against his teacher (Coach K)? Williamson definitely had to earn his 32 points — the superstar freshman shot just 9-of-17 on his two-point attempts, representing the first time he has been under 60 percent inside the arc since a 4-of-7 performance on January 12 against Florida State.

https://twitter.com/si_ncaabb/status/1109931709066285056

Despite falling behind by as many as eight points in the second half, UCF rallied to take a four-point lead with under two minutes to go. The Knights were racing upcourt with a chance to extend the lead, but a failed alley-oop followed by a Cam Reddish three-pointer cut the lead to a single point.

UCF's blown lob followed by a Duke 3 was the swing pic.twitter.com/ou8agdH4ZT

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 24, 2019

Push off? Verticality? Down three points in the dying seconds, Duke put the ball in Williamson’s hands and he made a play.

AND-ONE!
THE MADNESS IS HERE. pic.twitter.com/ghx4ppOEHa

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 24, 2019

Zion went on to miss the game-tying free-throw, but the ball ultimately ended up in the hands of R.J. Barrett, who put in a bunny to give Duke a one-point lead. While many were arguing that Barrett pushed off to get the rebound, the bigger grievance with a missed call on this play came with this missed hook and hold. An emphasis was placed on this call all season long, yet it appears to have been blatantly missed here. This is a call that would have all but ensured the end of Duke’s season…

Hook and hold on the game winning layup. Flagrant 1. Two shots and the ball for UCF pic.twitter.com/YhPi7eaot7

— Evan Atwell (@atwell417) March 24, 2019

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The SEC enjoyed another successful season, with the league earning seven bids and potential for a few of those teams to get to the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend. Just a few hours before the first tip, let’s take a look at the biggest questions facing the league as the Big Dance begins.

• Which SEC team has the best chance to go deep? Tennessee and Kentucky have been the league’s best two teams all year, despite LSU claiming the regular season title and Auburn winning the SEC Tournament. Both the Volunteers and Wildcats are capable of making a run to Minneapolis, but it says here that John Calipari‘s team has the best shot. With Keldon Johnson, Tyler Herro and Ashton Hagans leading the way in the backcourt, along with budding superstar P.J. Washington and graduate transfer godsend Reid Travis, the Wildcats are the league’s best bet to reach the Final Four and cut down the nets once they are there. This team is a far cry from the shaky group that got destroyed by Duke on opening night, and Big Blue Nation would salivate about getting another shot at the Blue Devils on an April Monday night.

• Which SEC player will break out and make a national name for himself? Tennessee’s Jordan Bone did not earn first-team all-SEC honors this year, even though a case can be made that he is the Volunteers’ most valuable player. Many across the country already know that Bone is an excellent cog in Rick Barnes’ attack, but his importance to this team cannot be overstated. In Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game, Bone was not himself, dishing out only two assists while committing three turnovers — he averages six assists and two turnovers a game — and the rest of his team followed suit. Tennessee will only go as far as Bone can take them, and he has the chance to elevate his reputation from being a really good player to becoming a great one this March.

Read the rest of this entry »

If a down year for the conference means four bids, then the conference certainly has nothing to complain about. All four Big East clubs were slotted roughly in line with expectations heading into Sunday and each has a winnable First Round game (or a play-in game for St. John‘s). Below are the burning questions facing each team as it prepares for the NCAA tournament:

Marquette: Will Markus Howard get back on track?

As good of shooters as the Hauser brothers and Sacar Anim are, there’s no question the Marquette offense runs through Markus Howard. His red-hot shooting (40.8% 3FG) and ability to draw fouls (seventh-highest fouls drawn per 40 minutes) keep the Golden Eagles humming and give much needed spacing to his teammates. Tertiary scorers such as Joey Hauser and Anim are less efficient when Howard is not on the floor and the Marquette offense as a whole scores 10 fewer points per 100 possessions without him. That drops Marquette from an elite offense (23rd nationally) to a strikingly average one. In the team’s recent six-game stumble, Howard’s effective field goal percentage plummeted to 42.2 percent, compared with 53.5 percent in the games preceding it. So it’s no surprise then that some of the team’s worst performances correlate directly with an off night from their 5’11” star. Coupling these recent struggles with news of Howard’s hand injury is definitely cause for concern.

Villanova: How will the Wildcats perform on an off shooting night?

By this point, everyone knows that Villanova relies heavily on the three-pointer, having ranked among the top 40 nationally in three-point attempt rate for each of the last six seasons. This season, Jay Wright has taken that ambition to an extreme, with three-pointers accounting for 53.5 percent of Villanova’s shot attempts, good for third nationally. When they connect, defenses are forced to adjust, which opens up driving lanes and creates better spacing. But Villanova is decidedly average in its long-range accuracy this season, making the slumps feel that much longer when the shots continue to be fired. In the Big East Tournament, the Wildcats did a good job generating points at the line and around the basket during those inevitable cold spells, but it wasn’t always pretty and felt somewhat unsustainable. Wins are wins, but in the NCAA Tournament, the question will be whether Wright’s club can find offense when their shooting dries up. The rim-attacking abilities of Saddiq Bey and Jermaine Samuels will be critical.

Read the rest of this entry »

What’s Trending is a column examining the week that was in college basketball social media. Matthew Eisenberg (@matteise) is your weekly host.

This is March.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 15, 2019

The second week of conference tournaments began with many questions, the biggest of which focused on a certain 6’7″, 285-pound freshman in Durham, North Carolina. For the past few weeks, questions about Zion Williamson and whether he would — or should — return to play for Duke have been thrown around by nearly everyone. It took the superstar forward all of two minutes of game time to show everyone that he is indeed back…

https://twitter.com/si_ncaabb/status/1106368814206324736

The storylines involving Zion continued in Duke’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal match-up against Syracuse. In the past, it was Duke — paging Grayson Allen — as the centerpiece of any tripping story. This time, however, it was Syracuse’s Frank Howard taking his turn to extend his leg a little further than necessary…

Syracuse's Frank Howard appeared to attempt to trip Zion Williamson early in the first half. pic.twitter.com/aNUUebKMXH

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 15, 2019

“I love playing with Duke, I love my teammates.”

Zion Williamson "I love this game, I love my teammates, so the people who thought I wasn't going to return they weren't smart….I couldn't leave my boys hanging." pic.twitter.com/o3W75FCTPF

— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 15, 2019

The Zion experience carried into the ACC Tournament semifinal match-up against North Carolina. The Tar Heels had dominated the first two Zion-less games, but after scoring 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds through the first 39 minutes, it was Zion’s final two points and rebound that made the biggest difference…

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1106760367533780992

Scoring, rebounds, steals… oh, Zion can pass the ball pretty well too…

Zion with an absolute dime on the fastball bounce pass to Tre Jones pic.twitter.com/IyyfQ29NqO

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 17, 2019

In the non-Zion Williamson category of the ACC Tournament, the basketball world was gifted a dancing Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams…

Buzz Williams. Athlete.

pic.twitter.com/z6eTVV9UtF

— CollegeBB News (@CollegeBBNCAA) March 14, 2019

…a frantic possession and game-winning basket by Florida State’s Terance Mann…

What A Finish!

Terance Mann’s running fall away prayer is answered as 4 seed Florida State defeats 5 seed Virginia Tech 65-63 in OT.

pic.twitter.com/7qZG4x6nlj

— CollegeBB News (@CollegeBBNCAA) March 14, 2019

…and everyone’s favorite, allegations of NCAA violations…

BREAKING: NCAA finds high-level recruiting violations at Georgia Tech. From our @ksugiuraajc https://t.co/zvw4uHMp1a

— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) March 15, 2019

On the topic of NCAA violations, the SEC Tournament included LSU’s Will Wade releasing a statement where he made a plea to get back on the sideline. LSU General Counsel Tom Skinner fired back with, “as a university and employer, we need to hear our employee say, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ or explain the circumstances or admit he did not do something wrong. We’ve been unable to get to that point. We have no choice, in terms of institutional control, to not suspend someone.”

#LSU coach Will Wade releases statement to @SInow pic.twitter.com/vWrKPM9mQ9

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) March 14, 2019

On the court, Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield began the Volunteers’ SEC Tournament action with a poster over Mississippi State…

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1106755627366391809

LSU’s Skylar Mays came up with a dunk that had LSU fans jumping for joy…

Well, Skylar Mays doesn’t care for your feelings. pic.twitter.com/koxMqQAdhU

— Bobby Reagan (@BarstoolReags) March 15, 2019

…but it was ultimately Florida’s Andrew Nembhard who allowed Florida to move on and send LSU home.

ANDREW NEMBHARD WINS THE GAME FOR FLORIDA!!! pic.twitter.com/CYsF8IGiqV

— Basketball Society (@BBallSociety_) March 15, 2019

Florida’s run through the SEC Tournament came to an end on Saturday, literally at the hands of Auburn….

https://twitter.com/br_CBB/status/1106998122658582533

In the other semifinal, the SEC Tournament delivered a gem between Tennessee and Kentucky…

No. 3 Tennessee knocks out No. 2 Kentucky, 82-78 and advances to the SEC title game

After trailing by 8 PTS with 2:58 to go, the Volunteers scored on every possession to win pic.twitter.com/wioHsY1lBo

— Bleacher Report CBB (@br_CBB) March 16, 2019

During Wednesday’s opening round of the Big Ten Tournament, Nebraska’s Tim Miles had the spotlight on him after his Huskers toppled Rutgers…

"SAFE!" @CoachMiles takes a tumble running off the floor after Nebraska basketball's Big Ten tournament win over Rutgers. Full post game reaction tonight on @Channel8ABC! For now, WATCH: pic.twitter.com/NOABVQes4A

— Jared Koller (@JKollerKLKN) March 14, 2019

…after beating Maryland on Thursday, Miles got his shot at redemption…

Tim Miles sticks the landing! #Huskers move on. pic.twitter.com/JlNgBdHF2n

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) March 14, 2019

After the second win in as many days, Big Ten Twitter was quick to point out this fact that fans in Bloomington, Indiana, were not happy to read…

Indiana has as many Big 10 tournment wins in 5 seasons as 13th seeded Nebraska has in 2 days.

— Jake Query (@jakequery) March 14, 2019

The Big East Tournament will be remembered for this sequence in Seton Hall’s semifinal win over Marquette…

https://twitter.com/CBBonFOX/status/1106760477718138881

Marquette-Seton Hall game in one tweet: 85 free throws, nine technicals, three ejections, four guys fouled out, there was a scuffle, Myles Powell was ejected then wasn’t, words exchanged in handshake line, game was three hours without overtime, Seton Hall won by two.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 16, 2019

Meanwhile, at the end of the tournament it was once again Villanova that walked away as the champion… AGAIN.

Villanova lost four players to the NBA and still won both the Big East regular season and tournament titles. The mark of a true Blueblood Program.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 17, 2019

Tournament week in Las Vegas began with the West Coast Conference Tournament where St. Mary’s earned an automatic bid by getting the best of Gonzaga.

GAELS ARE GOING DANCING!

SAINT MARY'S DEFEATS NO. 1 GONZAGA TO CLAIM THE WCC CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE! pic.twitter.com/eqsAzA7V53

— Saint Mary's Hoops (@saintmaryshoops) March 13, 2019

…and it continued with the Pac-12 Tournament where all eyes were on Bill Walton doing Bill Walton things…

According to https://t.co/YTwl1XljwE, last night Bill Walton:

– Took a bathroom break during OT
– Claimed Vegas' Statue of Liberty was the original
– Quacked like a duck
– Quoted Albert Einstein
– Referenced Winnie the Pooh

Am I missing anything? pic.twitter.com/twQRwvNoLx

— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) March 16, 2019

…and it ended with Oregon winning the Pac-12 Tournament to steal a bid from a team on the bubble.

Dana Altman will beat your five with his, then take your five and beat his.

— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) March 17, 2019

As players play for an opportunity to keep their season going, these tournaments bring up stories that need to be shared. The emotion in the face of Old Dominion headcoach Jeff Jones makes the Monarchs an easy team to root for…

“It’s been a great year, it’s been a long year. We’re just really, really happy to be going dancing.”@ODUMensHoops' Jeff Jones, battling prostate cancer, reflects on an emotional win to clinch a bid. #MarchMadnesspic.twitter.com/bbtLr2nF1F

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 17, 2019

While there is so much to love and appreciate with college basketball, there was one thing that continues to outshine the product on the floor. Officiating throughout tournaments leaves fans wondering…

College basketball will never have a consistently great product as long as officials don't have to answer questions about the decisions they make in games like this one.

— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) March 16, 2019

How about this Big East officiating? Horrendous calls the last couple of nights. Cannot believe at this level of college basketball that we would see this. By and large, I have enormous respect for what these guys do over the course of the season.

— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) March 17, 2019

And as painful as questionable calls can be, the monitor review process will almost assuredly come up time and time again next week. Getting the correct call is important, but too often these reviews kill any flow to a game. Add in the fact that they act as de facto timeouts for teams that often do not have any to call and you have a situation that creates more problems than it solves.

YOU GET A MONITOR REVIEW, YOU GET A MONITOR REVIEW, YOU GET A MONITOR REVIEW! pic.twitter.com/LhCIikRvOa

— /r/CollegeBasketball (@redditCBB) March 10, 2019

The days of the SEC getting only three or four teams into the NCAA Tournament appear to be over. After getting a record eight bids last season, the league will send seven teams to the Big Dance this year, including a pair of #2 seeds, a #3 seed, and a couple of #5 seeds. The league hopes for a bit more success this year, however, when none of those eight squads advanced past the Sweet Sixteen a year ago. Here are our instant impressions on each team’s draw:

Tennessee

• Seed: # 2, South
• Quick First Round Preview: Colgate is a relatively dangerous #15 seed that shoots 39 percent from deep. Tennessee struggles to defend the perimeter at times and will need to recover from Sunday’s debacle against Auburn to do a better job guarding the three.
• Intriguing Potential Match-up: Virginia in the regional final. Tennessee would seem to match up better against the Cavaliers than the other #1 seeds based on athleticism alone. A game between the region’s top two teams would be a tremendous display of offensive efficiency.
• Final Word: Assuming the Volunteers beat Colgate, a Second Round battle against an under-seeded Cincinnati team in the Bearcats’ backyard (Columbus, Ohio) would be a tall order. Another early exit is a real possibility for a team that has spent the entire season ranked among the nation’s top 10.

Kentucky

• Seed: #2, Midwest
• Quick First Round Preview: A battle of Wildcats will take place, with Kentucky facing Abilene Christian. On talent alone, Kentucky should coast to a victory here.
• Intriguing Potential Match-up: North Carolina in the regional final. The Wildcats handled the Tar Heels in Chicago just before Christmas, holding North Carolina to just 0.87 points per possession, one of its worst offensive outputs of the year. The Tar Heels have improved immensely since that game, however, although Kentucky could probably make the same case. This is a late March game that everyone who loves college basketball should want to see.
• Final Word: Kentucky is good enough to win it all, and we will be mildly surprised if the Wildcats do not make it to Minneapolis with a somewhat favorable draw ahead in the Midwest region.

LSU

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Much like 2019’s third installments of the Duke/North Carolina and Kentucky/Tennessee trilogies, this season’s third chapter of the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry was an epic that went down to the wire. The Spartans fought back from an 13-point second half deficit and used a ridiculous Cassius Winston drive and lay-in with 29 seconds remaining to ensure they finished the season 3-0 against their biggest rival. The following are three key takeaways from Sunday afternoon’s Big Ten Tournament championship game.

Three Key Takeaways.

1. Cassius Winston willed Michigan State to victory. Some special points guards have come through the Michigan State program during Tom Izzo‘s 24 seasons in East Lansing, and it is becoming increasingly cleare that this season’s Big Ten Player of the Year should be considered among that group. Winston was incredible throughout the second half of today’s championship game, as he led the Spartans back from a 13-point deficit by tallying 11 points and seven assists in the game’s second stanza. Michigan State could have packed it in and preserved its energy for the NCAA Tournament when it faced the significant uphill climb, but a player like Winston does not have “pack it in” in his DNA. Michigan State has not advanced past the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend since 2015, but with Winston at the controls and his teammates fully receptive to his leadership, it will be truly surprising if the Spartans do not advance to this year’s Sweet Sixteen and perhaps beyond.
2. This season has been one of Tom Izzo’s best coaching jobs. It is not unusual for the Spartans to enter the NCAA Tournament as both the Big Ten regular season and tournament champion, as Michigan State is one of the country’s strongest programs year in and year out. That said, Michigan State had every reason to take a step back this season. For starters, the Spartans lost two lottery picks from last year’s team, so their roster was simply not as talented as it was a season ago. Then once the season commenced, the injury bug hit the team with an unrelenting fury. Scoring guard Joshua Langford was lost for the season in late December with an ankle injury. Forward Nick Ward suffered a hand injury in February. Winston himself battled through knee and toe ailments throughout the final portion of conference play. Role player Kyle Ahrens was hampered by a bad back during Big Ten play before suffering what appeared to be a serious ankle injury in the win over Michigan. Despite the locker room sometimes resembling a MASH unit, Izzo adjusted with what he had available and led his team, once again, to the top of the Big Ten.
3. Michigan’s inability to close out Michigan State this season will keep John Beilein awake at night. Michigan is headed to the NCAA Tournament with a 28-6 overall record, which, by every measure represents an excellent resume in one of the country’s toughest conferences. Even with that sterling mark, the Wolverines must be driving themselves crazy over the fact they blew three leads against Michigan State this season that led to three losses. On February 24 in Ann Arbor, Michigan led 51-45 with 15:57 to play and ended up losing 77-70. On March 9 in East Lansing, Michigan State pulled out a 75-63 victory after it trailed by 12 in the first half. In Sunday’s title game, the Wolverines led by 13 with 17:12 to play before the Spartans rallied to once again earn a victory. One has to believe that John Beilien and his group making deep run in the NCAA Tournament will be the only thing that will eliminate the bad taste left in their mouths by those defeats.

Player of the Game. Matt McQuaid, Michigan State. The senior sharpshooter saved his best Big Ten Tournament performance for his final Big Ten Tournament game. McQuaid finished with a career-high 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting (7-of-13 from behind the three-point line) and it seemed like each time Michigan State needed a big basket during its comeback, the senior from Texas stepped up and buried one from the perimeter. McQuaid’s defense on Michigan guard Jordan Poole was also noteworthy, as Poole was limited to just 3-of-11 shooting and had to work hard for every one of his attempts. Role players stepping up in March is crucial to a team’s success and McQuaid certainly filled that role in the victory today.

What’s Next. Michigan State earned the #2 seed in the East Region and will be playing #15 Bradley in Des Moines on Thursday. Michigan also earned a #2 seed in the Des Moines pod, where the Wolverines will do battle with #15 Montana.

The ACC received seven bids to the NCAA Tournament today, down from the nine invitations that the conference garnered in 2017 and 2018. Those seven selections completely mirrored the overall season for the ACC. It was impressive at the top, with three teams earning #1 seeds for the first time since the Big East performed the trick a decade ago, but it was a disappointment at the bottom, with both NC State and Clemson missing out on trips to the tournament. The Wolfpack have very little to be upset about, frankly, having played the worst non-conference schedule in college basketball this season — but even if you aren’t a fan of that metric, their best win over Auburn while also finding ways to lose to both Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. Here is a quick look at the best and worst case scenarios for the seven ACC teams that did qualify for the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

Duke (#1 East)

Best Case: The Blue Devils win the National Championship. However, the truest best cast would be four straight blowouts (including a payback win over Virginia Tech and a showdown with Michigan State along the way) as they waltz to Minneapolis as the prohibitive favorite.

Worst Case: Virginia Tech has beaten the Blue Devils before, and with Justin Robinson now back in action, the Hokies get hot from long range and take down Duke in the Sweet Sixteen.

Virginia (#1 South)

Best Case: Tony Bennett leads his best offensive team to his first Final Four and silences a whole lot of doubters, including plenty of loud voices who thought last year’s loss to UMBC proved that his program and his style of playe was “fraudulent.”

Worst Case: I mean… lightning can’t strike the same place twice, right? Right?

North Carolina (#1 Midwest)

Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes things really do come full circle in sports, and Auburn’s thrashing of Tennessee in Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship game is evidence of that. In Bruce Pearl’s fifth season at Auburn, he has brought the Tigers program — the absolute dregs of the SEC when he took over five years ago — all the way back. Today’s win gave Auburn its first SEC Tournament title since 1985, and only its second in history. And in getting the program to this point, he has also completed the rehabilitation of a career that appeared dead on more than one occasion. There is certainly poetic justice in that he reached the pinnacle of his accomplishment at the Loveliest Village on the Plains against the school that was forced to fire him eight years ago.

In winning the SEC Tournament, Pearl was able to accomplish something he never did at Tennessee. Although he guided the Volunteers to the NCAA Tournament in each of his six seasons in Knoxville — including the university’s only Elite Eight appearance in 2010 — he was never able to secure the SEC Tournament trophy, losing his only chance in 2009 when the Volunteers lost to Mississippi State. But now, Pearl can bask in the glow of an unexpected four-games-in-four-days title that came from the middle of the pack. And whatever happens in the NCAA Tournament – the consensus is that 26-9 Auburn will be a #4 seed – nothing will take this accomplishment away. “The championship means so much because it might have been the best the SEC has been in so many years. We feel very blessed to be where we are,” Pearl said after the game.

Pearl resurrected a moribund Tennessee program when he arrived in Knoxville in 2005. The transformation of Thompson-Boling Arena into one of the nation’s nicest arenas is largely a result of his doing, and the six consecutive NCAA appearances remains the longest streak in school history. But the challenge he faced at Auburn was an entirely different animal. In the Tigers’ four seasons under Tony Barbee prior to Pearl’s arrival, they won just 49 games. Worse, he inherited a fan base that was beyond apathetic — even for SEC standards. And after losing 20 games in each of Pearl’s first two seasons, it was clear that this turnaround was not like what he encountered at Tennessee. But three years later, he has a program for which “also ran” status would have been a generous descriptor at the top of the SEC mountain. Only a year and a half ago, an FBI investigation swirled around his program – and just this week, former assistant Chuck Person pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to the scandal – and it was not clear whether Pearl would survive. He weathered that storm last season and led his club to a share of the SEC regular season championship, but a first-round SEC Tournament loss and a blowout at the hands of Clemson in the NCAA Tournament put a damper on that accomplishment. Now, after doing something that has not been done at the school in 34 years, he has proved that he has more than survived.