For practically all of its existence, the SEC has belonged to Kentucky on the basketball court. But Bruce Pearl has built a historically dormant Auburn program into the 1B of the conference next to UK. Over the past five years, the Tigers may have an argument as 1A.
For all his sleazy dealings with recruits and boisterous behavior on the sidelines, Bruce Pearl is unquestionably a terrific basketball coach. Next to John Calipari, he’s arguably the best of the century in the SEC, having now built two traditionally mediocre programs into national powers. Pearl holds four regular-season SEC crowns during his time as a coach at Tennessee and Auburn.