Bruce Pearl, Auburn fans mad as hell over All-SEC team selections
One fan literally set an SEC hat on fire, folks!
The All-SEC Team was announced on Tuesday, and not a single Auburn player made the first team. This fact is a bit surprising, given that the Tigers won the SEC regular season title, and have a talented trio of players in Mustapha Heron, Bryce Brown, and Jared Harper. The first two of those guys are averaging 16 points per game this season.
Even Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was a bit confused:
The First SEC Regular Season Champion to not have a player on the Coaches All SEC FIRST TEAM since it began in 1956 is The 2018 Auburn Tigers! I’m just sayin
— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) March 6, 2018
Brown and Harper did make the second team. SEC Coach Of The Year went to Tennessee’s Rick Barnes over Pearl, too.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Auburn this season. When the FBI announced its college basketball probe in February, the Tigers had to go through some turnover both with players and it’s coaching staff. Even still, Auburn finished with an impressive 25-6 overall record. AU Now expands on the team defying expectations nicely:
Auburn was picked to finish ninth in the conference. It went 12-1 during nonconference play despite having associate head coach Chuck Person arrested and dismissed as part of the FBI’s investigation into college basketball, two support staffers placed on administrative leave, and two top players — Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy — not eligible to compete.
Days before the start of SEC play, one CBS Sports writer picked the Tigers to go 4-14 in conference play. They went 13-5 and won a share of the program’s first crown since 1999.
“That’s kind of the reason why I wasn’t too disappointed that they didn’t pick us first team. They just added fuel to the fire for Mustapha and for me and Jared as well, and for all my other teammates that were left off. They’re going to keep on doubting us,” Brown said. “That keeps that chip on our shoulder.”
Jack Condon of Auburn blog College and Magnoila echoes a similar sentiment, and suggests that the ongoing FBI investigation may be another reason:
“As for Pearl, he won the SEC (sorry Tennessee, you’re not co-champs when you’re the 2-seed) with apparently really poor talent, and he’s not the SEC Coach of the Year?” he told SB Nation via email. “You’re telling me that Rick Barnes had the Player of the Year in Grant Williams and couldn’t win the league, while Bruce Pearl had zero first team players, won the conference, and didn’t get any recognition? It’s not logical.”
“Obviously, some people think that there’s a big conspiracy by the other coaches in the conference to jilt Auburn,” he continued. “They think that other teams are voting Auburn down because they believe that it’ll all get taken away, wins vacated, etc. in the near future. I don’t really buy into that when you see what Frank Martin was saying on Saturday after Auburn beat South Carolina.”
Congratulations to @AuburnMBB and @coachbrucepearl winning the SEC Championship is the real deal. Much ✊ to how hard Auburn has worked to create that environment. Your crowd was awesome and not one person was rude #Respect
— Frank Martin (@FrankMartin_SC) March 3, 2018
People are fired up about it on Twitter, too.
One man literally lit an SEC hat on fire, and I find this absolutely hilarious.
Today the @SEC spit in the face of Auburn and I’ve never been more disgusted with the league that I’ve supported my whole life pic.twitter.com/n2x6q8t1zm
— ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@SkyeUnderwood) March 6, 2018
A lot of butthurt @SEC coaches didn't enjoy all those beatdowns @AuburnMBB put on them. #NoRespect for the true #SECChamps. Guess #Auburn will just have to keep winning, and those coaches will have to #DealWithIt. #AllSEC #WDE
— yoyo (@atenz11) March 6, 2018
No Auburn players on the SEC 1st team? That's Disgusting. We won the SEC for reason. Despite all of our Injuries, Suspensions and lack of Size. 0 Respect.
— War Eagle & Coys (@AuburnHotspur) March 6, 2018
@SEC continues to show their ignorance, @ChadTeasley they selected a Tennessee player as Player of the Year and their coach as Coach of the year. Yet Auburn has nobody on all conference team, sounds like @coachbrucepearl is coach of the year. Pathetic voting
— Brad (@Btease1213) March 6, 2018
This is probably an over-generalization to many folks, but what the @SEC did to Auburn basketball, is SO the reason that I never pledge any allegiance to the conference. Don’t care how many Bowl games SEC wins. Or how many get in the Tourney. I pull for AU & stuff that helps AU.
— AuBurntOrange (@AuBurntOrange) March 7, 2018
Next time someone asks me if I'm an "SEC fan" I'm going to pull out this coaches All-SEC team. I'm an Auburn fan. #WarEagle
— Alex Courington (@wareagle013) March 6, 2018
Everyone hates Auburn. Had Bama won the SEC all 5 starters would be all-SEC first team. Even Ingram’s bum ass. Sooooooo pathetic.
— davis (@iDavisRoberts) March 6, 2018
While it’s true that the Tigers had a great season, and fans feel like there should at least be some recognition for winning the conference when no one expected them to, my whole thing is — why does this even matter? The All-SEC teams literally don’t mean a thing, and they don’t affect anything as far as the upcoming conference or NCAA Tournaments. Yes, I’d probably feel differently as an Auburn fan, but it’s interesting to see such a reaction coming from a simple All-SEC team announcement.
Next up for the Tigers is the winner of Texas A&M vs. Alabama in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.