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Four days before opening the season against UAB, the Auburn coach opened up on the Blazers, an NCAA Tournament team last season.

"They probably have got the most talented roster in the state of Alabama," Pearl said on Auburn's Tiger Talk radio show. "When I say that, that's not to be critical of Alabama or be critical of my own team, but they're the most talented roster in the state. Their program is the furthest ahead in the state."

Excerpt:

Pearl Wrote:Pearl admitted UAB "might beat us," but that he is "not afraid to play anybody."

"If their program is ahead of our program right now, fine. They are," Pearl said. "They were in the NCAA Tournament last year and advanced. We weren't. They have everybody back, we don't. Well, let's play them anyway and let's see where we are and let's see where they are because I know that's where I want to be and that's where our fans expect us to be."

Thats a cop out strategy making those statements, because he knows they are going to lose.

we were just above a .500 team last year

Already starting damage control

Anyone who has been around sports coaches for a while recognizes his ploy. It is all the customary "coach speak" when approaching a game, especially an early season game. Build up the opponent in order to cut losses if you lose and make any win look even better. The main consumer is your own fan base, but if the opponent believes it, so much the better.

Pearl is telling it like it is. This UAB team could, perhaps, be one of the best teams in the country. The roster is deep. The players are all on a mission, to prove that they are one of the best teams in college basketball this season. One game at a time. There are thirty games on the regular season schedule. Personally, I feel more confident about this team and the positive outcome of this season than I have about any other team in UAB history. This seasons team is an exceptionally fun team to watch, so talented and diversified. I can't wait to see them play. My favorite team of all time is the one that lost, seven points shy of the Final Four. One of these days UAB is going to shock the world and win four in the NCAA Tournament and earn an invitation to the Final Four. That was the mindset of UABs 1982 team that went 25-6 and finished four field goals short of their goal. I believe that this team believes that they can surpass that goal and I am sure that they have talked about it, together.

(11-11-2015 05:52 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Pearl is telling it like it is. This UAB team could, perhaps, be one of the best teams in the country. The roster is deep. The players are all on a mission, to prove that they are one of the best teams in college basketball this season. One game at a time. There are thirty games on the regular season schedule. Personally, I feel more confident about this team and the positive outcome of this season than I have about any other team in UAB history. This seasons team is an exceptionally fun team to watch, so talented and diversified. I can't wait to see them play. My favorite team of all time is the one that lost, seven points shy of the Final Four. One of these days UAB is going to shock the world and win four in the NCAA Tournament and earn an invitation to the Final Four. That was the mindset of UABs 1982 team that went 25-6 and finished four field goals short of their goal. I believe that this team believes that they can surpass that goal and I am sure that they have talked about it, together.

I also think this team will be extremely special. We have all the pieces needed.

(11-10-2015 11:09 PM)blazed247 Wrote:  Thats a cop out strategy making those statements, because he knows they are going to lose.

we were just above a .500 team last year

Sports fans are the best. If he said that they planned to run UAB out of there on a rail, everyone here would be up in arms and talking about how special the team will be and how he's delusional. But since it was a compliment, UAB fans can't even take someone being nice and are talking down their own team.

Means nothing. Beat Auburn. We don't need to drop this game as we may be head to head for the last spot in the NCAAs should we not win the conference tourney.

Pearl is saying the same things he said about Memphis when he was at Tennessee, and he always had his Tennessee teams ready to take the fight to Memphis, winning a fair share of those games. I guarantee you he is telling his basketball team some variation of :

"Look, I'm going to spin it in the press about how talented UAB is, but ignore that. You guys are better than they are and we are going to prove it Friday."

Auburn is going to be fired up as hell about this game, and if our guys don't show up with their A game, we are going to walk out of there with a loss.

Yep.

(11-11-2015 05:52 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Pearl is telling it like it is. This UAB team could, perhaps, be one of the best teams in the country. The roster is deep. The players are all on a mission, to prove that they are one of the best teams in college basketball this season. One game at a time. There are thirty games on the regular season schedule. Personally, I feel more confident about this team and the positive outcome of this season than I have about any other team in UAB history. This seasons team is an exceptionally fun team to watch, so talented and diversified. I can't wait to see them play. My favorite team of all time is the one that lost, seven points shy of the Final Four. One of these days UAB is going to shock the world and win four in the NCAA Tournament and earn an invitation to the Final Four. That was the mindset of UABs 1982 team that went 25-6 and finished four field goals short of their goal. I believe that this team believes that they can surpass that goal and I am sure that they have talked about it, together.

How quickly some of us forget how we struggled against a mediocre ucla team. I like our team and think we have a chance to have a very good season, but one of the best teams in the country? I think that's a bit of a stretch right now.

This is why some of our fans blew up at times last year. Some sort of realistic expectation is better than talking about this as a final four team. We have a ton of talent and depth this year, but we also still have some gaping holes That aren't filled.

i was at the ucla team ,,,the big fat guy for ucla them cannot get a fall even if he try and uab was getting a fall just looking at him
the pg from ucla them was hot that day but he palm the ball 50 of the time
the game was over after 5 minutes and uab was getting call at the last 10 minutes of the game
UAB will have beat ucla with a different crew at the game
fyi I normally not complaint too much about referees but that game was ridiculous

i watched the next game ucla play and the big fat got and the pg didnt get any of those call and they were a very average team
if we had play the same team a week later we will have lost to iowa st but beat ucla

The game was over after 5 minutes? We were up by around 6 points with about 10 minutes to go in the first half in that game, and that's when we fell apart.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/playbyplay...400786183; Up 6 at 9:31 in the 1st half. Damn I'm good.

(11-11-2015 01:19 PM)UABFRENCHY Wrote:  i was at the ucla team ,,,the big fat guy for ucla them cannot get a fall even if he try and uab was getting a fall just looking at him
the pg from ucla them was hot that day but he palm the ball 50 of the time
the game was over after 5 minutes and uab was getting call at the last 10 minutes of the game
UAB will have beat ucla with a different crew at the game
fyi I normally not complaint too much about referees but that game was ridiculous

i watched the next game ucla play and the big fat got and the pg didnt get any of those call and they were a very average team
if we had play the same team a week later we will have lost to iowa st but beat ucla

They pounded us twice. One time, and I might buy this. We had no answer for their bigs.

Bruce Pearl is full of crap. This is just his typical mind game he likes to play.

Pay no attention to him.

(11-11-2015 10:24 AM)BlazerMatt Wrote:  Pearl is saying the same things he said about Memphis when he was at Tennessee, and he always had his Tennessee teams ready to take the fight to Memphis, winning a fair share of those games. I guarantee you he is telling his basketball team some variation of :

"Look, I'm going to spin it in the press about how talented UAB is, but ignore that. You guys are better than they are and we are going to prove it Friday."

Auburn is going to be fired up as hell about this game, and if our guys don't show up with their A game, we are going to walk out of there with a loss.

Exactly. We have to bring out A game. Quit worrying about what the media and other coaches say.

Yes, we have more talent than I've seen on any UAB team in many years. But give me a break - one of the best teams in the country? We can't even be sure that we will win our own conference and/or get into the tournament. All it takes is for the match ups to be just right or for some ordinary teams to get hot at the wrong times and we could lose games we were not supposed to lose. It's a long season. Excessive hype and overly high expectations will not help this team if they start reading their own clipping.

Beating Auburn will be a chore. Pearl will have his guys jacked up. The Aunurn crowd will be wild. Since Pearl has severely limited the tickets available to UAB fans, we will be very under represented in the Auburn Arena. The Blazers maybe good, but this is still a young team which has not proven yet that they can win in front of a very hostile crowd.

Why don't we just sit back and enjoy the potential. As Coach Haas would advise, let's take one game at a time.

(11-10-2015 11:09 PM)blazed247 Wrote:  Thats a cop out strategy making those statements, because he knows they are going to lose.

we were just above a .500 team last year

better than him looking down his nose at you for being a CUSA team, no?