Bruce Pearl knows all about the chorus of singing “get old, stay old.”

In other words, SEC basketball has embraced veteran presences over youthful talent. Pearl told reporters Wednesday that he started that chorus, after all.

With that in mind, Pearl was asked if John Calipari is the craziest person in college basketball for putting a roster to the court with 8 freshmen and 2 sophomores.

Here’s what he had to say:

“They’re all five stars, McDonald’s All-Americans, they’re all in the top 20 on the draft board,” Pearl said. “Nobody is feeling sad for John.”

It’s hard to argue with that logic.

Kentucky is coming into the season with the No. 1 overall recruiting class that includes 5 3-star prospects and 2 4-star prospects, all 5 within the top 80. And that’s not even counting Zvonimir Ivisic, who stands at 7-1 and hails from Croatia.

Auburn has quite the different roster heading into the year. Johni Broome is back, as are KD Johnson and Jaylin Williams alongside some quality transfers in Denver Jones and Addarin Scott. It’s as balanced as any roster in the SEC, and depending on how the pieces fit together it could be a strong one.

The Tigers tip off their season on November 7 against Baylor in South Dakota.