Bret Bielema flames Bruce Pearl following Illinois’ Elite Eight win over Iowa
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Illinois basketball is Final Four-bound for the first time since 2005 after beating the Iowa Hawkeyes 71-59 Saturday night. The Illini used a hot second half to take down Ben McCollum’s club after trailing heading into the halftime break.
The end of the game elicited some fireworks on social media, too, and it all stems from Bruce Pearl’s picks for the game. For those who don’t know, Bruce Pearl has an… interesting relationship with the Illinois-Iowa rivalry. He’s a considerable part of the reason those folks can’t stand each other today.
Before he was head coach at Auburn and Tennessee, Pearl worked as an assistant at Iowa under head coach Tom Davis. In 1989, Pearl and Iowa were fighting hard for the services of a highly sought-after recruit, Deon Thomas, who ended up committing to Illinois over Iowa. Pearl then called Thomas, recorded the phone call without Thomas’ consent and asked if Illinois had offered any cash or a vehicle to win over his services. During the phone call, Thomas alluded to the fact that this may have been true. Pearl immediately went to the NCAA with this recording, accusing Illinois of recruiting violations.
Thomas later denied the allegations, insisting his comments to Pearl were simply to get him off his back. The can of worms had already been opened, though. Though the NCAA did not find any wrongdoing on Illinois’ part pertaining to Thomas — evidence was found to be circumstantial — a subsequent investigation into the program did turn up other, unrelated violations, which resulted in recruiting restrictions and a 1-year postseason ban.
Which brings us to Saturday night. Pearl, working the game as a CBS studio analyst, made his picks with the other studio analysts and let out a, “Go Hawks” before picking Illinois to beat Iowa, likely tongue-in-cheek with a jinx in mind, according to Illinois fans.
Enter Bielema. I’ll let the Illinois football coach’s comment speak for itself:
Deon Thomas, by the way, ended up becoming Illinois’ all-time leading scorer and was in the building calling Illinois vs. Iowa for Illinois radio. He called Illinois’ win over Iowa to crack the Final Four, “the cherry on top.“
Illinois basketball is a very real player in the chase for a national title this season. The Illini will face off against one of Duke or UConn, a matchup that takes place tonight at 5:05 p.m. ET.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
