Jim Larranaga has brilliant response when asked about Bruce Pearl’s key to recent success

Bruce Pearl has been successful at every stop in his head coaching career. But this year’s Auburn team has been even better, capturing the regular-season SEC title in outright fashion.

Going back to his time at Milwaukee, Pearl has notched 11 NCAA Tournament trips across 18 seasons at Milwaukee, Tennessee and Auburn. This year, the Tigers notched a 2-seed and will face 10-seed Miami (FL) on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

On Saturday, Miami coach Jim Larranaga was asked about Pearl’s recent success. In particular, Larranaga addressed what is different about Pearl’s team this year as opposed to his teams in the past.

Larranaga was brief but pointed to lottery picks on Auburn’s roster:

Jim Larranaga says someone asked him what the difference was between Bruce Pearl’s team now and some of his older teams: “Now he’s got lottery picks.”

— Tom Green (@Tomas_Verde) March 19, 2022

He’s certainly not wrong. Larranaga particularly pointed out the pairing of Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler as a dynamic tandem most teams do not have.

Miami coach Jim Larrañaga says Auburn’s frontcout of Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith are the perfect pairing of skill sets. Can confirm.

— Joseph Goodman 🐐🤡 (@JoeGoodmanJr) March 19, 2022

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.