ATLANTA – The Auburn team from Bruce Pearl is seeded No. 1 of this year NCAA tournament.
Michigan State is the seeded n ° 2 in the southern region and the majority of the speech around Spartans This tournament is that they are connected, but they are not “the most talented team” of Tom Izzo.
Well, do not tell Pearl that MSU is the oppressed in the Elite Eight match on Sunday (5:05 p.m., CBS) at State Farm Arena (just 109 miles from his campus).
Here’s how it happened when Pearl was questioned on Saturday on the impact that his star striker John Broome could have on the history of university basketball. Broome was a transfer and this year is now an All-American from the first unanimous team.
Pearl: “… many of that will depend on the way it ends. But I’m just – we are a team made up of a single star. One of the things I reminded my guys, there are several guys on the list of Michigan States who are from McDonald All -Americans. It is pretty good.
“Most of our guys are guys who were mid-mounting or college or division II. Legendary program.
And another minute later:
Journalist: You said you did not go to let Michigan State play the oppressed card. Who is the oppressed in this game? Are you the oppressed?
Pearl: “Auburn. Auburn. This is the third time in our history, we go to the Elite Eight. It is unexplored water for us. We are talking about Michigan State. We are talking about Tom Izzo.”
Well, you knew they were going to bring these comments back to Izzo. Here is his classic Izzo response (stay for the joke at the end).
