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What Bruce Pearl’s retirement means for Auburn, college basketball

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What Bruce Pearl’s retirement means for Auburn, college basketball


Bruce Pearl joins a growing list of high-profile men’s college basketball head coaches to retire in recent years, announcing his decision to leave Auburn on Monday — 42 days before the 2025-26 season is set to tip off.

“I’ve been a part of college basketball for almost 50 years, and the truth is, it’s time,” Pearl said tearfully in a video. “I told myself when I got to the point where I could not give it my all, or I wasn’t necessarily 100 percent, or I couldn’t be the relentless competitor that [Auburn fans] expected of me, that it was going to be time.”

Pearl retires with a 694-270 all-time record as a head coach at Southern Indiana (1992-2001), Milwaukee (2001-05), Tennessee (2005-11) and Auburn (2014-25). His 232-125 record at Auburn makes him the winningest head coach in program history. He also took the Tigers to two Final Fours in his 11 seasons, including as a No. 1 seed in 2025.

Steven Pearl — his son, and an associate head coach who has been with Auburn since Bruce Pearl took the helm in 2014 — will take the reins as the Tigers look to make another NCAA tournament run.

What can we expect of him? How will his father’s legacy be remembered? ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Joe Lunardi answer the biggest questions.

How will Bruce Pearl’s legacy be defined?

Borzello: There were certainly low points — namely the three-year show-cause for lying to the NCAA regarding recruiting violations — but I believe Pearl’s legacy will be as a motivator and program-builder.

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Reflecting on the legacy of Auburn’s Bruce Pearl

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello joins SEC Now: Open Mic to give his insight on what legacy Pearl has left on college basketball, stating that he’s one of the best motivators we’ve seen.

There are the viral clips of Pearl going shirtless in the student section at football games, rallying support on the sideline. His energy was needed at a place like Auburn, which had gone 11 years without an NCAA tournament appearance before he took over. And he took the Tigers from the bottom tier of the SEC to a consistent contender at the top of what is arguably the best conference the sport has ever seen with three league titles.

It was a similar story at Tennessee, which had gone four years without a tournament appearance when the Vols hired Pearl — and then went to six straight tourneys, including three second-weekend NCAA tournament appearances.

From a personality and flexibility standpoint, Pearl was made for this era of college basketball.


How does his retirement impact expectations for Auburn in 2025-26?

Borzello: After a coach leaves a program, players have a 30-day window to transfer, so the first question we need an answer to is whether any Tigers will enter the portal. When Virginia’s Tony Bennett stepped down last October, Jalen Warley transferred and ended up redshirting at Gonzaga.

The timing of Bruce Pearl’s decision makes transferring potentially challenging for a number of reasons. Most programs don’t have the money to add a notable player to this year’s roster, and most players won’t want to redshirt the entire season. Could a player fight for eligibility and play during the spring? Perhaps, but that’s a risk.

As it stands, Auburn has a top-15 roster. Tahaad Pettiford is a legitimate All-American candidate after establishing himself as one of the elite and most entertaining playmakers in the country in a sixth-man role last season. Pearl also added a handful of impact transfers, led by Keyshawn Hall from UCF and KeShawn Murphy from Mississippi State. The roster is good enough to stay near the top of the SEC and win multiple games in the NCAA tournament, but the loss of Pearl does change the equation.


How does his retirement impact the Tigers’ NCAA tournament outlook?

Lunardi: Bruce might not have left his son, Steven, with a Final Four team, but we still project the Tigers no worse than a No. 4 seed as official practices begin.

The larger question is whether the SEC can repeat its historic power and depth from last season when the conference secured a record 14 NCAA tournament bids and Auburn joined eventual national champion Florida as a No. 1 seed. Let’s count on some regression at both the program and conference levels in 2025-26 and forecast a slight decline from the on-paper projections, but the Tigers still have second-weekend upside.


What will the first order of business be for Steven Pearl?

Borzello: Keep the roster intact — specifically, keep Pettiford in an Auburn uniform.

I have no doubt there are schools already calling Pettiford and his agent to see if there’s a chance he will transfer and play elsewhere this season. But Steven Pearl has to keep Pettiford on the team and then make sure the incoming transfers move forward as well.

Steven Pearl will be under a great deal of pressure replacing the Tigers’ winningest coach, stepping into his father’s shoes and taking over a Final Four program — all as a first-time head coach. Doing it without the caliber of the current roster would make things infinitely more difficult.


How should Year 1 of Steven Pearl be evaluated?

Borzello: I don’t know if there are grace periods in the SEC. Steven Pearl will be expected to build on his father’s legacy and keep Auburn in the conversation near the top of the conference. Even with Bruce Pearl, this team wasn’t going to be the favorite in the league or a favorite to go to back-to-back Final Fours. But if Steven Pearl can keep things ticking forward, stay in the top 20 nationally and win a couple of games in the NCAA tournament, the fan base should be thrilled.

Avoiding a sudden, steep drop-off after everything his father has done with the basketball program will be the measuring stick in my opinion.



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Silver considering all remedies for rampant tanking in NBA

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Silver considering all remedies for rampant tanking in NBA


INGLEWOOD, Calif. — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday that tanking has been “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory” and he’s considering “every possible remedy” — including taking away draft picks — to stop the type of overt behaviors he fined the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers for this week.

“In the old days, it was just sort of an understanding among partners in terms of behavior,” Silver said before Saturday’s All-Star Saturday events. “I think what we’re seeing is modern analytics where it’s so clear that the incentives are misaligned. … Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory? Yes, is my view. Which was what led to those fines, and not just those fines but to my statement that we’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice.”

Silver began his news conference by saying he had recently talked to 97-year-old Bob Cousy about the first All-Star Game in 1950, and they had both remarked at how far the game had come since then. That framed Silver’s line of thinking that after 75 years, it might be time to rethink how the league runs its draft, just as the league continues to experiment with its All-Star Game format.

Silver noted that in conversations with general managers and other members of the league’s competition committee, the incentive structure of the lottery has made it unclear that the worst teams are actually the teams with the worst records.

“If teams are manipulating their performance in order to get higher draft picks even in a lottery, then the question becomes … are they really the worst-performing teams?” Silver said. “It’s not clear to me, for example, that the 30th-performing team is that much measurably worse than the 22nd-performing team, particularly if you have incentive to perform poorly to get a better draft pick.

“It’s a bit of a conundrum. As I’ve said, the All-Star [Game] is 75 years old. The league is 80 years old. It’s time to take a fresh look at this to see to whether that’s an antiquated way of going about doing it.”

On several occasions Saturday, Silver reflected on the conundrum between the short-term incentives teams might have to lose games to improve their draft position and the long-term best interests of the league.

“It’s the whole community coming together and deciding what’s in the best interest,” Silver said. “It’s part of my job to remind everybody. … I understand what your short-term interests may be, but we’d better not lose sight of our fans here. We’d better not lose sight of the people who support this league day in and day out.”

Silver noted that last point as part of an answer to a question about the ongoing investigation into whether the LA Clippers circumvented the NBA’s salary cap in an endorsement deal between then-team sponsor Aspiration and star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Silver said he had no updates on the investigation, which is being conducted by Wachtell Lipton in New York.

“It’s enormously complex. You have a company in bankruptcy. You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed,” Silver said.

“I will say, just in case anyone is wondering, the fact that All-Star [Weekend] is here this weekend has had no impact on the timeline of the investigation. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is to do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that’s where things now stand.”

Silver said he had no timeline on when that investigation might conclude.

He did, however, provide an update on the NBA’s plans for expansion, noting that he expected the board of governors to discuss the issue at its next meeting in March and then start reaching out to potential expansion cities and owners to gauge interest. He noted that the league was not considering a relocation of any of its current franchises.

“I think the logical next move would be to say, ‘All right, we’ve had those discussions internally, we’ve made decisions about cities to focus on and what the opportunity is, and now, we’ve got to go out into the marketplace,'” Silver said. “I think that’s probably the most important step, to find out who is potentially interested in owning a franchise in particular cities, what’s the value of that franchise. There’s some work to do in terms of potential conference realignment. That’s the next step there.”



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Big Clash in Colombo Today: PCB Chairman Meets National Team Ahead of India Match – SUCH TV

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Big Clash in Colombo Today: PCB Chairman Meets National Team Ahead of India Match – SUCH TV



Colombo: Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohsin Naqvi, met the national cricket team and management ahead of the crucial match against India, boosting the morale of the Shaheens.

During the meeting in Colombo, the PCB chairman praised the players’ determination, commitment, and preparation, while extending his best wishes for the high-stakes encounter. He encouraged the team to play with confidence and maintain their fighting spirit on the field.

Captain Salman Agha, head coach Mike Hesson, team manager Naveed Akram Cheema, all squad members, and the coaching staff were present at the meeting. PCB Chief Operating Officer Sameer Ahmed, PSL Chief Executive Officer Salman Naseer, and Director Media Aamir Mir also attended the session.

It is worth noting that Pakistan and India are set to face each other today at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The much-anticipated clash is expected to be watched jointly by PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and ICC Chairman Jay Shah.

 



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2026 Winter Olympics: Live updates from Milan Cortina

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2026 Winter Olympics: Live updates from Milan Cortina


The second Sunday of the 2026 Winter Olympics is a busy one for fans of Team USA.

Mikaela Shiffrin skis in the giant slalom — the race she won at the 2018 Olympics, and her second shot at a medal in Milan Cortina. It’s also the race where she suffered a severe injury with a puncture wound in 2024. Shiffrin has had to deal with PTSD from the crash, and competing again in Olympic giant slalom is part of her comeback. Speedskater Erin Jackson will attempt to defend her Olympic gold in the 500 meters. Pairs figure skating begins, with Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea the top American pair. They had clutch performances to help the U.S. win gold in the team event and have an outside chance of a medal. And U.S. men’s hockey will be back in action against Germany.

Key events (all times ET)

  • 4:00 a.m. — Women’s giant slalom

  • 11:03 a.m. — Women’s 500m speedskating

  • 1:45 p.m. — Pairs figure skating

  • 3:10 p.m. — Men’s hockey (USA vs. Germany)

MORE: Medal tracker | Full schedule of events | Olympics 101

Here’s a live look at the top moments from Sunday’s events.




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