When you talk about Alabama vs. Auburn, the image that pops into your head is likely one that takes place on a football field. Cam Newton's 24-point comeback. The Kick Six. Jalen Milroe's 4th and 31 touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond to keep Bama's College Football Playoff hopes alive. But in recent years, there's has been nearly as much intrigue on the hardwood as there is on the gridiron. And more success than either fanbase has come to expect from their basketball program. In the last five NCAA Tournaments, only two schools from the SEC have made the Final Four… Alabama this year, and Bruce Pearl's Auburn Tigers in 2019.

Auburn's 2023-24 season came to a disappointing end with an upset loss to Yale in the opening round of the tournament. And now, with Alabama representing the SEC in the Final Four, it's natural to wonder where Bruce Pearl's rooting interests lie. On one hand, it would be a nice bump for the SEC to bring home the conference's first men's basketball championship since Kentucky cut down the nets in 2012. On the other hand, it's Alabama vs. Auburn.

“I mean if I said, ‘Hey, I'm rooting for Alabama,' I mean I’m rooting for the SEC. I’d be completely lying and just disingenuous, that’s my arch rival,” Bruce Pearl shared with Dan Patrick on Monday's edition of The Dan Patrick Show. “You know the last time the SEC got to the Final Four was 2019, when Auburn got there. Auburn was the first program from the state of Alabama to ever get there, now Alabama can join us.”

While Alabama may indeed be Auburn's arch rival, don't expect Bruce Pearl to say a bad word about the program, or their head coach Nate Oats, who has turned Bama into the most consistent SEC program since he took over for Avery Johnson in 2019.

“Nate Oats is one of the best coaches in the country, they have got a great program. They play fast, and they play fun,” Pearl stated before realizing he was maybe giving Oats and the Tide a little too much credit. “There are other reasons why prospects should come to Auburn not Alabama. So I’m not giving them a recruiting infomercial here. But, no, no I will not be rooting for Alabama.”

Bruce Pearl-coached squads have been contending with Alabama long before he took his place on Auburn's bench. Before becoming Auburn's head coach ahead of the 2014-15 season, Pearl coached for six years in Knoxville, where he led the Tennessee Volunteers to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments, the longest postseason streak in program history. After failing to lead the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament during his first three seasons at Auburn, Pearl has since led his squad to five tournament appearances in the last six years, including the aforementioned Final Four appearance in 2019. Both stops considered, Pearl has now coached in the SEC for sixteen seasons.

Since Nate Oats took over as the head coach of the Crimson Tide in 2019, Auburn and Alabama have played each other ten times. The Tide have a 6-4 edge.