UMBC beat Vermont in the America East final Saturday to clinch its first bid to the NCAA men’s basketball tourney since 2018 when the Golden Retrievers pulled off a stunning upset over 1-seed Virginia in the first round.
This year, they couldn’t wait until the big dance to take a shot at a power-conference team.
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After UMBC secured its auto-bid to the big dance, the X account for the program’s athletic department took a jab at Bruce Pearl, the former Auburn coach who had been not-so-subtly pushing for the Tigers to get an at-large bid over Miami (OH) if it came down to the two schools. Even though Miami (OH) was undefeated at the time.
UMBC had something to say in response to that blatant dismissal of mid-majors.
BAD BUBBLE: Miami (OH) will still make the tourney with a loss
“Just realized the best part of having an autobid is that we don’t need a relative going on tv to explain why we deserve to be in over a 30-win.”
Auburn, now coached by Pearl’s son Steven, is highly unlikely to make the tournament after losing in the SEC tournament second round to fall to 17-16. The Tigers caught that stray all because Bruce couldn’t keep his bias out of his analysis. Pearl did eventually backtrack on his comments, saying Miami should get in even with a single loss.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: UMBC roasted Bruce Pearl, Auburn after clinching NCAA tourney bid
