Bruce Pearl And Rick Barnes Make The Case For Tennessee, Auburn Fans To Come TogetherFor NCAA Tournament

LEXINGTON, KY -  Bruce Pearl is not the one to shy away from making a sales pitch to the Auburn fans about showing up for his basketball team. But, the Tigers faithful weren't the only ones that received a pitch, as Pearl made it clear that it was ‘Great to be a Tennessee Vol’ back in the day. 

Now that Lousiville has been sent packing, and the stands will not be filled with red on Saturday night inside Rupp Arena, ticket prices have taken a dramatic fall on multiple secondary ticket sites leading up to the second round games. 

So, why not try to entice fans to make the trek north to root on the Tigers, and that includes Tennessee fans. But first, Bruce Pearl wanted to make it clear to Auburn fans that nothing should be taken for granted in the NCAA Tournament, and that includes waiting until the Tigers could potentially play in Atlanta next week in the Sweet Sixteen. 

"Well, I don't want our fans to wait thinking that Atlanta is an automatic, because it's not, Bruce Pearl noted. "Anybody that follows college basketball understands that this match-up against a number 2 team in the Big East -- you know, St. John's won the league and they were a 2 seed and Creighton finished second in the league and played them in the championship game and they were a 9 seed.

"So obviously Creighton is an outstanding team and there are tickets available. Plus, Auburn baseball is up here in Lexington, so you can get a two for one. Come up and watch our baseball team and come up and watch our basketball team, and hopefully there's plenty of seats at Rupp Arena."

Auburn's Bruce Pearl speaks with the media before his team starts the NCAA 

Bruce Pearl, Rick Barnes Argue For SEC Love With Tennessee And Auburn Fans

Seeing that they aren’t in the same region, and wouldn’t play each other until the Final Four in San Antonio, maybe the fans of both SEC schools playing on Saturday night in Lexington could do each other a favor and make sure the crowd noise favored them both. 

I don't know if that's going to fly with either Tennessee or Auburn fans, or if they can put down their shield for a few hours, but that didn't stop Bruce Pearl from making his case for those clad in the other orange to root on the Tigers. 

"I appreciate that. I had thought about that a little bit," Pearl noted. "I think because Tennessee and Auburn are in different regions and because Tennessee and Auburn have played so competitively against one another -- because Coach Barnes and I have got a very close relationship and because I used to be the Tennessee coach and it was great to be a Tennessee Vol back in the -- I think Tennessee fans will cheer for us, and I hope they do.

"But they won't be able to rebound for us or put balls in the bucket from the stands. But I think SEC will be represented well tomorrow."

Bruce Pearl and Rick Barnes pitched both Tennessee and Auburn fans to have an sEC takeover in Lexington at the NCAA Tournament   (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images)

While Tennessee is playing in the late game, it will be Auburn facing Creighton in the early time slot, which means there will be plenty of Vols inside Rupp Arena on Saturday night. So, asked about whether Tennessee fans should take one for the SEC and make it a hostile environment for opposing teams, Rick Barnes pointed towards an event he coached in that involved Big East teams. 

It's clear that both coaches are hoping for an SEC takeover. 

"Well, you know, one of my great memories in coaching was actually in this building, back when Villanova, St. John's and Georgetown were in this building and -- I can't remember the other team," Barnes recalled. "But all I remember, the whole Rupp Arena came alive chanting "Big East, Big East". I would like to think that our league is pulling for each other.

"Again, we have worked hard as a league to get where we are this year, and it's always tough. But, yeah, I would like to think even as fans that we would all have each other's back this time of year and then we can go back to what we normally do."

But, it turns out that Tennessee's Jordan Gainey might’ve given the best answer of the day, in a subtle way. 

"We love all the support that everyone brings for Tennessee. And if you're wearing orange, you know, show your love and support and turn out for us here tomorrow in Lexington in Rupp Arena"

If there are two coaches that can bring different fan bases together, it's certainly Bruce Pearl and Rick Barnes. We'll have to see if it works.