Bruce Pearl thinks this Kentucky team is as good as the Anthony Davis team

Throughout his coaching career, Bruce Pearl has seen some pretty good Kentucky basketball teams.

After all, between his time with the Tennessee Volunteers and now the Auburn Tigers, Pearl has faced Kentucky 25 times, going 9-16 in those contests but 5-5 over the last 10 meetings.

One team Pearl did not get to face was the 2011-12 Wildcats, who won it all while finishing 38-2, tied for the most regular-season wins a college hoops program has ever had.

That team was led by Anthony Davis, who had arguably the greatest single season a college hoops player has ever had. He’s since followed it up with a superstar NBA career that will someday land him in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Five other players off that team would be 2012 NBA Draft picks as well.

Suffice it to say, that was a special team, and Pearl thinks these 2021-22 Wildcats can be just as good.

Following Auburn’s win over Georgia on Wednesday, Pearl spoke with ESPN and made an eye-opening comparison between this Kentucky team and the one that lost just two games with Davis dominating the sport.

“I think this team is probably as good as maybe the Anthony Davis team that Cal had,” Pearl stated. “They got stuff inside. They got wing shooters. They got two dynamic point guards. They’re playing fast, and they’re really good in transition.

“It’ll be a dynamic matchup. I think right now, Auburn and Kentucky are the two best teams in the league.”

While it’s nice to hear that kind of praise, it’s hard to see this Kentucky team being as good as AD’s team when the Big Dance rolls around. Pearl is clearly just trying to hype up what’s going to be one of the biggest Kentucky - Auburn battles ever seen, as these two clearly have the potential to face each other in this year’s Final Four.