Jason Whitlock: The NCAA tournament has a Bruce Pearl problem



Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl appears to be stealing the show as an analyst for the NCAA men’s tournament — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is already over it.

“There’s no reason for Bruce Pearl to be the most interesting man in the NCAA Tournament,” Whitlock says on “Fearless.”

“For him to be overshadowing the players and the coaches in this tournament — and he is — that’s a problem. You have legitimate stars in this NCAA Tournament, and everyone’s talking about Bruce Pearl,” he continues.

“The former Auburn coach, the man that is still taking money, as we learned yesterday, from Auburn, while promoting Auburn, while taking a dump on Miami, while taking a dump on SMU. The former coach at Auburn and Tennessee should not be the most interesting man in any NCAA Tournament. He never won one,” he adds.


“I want to walk you through why this is a problem,” Whitlock says, pointing out that there are incredible stories all over the NCAA Tournament that aren’t getting the attention they deserve — because it’s all on Pearl.

“There’s more conversation about Bruce Pearl today than there is about Cameron Boozer at Duke. Cameron Boozer is a 6’9" post player — power forward — who’s led Duke to the number one overall seed. He’s a fascinating story,” he explains.

“He has a twin brother on the Duke team that’s going to be starting. I believe his name is Cayden Boozer … the Boozer brothers and Duke. Fascinating story. Overshadowed by Bruce Pearl,” he says.

“He’s sucking up all the oxygen in the room. He’s launching this television career, which I hope ends after this year. He’s done enough damage,” he adds.

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‘The real controllers’: Who's REALLY behind race-baiting in the WNBA



The Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark rivalry began years ago on the court of the national title game between Louisiana State University and University of Iowa. When Reese and LSU secured the win, Reese didn’t walk away without famously taunting Clark first.

As the pair have taken their careers into the big leagues, Anthony Walker believes the media is using the controversy, with a racism angle, to promote the WNBA.

“I see the media as a driver,” Walker tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on “Fearless.” “As with the WNBA, it’s never been a profitable business. It’s always needed that infusion of finance.”


“But when we look at what’s happened the last couple of years with women’s college basketball,” he continues, “from my vantage point, women’s college basketball has always been pretty popular.”

However, the WNBA is not as popular as college basketball.

“So they need some kind of angle to push to make things kind of happen. So they’re using all this drama, using all this controversy, using all these angles. It’s why a foul call goes to somebody calling out another person’s wife, and this big racial debacle of microaggression,” Walker explains.

“No press is bad press, so as long as we can get some eyes looking into this, maybe we can turn those views into revenue,” he adds.

But Whitlock doesn't believe the WNBA is turning sports stories into racial ones on their own.

“There was a documentary about Tiger Woods,” Whitlock begins. “Nike is who wanted to push Tiger Woods as a racial story, as a black-white story, and Tiger Woods and his daddy were like, ‘No, I don’t want to do that.’”

“For the most part, Nike, the real controllers, they dictate how these leagues are covered and what they lean into, and they’ve decided the racial angle and racial animus is a way of uplifting the WNBA,” he adds.

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The PERFECT analogy to explain why Caitlin Clark’s WNBA salary makes sense



In the wake of Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark signing with the Indiana Fever, fans are outraged at the superstar’s projected WNBA salary, which will earn her just $76,535 for her rookie season.

When you consider that Clark was the number-one draft pick, that amount does seem remarkably low, especially when you consider that the number-one draft pick for the NBA in 2023 was Victor Wembanyama, whose starting salary with the San Antonio Spurs was just over $12 million.

Is this fair?

According to Dave Rubin and guest Dennis Prager, yes.

While Dave gives credit where credit is due, calling Clark a “spectacular women’s basketball player,” he doesn’t think “[taking] some money from LeBron James and [giving] it to Caitlin Clark” is the answer.

Prager agrees, offering an analogy that puts things into perspective.

“How much does a supermodel make? The truth is some of them make millions of dollars a year,” he tells Dave.

And he’s correct. In 2023, several supermodels made tens of millions of dollars, and every single one of them was – you guessed it – a woman.

“Are there any male supermodels who make millions of dollars a year?” Prager asks. “I doubt it.”

Correct again. The highest-paid male model of 2023 was Sean O’Pry, who earned roughly $1.5 million.

Why the disparity?

“Because generally speaking, people would rather see women models than male models,” says Prager. “So is it fair that male models make so much less than female models? Yes, of course it’s fair!”

And just as the male modeling industry pales in comparison to the female modeling industry, so “the WNBA does not bring in the revenue of the NBA.”

“They take the gender confusion and then they combine it into something as it relates to capitalism that really just all leads to socialism,” says Dave.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip below.


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UConn Coach Dan Hurley identifies good recruits by first looking at their parents: 'They tell on themselves'



Dan Hurley, the head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of Connecticut — which has just won back-to-back national championships — claimed that when he heads out on the recruiting trail, he doesn't just look at the play on the court. For a quality player who will fit in with his program, Hurley first looks at a player's parents.

"We spend a lot of time really focusing on the parents," Hurley told CBS, according to FootballScoop. "Are they going to be fans of their son, or are they going to be parents?"

Some parents these days keep their son's skin thin by catering to his whims and ego, "constantly complaining about the coaches after a bad game" without ever pushing him "to do more" and "play harder," Hurley said.

Hurley looks for parents who will hold their child accountable and "have an expectation that when something goes wrong that it's not the coach's fault." "Their son's got to work harder," Hurley said. "He's got to do more; he's got to earn his role."

Hurley seemed to indicate that coddling parents are easy to spot. "They tell on themselves," he explained. "They drop hints."

Hurley suggested that coaches should avoid players — even those with raw talent — if they have parents more worried about protecting their children than developing them. "You've got the wrong type of people around the inner circle of your players, they'll sink your program," Hurley cautioned.

Hurley, 51, knows firsthand the importance of a strong family that holds one another accountable. Dan Hurley is the younger son of Bob Hurley, the legendary coach of the now-closed St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. Bob Hurley led the Friars to 28 state titles in 39 years, good enough for a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Bob Hurley's other son, Bobby Hurley, won back-to-back national championships with Duke in the early 1990s. He now coaches the Sun Devils of Arizona State. In nine years at ASU, Bobby Hurley has made three NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2023.

"My dad started the whole thing," Bobby Hurley said last year. "If anyone has a problem with our competitive drive, you should probably start right there. He hated to lose. He rarely lost, and when he did, everyone was hiding in the house because that’s just how things were."

The Hurley family are also practicing Catholics, and Dan Hurley recently gave a speech about the importance of fatherhood at a fundraiser for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Hartford. "We can’t thank Coach Hurley enough for supporting our mission," said CEO Marek Kukulka. "He and his family are shining examples of dedication and commitment."

That strong foundation of faith and family has shaped Dan Hurley into the coach he is today. "I want to coach with integrity," he said, "... [and] be a coach’s coach like my dad, not a phony or a fraud or a liar or a cheater."

"I want to be the college version of my dad."

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Will viewership tank once Caitlin Clark heads to the WNBA?



Women’s basketball has now broken records, and some believe it has a lot more to do with Caitlin Clark than anything else.

The television broadcast of the South Carolina-Iowa game averaged 18.9 million viewers and peaked at 24.1 million, which is the most views ever recorded for a men or women’s college basketball game on an ESPN platform.

“She’s brought a bunch of eyes to women’s college basketball,” Jeffy tells Pat Gray, who adds, “It’s hard for me to believe. The most-watched basketball game of any kind?”

While it’s an impressive feat, neither Gray or Jeffy believe the viewership will continue once Clark moves on to the WNBA.

“In the future, without Caitlin, you know there will be a few more eyes brought to women’s basketball,” Jeffy says.

Gray wonders if “they will stay there,” and Jeffy predicts, “No way.”

Even the vice president has gotten in on the madness by recently feigning interest in women’s basketball, claiming that women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022.

“A bit of a history lesson, do you know that the women’s teams were not allowed to have brackets until 2022? Think about that,” Kamala Harris said, despite being wrong.

“People used to say, ‘Ah, women’s sports, who’s interested?’” She added.

“We’ll check back in with you next year after Caitlin’s gone,” Gray laughs.


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