Shalom, Tigers: Bruce Pearl Takes Auburn Basketball Team To Israel

It's awesome to see how much pride Auburn Basketball Head Coach Bruce Pearl takes in being Jewish. Given that there is a ton of history with that religion and the country of Israel, Coach Pearl decided to take the Tigers on a summer tour to the Holy Land this week. Auburn actually has a Jewish player as well in Lior Berman, a 6-4 senior from Birmingham, AL, who has an Israeli grandfather. 

Auburn is playing in three exhibition games in Israel this week, the first already in the books - a 117-56 rout against the Israeli U-20 National Team. But, of course, this trip is about a lot more than basketball.

The SEC Network is actually broadcasting each of the three Auburn games in Israel, with Roxy Bernstein and Jay Bilas on the call. That gave Bilas the unique opportunity to do his popular segment, "94 feet," with a unique twist… 

Bruce Pearl is just the fifth Jewish head coach to lead his team to a Final Four, and that was something I asked him about when we interviewed him on Bench Mob during the season. His answer was awesome.