Bruce Pearl making progress on non-conference schedule

AUBURN -- Bruce Pearl has lined up more than half of his first non-conference schedule on the Plains.

The first year Auburn coach has lined up "six or seven" tentative game dates with "four or five more" to go, he said Monday.

Pearl said so far the schedule is balanced between home, neutral and road games.

The complete schedule of opponents and dates won't be announced until the schedule is complete and all details are finalized.

Assembling a competitive non-conference schedule was one of the biggest immediate challenges Pearl faced after being hired almost two months ago.

Pearl wants to play "the best schedule possible" and improve Auburn's RPI, but inherited a schedule from Tony Barbee with just one non-conference game - against Clemson - scheduled when he took over on March 18.

Auburn's non-conference strength of schedule was 262 of 349 Division I programs this year, second-worst in the SEC only to Mississippi State, who ranked last in the country. The Tigers went 8-4 in non-conference play last season, including 8-1 at home.

The SEC, which had just three teams make the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, though two (Florida and Kentucky) made the Final Four, has made a push to improve the conference's RPI through better non-conference schedules.

Two weeks ago, SEC commissioner Mike Slive said some of the poorer non-conference schedules last season "were already made, it's going forward that counts" and the conference office had been diligent about reviewing games for next season.

"I can tell you right now that we've had some requests from schools to schedule people and we've said absolutely not," Slive said on April 21.