Former Auburn basketball assistant Tony Jones coached with Bruce Pearl for years and knows what makes this season's Final Four team special.
Tony Jones knows Bruce Pearl better than most.
Jones, the former Detroit Southwestern standout who is now an assistant coach at Oakland, spent 12 years on Pearl's staff at Milwaukee, Tennessee and Auburn.
In 2010, he and Jones were at Tennessee when the Volunteers earned a No. 6 seed and won their first three games to advance to the Elite Eight. There, they met Michigan State.
Jones, after serving a one-year show cause for his role in the Tennessee violations, joined Pearl's staff at Auburn and was an assistant for just over a year. During that time, he helped recruit Bryce Brown, a member of the 2015 class, and Jared Harper, a member of the 2016 class.