Bruce Pearl’s Final Four seat in the front row of State Farm Stadium comes with an obstacle course.

It’s a long walk down from the concourse and the path required takes him through the heart of enemy territory. The Auburn coach laughs when asked if he got heckled making his way down to the prime seat through the Alabama allotment of seats.

“No, no,” he said at halftime of the Purdue-NC State game before Alabama faces UConn. “I’m taking a lot of pictures and getting plenty of Roll Tides. It’s been great.”

Five years ago, he was on the other side of that rail coaching Auburn to the state’s first Final Four appearance. Alabama joined the club Saturday, but if there were conflicted feelings, Pearl didn’t show them.

“Alabama and Auburn have won more SEC championships than anybody else in the league (lately),” Pearl said. “It’s no longer just a football state.”

There’s also the professional respect for his coaching colleague.

“I’m happy for Nate Oats,” Pearl said. “I know having gotten there myself, it’s the pinnacle of what we do in coaching. So many great coaches have never gotten to the Final Four so I’m happy for Nate.”

Pearl a week ago was part of the television coverage of the NCAA tournament after Auburn was eliminated in first-round loss to Yale. That left him in the awkward spot of talking about the Crimson Tide.

“You are not going to hear coach Bruce Pearl say, ‘Roll Tide,’ OK?” Pearl said March 29 on the coverage of Alabama’s Sweet 16 win over North Carolina on the TBS broadcast. “It takes two Ls to spell Roll Tide. A good day is when we win, and they lose.”

Pearl chuckled when asked about that Saturday.

“You know if I would have said I was rooting for Alabama because they’re in the SEC, that would be disingenuous,” Pearl said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not happy for Nate and their program.”

Pearl also spotlighted the star of Alabama’s run to Arizona.

“I love Mark Sears as a player,” he said of the Tide’s leading scorer. “I’m just a huge, huge fan and should have tried to get him out of high school and I didn’t. He’s as much of a reason why Alabama’s still playing as anybody.”

Alabama and UConn tip off at approximately 7:49 p.m. CT Saturday on TBS.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.