Isn't that more about enumerating the microstates? The Pauli exclusion principle just ends up forbidding some of the microstates (forbidding a significant fraction of them if you're in the low-temperature regime).
It is about enumerating the microstates, but in a way that takes into account how the particles interact with each other (aka making assumptions about the dynamics).
If we didn't take into account any interactions, we'd be unable to do anything with statistical mechanics beyond rederiving the ideal gas law.
If we didn't take into account any interactions, we'd be unable to do anything with statistical mechanics beyond rederiving the ideal gas law.