John Calipari’s bizarre plan is not the way to fix SEC tournament
John Calipari fervently believes the SEC tournament is not benefiting the league, so the Kentucky coach has proposed a harebrained idea to fix it.
He wants to move it up five months.
Calipari made his pitch to hold the SEC tournament in November instead of March during the conference’s spring meetings Wednesday in Destin, Fla.
Under the Calipari plan, the SEC tournament would feature a consolation bracket, guaranteeing every team a minimum of three games. The SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament would not be at stake during the event and instead would be awarded to the league’s regular season champion.
“We go somewhere and all the fans come in and we celebrate our league, and they’re great games to start the year,” Calipari told reporters in Destin.
“You do it for one week. You maybe have two sites in the same city. Maybe it’s in Atlanta. We do it every year. Let’s all of our fans go to Atlanta. And everything is geared to SEC, and then you start the regular season.”
Calipari elaborated on his idea on Twitter after speaking with reporters.
Why don’t we play the games in the football stadium in Atlanta and set up two courts with stands split down the middle?
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 1, 2016
You could play the games where fans can go from side to side and watch multiple games.
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 1, 2016
You could even have the winner’s bracket on one court and the loser’s bracket on the other court.
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 1, 2016
Calipari’s proposal comes at a time when the SEC is lagging behind its power-conference brethren in basketball clout. Kentucky and Florida have combined for three national titles and seven Final Fours in the past decade, but the league as a whole has produced only three NCAA tournament teams in three of the past four seasons and has not finished higher than sixth in conference RPI during that span.
Chief among Calipari’s complaints about the SEC tournament’s current format is that losses in the opening round or the quarterfinals are costing the league’s bubble teams NCAA bids. He also doesn’t believe that the SEC tournament champion is receiving a boost in seeding from the selection committee because the title game takes place on Selection Sunday just hours before the bracket is revealed.
When his team beat Texas A&M in the SEC title game in March but received a lesser seed than the Aggies, Calipari complained vociferously about the tournament concluding on Sunday instead of earlier in the week. Kentucky lost to fifth-seeded Indiana in the second round of the NCAA tournament, while Texas A&M made the Sweet 16.
Credit Calipari for always being willing to propose an outside-the-box idea, but this scheme is not one of his best.
How would it benefit the pigskin-crazed SEC to hold its conference tournament in November at the height of football season? How many fans would make the trip to Atlanta for the event when an NCAA tournament bid isn’t at stake?
In reality, the solution to the SEC’s basketball problem is far simpler than Calipari’s wild scheme would make it seem. If the SEC wants to be more relevant in March, the rest of the league besides Kentucky just needs to get better.
Billy Donovan’s departure from Florida and Mike Anderson’s inability to turn things around at Arkansas are both big blows to the SEC, but some of the league’s other programs have made promising coaching hires. Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Alabama’s Avery Johnson and Mississippi State’s Ben Howland are luring top recruits to their respective schools and Vanderbilt’s Bryce Drew may do the same if given sufficient time.
Shrewd coaching hires, smarter scheduling and more robust budgets will go a long way toward bridging the gap between the SEC and the rest of college basketball’s top conferences.
The SEC tournament’s format isn’t broken. The league just needs to improve.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
