John Calipari: SEC Tournament doesn't matter so move it from March to November

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per CBS:

Kentucky coach John Calipari is known to detest conference tournaments. That makes his suggestion at the SEC spring meetings this week all the more amusing. Calipari proposed the SEC should hold a preseason tournament in November and eliminate the postseason tournament, meaning the regular-season champion would get the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Calipari's idea didn't gain traction among his fellow coaches. But it's an example of both Calipari's hatred of conference tournaments and outside-the-box thinking the SEC may start doing more of to improve basketball. The SEC put only three teams in the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four years.

"You know my stuff is like so ridiculous you say, what?" Calipari said. "I said let's not have a postseason tournament. Let's have a preseason tournament where you're guaranteed three games. So if you lose, you play, you play, and you go somewhere and all the fans come in and you celebrate our league and they're great games to start the year."

Calipari suggested the preseason tournament could be held over one week at two sites in the same city, such as Atlanta. "We're doing it every year, our fans go, 'Let's all go to Atlanta,'" he said.

Calipari's main point: The SEC Tournament doesn't matter anyway. He was highly critical last year when the NCAA selection committee gave Texas A&M a No. 3 seed and Kentucky a No. 4 on the same day the Wildcats beat the Aggies for the SEC championship.

"You guys know I'm not a big proponent of the league tournament," Calipari said. "I hope you know why now. If you lose in the first round of our league tournament, you're out, you're done. That's not the case in most of these other leagues. And if you win our conference tournament, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't move the needle. ... Tournaments really don't matter. Let's just say that and let's go play, especially in our league."

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...snt-matter-so-move-it-from-march-to-november/

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per CBS:

Kentucky coach John Calipari is known to detest conference tournaments. That makes his suggestion at the SEC spring meetings this week all the more amusing. Calipari proposed the SEC should hold a preseason tournament in November and eliminate the postseason tournament, meaning the regular-season champion would get the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Calipari's idea didn't gain traction among his fellow coaches. But it's an example of both Calipari's hatred of conference tournaments and outside-the-box thinking the SEC may start doing more of to improve basketball. The SEC put only three teams in the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four years.

"You know my stuff is like so ridiculous you say, what?" Calipari said. "I said let's not have a postseason tournament. Let's have a preseason tournament where you're guaranteed three games. So if you lose, you play, you play, and you go somewhere and all the fans come in and you celebrate our league and they're great games to start the year."

Calipari suggested the preseason tournament could be held over one week at two sites in the same city, such as Atlanta. "We're doing it every year, our fans go, 'Let's all go to Atlanta,'" he said.

Calipari's main point: The SEC Tournament doesn't matter anyway. He was highly critical last year when the NCAA selection committee gave Texas A&M a No. 3 seed and Kentucky a No. 4 on the same day the Wildcats beat the Aggies for the SEC championship.

"You guys know I'm not a big proponent of the league tournament," Calipari said. "I hope you know why now. If you lose in the first round of our league tournament, you're out, you're done. That's not the case in most of these other leagues. And if you win our conference tournament, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't move the needle. ... Tournaments really don't matter. Let's just say that and let's go play, especially in our league."

http://www.cbssports.com/college-ba...snt-matter-so-move-it-from-march-to-november/

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Maybe it would mean a little more if the SECOND didn't suck rocks in basketball.
 

As a coach who's paid millions of dollars, show some appreciation for the fans whose interest in the sport is why you get paid so much. Fans love watching these tournaments and attending them, so the tournaments are not going anywhere. I guess he had to match Nick Saban gripe for gripe or something.

Conference tournaments have a number of positive features, and doing away with them or seeking to minimize them would be very shortsighted.
 




That got all the headlines, but the real news out of the SEC meetings is the coaches want the SEC Tournament moved to Saturday. No one is taking Calipari seriously on that statement.

Obviously they feel playing the championship game on Sunday (like the B1G does) limits what the Selection Committee can do with the brackets so close to the selection announcement.
 

SelectionSunday said:
That got all the headlines, but the real news out of the SEC meetings is the coaches want the SEC Tournament moved to Saturday. No one is taking Calipari seriously on that statement.

Obviously they feel playing the championship game on Sunday (like the B1G does) limits what the Selection Committee can do with the brackets so close to the selection announcement.
Click to expand...
Personally I don't think it matters, Cal should heed his own advice and when more conference games if he wants a better seed in the dance. A&M beat them during the year and had an overall body of work.
 

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