This week, John Calipari, the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, stated that he would prefer the SEC tournament be played in the preseason. "Let's not have a postseason tournament," Calipari said. "Let's have a preseason tournament where you're guaranteed three games. We go somewhere and all the fans come in and we celebrate our league. We'll have great games to start the year, and we'll do it prior to the year." Additionally, he wants the regular season conference winner to receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which is a more rational idea. There are numerous reasons as to why Calipari is borderline insane for saying these comments.
Having the SEC tournament be played prior to the season, most likely in November, is a terrible idea. The SEC is a football focused conference. In November, all SEC fans are focused on football, and are carless about how their favorite basketball program is doing. Regardless of where these games are played, these games will not attract many viewers and fans. If it were to be played on a weekday, it may attract more fans, but not nearly as much as it would in the spring. Further, there are already preseason tournament that already exist, including the 2K Sports Classic and the Maui Invitational, which is where the focus is for college basketball fans. Typically, these preseason tournaments receive television exposure, which even then, is still not a guarantee as basketball is not a sport talked about much in the fall. There is really no way for the SEC to receive national television exposure playing in November.
Many believe Calipari is saying these comments in response to the poor seed Kentucky received in the tournament. Despite being SEC tournament champions, Kentucky was handed a 4 seed, while the runner-up of the tournament, Texas A&M, was seeded higher as a 3. Because the SEC championship is played the day of Selection Sunday, the committee did not have enough time to reseed Kentucky. The committee claims they do adjust the seeds according to the conference tournaments, but this is clear evidence that they genuinely do not do as they claim. So, many believe Calipari is just saying this simply to get a point across, and that point is that playing the championship on Selection Sunday is unfair as they know, as well as most fans know, the committee does not account for that championship game come seeding time as they do not have enough time to reseed the schools who will be affected by the change.
I, personally, am not in favor of having the regular season conference winner receive the automatic bid. In some cases, random teams with a lower seed may miraculously win their conference tournament, which some people do not like (Holy Cross did this in the Patriot League last season). I love the anitcipation and hype Championship week brings. Having the regular season winner receive the automatic bid would lessen the conference tournament's importance completely and may eliminate the conference tournament wholly. Championship Week is awesome for college basketball and it's fans, and is something that should be kept forever.
Having the SEC tournament be played prior to the season, most likely in November, is a terrible idea. The SEC is a football focused conference. In November, all SEC fans are focused on football, and are carless about how their favorite basketball program is doing. Regardless of where these games are played, these games will not attract many viewers and fans. If it were to be played on a weekday, it may attract more fans, but not nearly as much as it would in the spring. Further, there are already preseason tournament that already exist, including the 2K Sports Classic and the Maui Invitational, which is where the focus is for college basketball fans. Typically, these preseason tournaments receive television exposure, which even then, is still not a guarantee as basketball is not a sport talked about much in the fall. There is really no way for the SEC to receive national television exposure playing in November.
Many believe Calipari is saying these comments in response to the poor seed Kentucky received in the tournament. Despite being SEC tournament champions, Kentucky was handed a 4 seed, while the runner-up of the tournament, Texas A&M, was seeded higher as a 3. Because the SEC championship is played the day of Selection Sunday, the committee did not have enough time to reseed Kentucky. The committee claims they do adjust the seeds according to the conference tournaments, but this is clear evidence that they genuinely do not do as they claim. So, many believe Calipari is just saying this simply to get a point across, and that point is that playing the championship on Selection Sunday is unfair as they know, as well as most fans know, the committee does not account for that championship game come seeding time as they do not have enough time to reseed the schools who will be affected by the change.
I, personally, am not in favor of having the regular season conference winner receive the automatic bid. In some cases, random teams with a lower seed may miraculously win their conference tournament, which some people do not like (Holy Cross did this in the Patriot League last season). I love the anitcipation and hype Championship week brings. Having the regular season winner receive the automatic bid would lessen the conference tournament's importance completely and may eliminate the conference tournament wholly. Championship Week is awesome for college basketball and it's fans, and is something that should be kept forever.