John Calipari wants SEC's top four teams in different regions in NCAA Tournament

John Calipari is already bracing for a tough draw in the NCAA Tournament. With Selection Sunday now nine days away, Calipari took a break from previewing tomorrow’s game vs. Florida to share the one scenario he doesn’t want to see when the bracket comes out: Auburn, Arkansas, or Tennessee in Kentucky’s region. Per the Selection Committee’s guidelines, if the top four teams from the same conference are seeded No. 1 through No. 4, they must be placed in different regions.

“I’m anxious to see, our top four teams, are they all in different regions? They should be. Why wouldn’t they be in a different region? All four of the top teams.”

Coincidentally, Joe Lunardi had three of the top four teams in the SEC in one region in this morning’s Bracketology: No. 1 seed Auburn, No. 2 seed Kentucky, and No. 5 seed Arkansas. Technically, since Arkansas is the No. 5 seed, this would be allowed under the rules, but given the timing of Calipari’s rant, it seems like today’s Bracketology made it to his desk.

“That’s what — and then everybody’s got a question, are these a bunch of guys, cigars in a room smoking, saying this is what we’re going to do, this and this, and we’re going to do this and this. That’s why I keep saying the transparency, where we pushed to give us the top 16 teams early. So if someone wins out, you can’t say, yeah, they moved down. You can’t do it. You’ve already given it. But there are other things in this. When your league is the best league, your top four teams should be in different regions; it’s a given. Do it. No question. Like I said, our top four teams? Wow. Are they good and are they playing well? And then there’s us. We’re hanging out like, where are we right now? Being injured, playing this, going on the road, having our chances.”

Shortly after Calipari’s press conference, Lunardi posted an updated seed list on Twitter with Kentucky as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region with No. 1 seed Arizona, not the East Region with Auburn. Hmm.

pic.twitter.com/ex0DbpmqQX

— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 4, 2022

Calipari believes 8 SEC teams are bid-worthy

Before his lengthy aside on the top four teams, Calipari did as he often does and beat the drum for SEC Basketball. Most projections have six SEC teams making the NCAA Tournament, with Florida still on the bubble. Calipari believes eight SEC teams should get a bid.

“You’re talking Mississippi and you’re telling me they’re the 12th best team in our league? Well, then how good is our league? They’ve got a seven-footer, they had a guard that scored 25 and they’ve got two players out that are injured. I come back to, it just disappoints me when I’m not hearing they should get eight teams in. They should have eight teams. There’s, well, what about. Okay. We’re the best league. Forget about all this, well, conference this. We’re the best league. That’s what should be happening.”

A win over Kentucky in Gainesville tomorrow would do wonders for Florida’s NCAA Tournament resume. The Gators are currently No. 51 in the NET with only two Quad 1 wins; a victory over the Cats tomorrow would be another. Calipari believes they already deserve to make the dance.

“Why should they have to beat us to get in? I think that’s a bunch of crap. I do.”

SEC Tournament is “for the seed”

By now, you know John Calipari is not a fan of conference tournaments. He’s lamented about them since he first arrived in Lexington. With the chance for a No. 1 seed still on the table, he’s encouraging his guys to view the games in Tampa as an opportunity to improve their resume more than anything else. If Kentucky makes the championship game on Sunday, he’s also fully anticipating the committee giving them the fastest turnaround to start their NCAA Tournament run on Thursday.

“And you know because we’re the one playing on Sunday, when will they have us playing? If we played on Sunday, you know we’re playing on Thursday and they’d put us in the Tuesday game if we were [the first] four in. They would do that, last four. All I will tell you is, everything we do, let’s play well for us. If that means win, we move on. If that means lose, we’re good. Let’s go. The tournament starts next weekend. I’ve never put a big emphasis on conference tournaments. I never have. We’re playing that for the seed. That’s why we play it.

Calipari said if his team takes a no-pressure, carefree approach to the games in Tampa, they may end up winning it anyway as some of his previous great squads have done (2010, 2011, 2015, 2017).

“We’ve won a bunch of them in the teens because we’re not worried about winning them. We’re doing it for the seed. But trying to get kids in that frame of mind. I talked to this team yesterday about that. This game could be the first of that. It’s more about seeding than anything else this time of year. Whatever happens in the game it shouldn’t have much effect.”