John Calipari can reach SEC coaching milestone vs. Tennessee

Tomorrow’s game vs. Tennessee is big for many reasons. Most importantly, it would be a big boost to Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament resume. The victory over the Vols in Knoxville is the Cats’ most impressive victory of the season and completing the sweep would go a long way toward an at-large bid. It would also chip away at Tennessee’s lead in the series under Rick Barnes. As of now, Barnes has a 10-8 edge on Calipari’s Cats and an 11-10 advantage vs. Kentucky in his career. Win tomorrow and that latter mark is evened up.

A win tomorrow would also move John Calipari up the SEC all-time regular season wins list. Right now, he has 181, which is sixth all-time. If Kentucky beats Tennessee, Calipari would move into a tie with legendary Volunteers coach Ray Mears (182) for fifth place. Adolph Rupp is first on that list with 397 SEC regular-season wins, followed by Dale Brown (238), Billy Donovan (200), and C.M. Newton (195). How appropriate would it be to tie Mears with a win over the Vols?

John Calipari and Rick Barnes are the winningest coaches in the SEC right now. Calipari has 785 wins to Barnes’ 774. Among active Division I head coaches, Calipari is tied for fourth and Barnes for sixth. Wildly enough, Calipari only has a one-game lead on Bill Self:

1. Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) – 1,014
2. Bob Huggins (West Virginia) – 860
3. Cliff Ellis (Coastal Carolina) – 827
4. John Calipari (Kentucky) – 785
5. Bill Self (Kansas) – 784
6. Rick Barnes (Tennessee) – 774
7. Dana Altman (Oregon) – 725
8. Rick Pitino (Iona) – 702
9. Jim Larrañaga (Miami Fla.) – 690
10. Tom Izzo (Michigan State) – 682
11. Mark Few (Gonzaga) – 680
12. Kelvin Sampson (Houston) – 648
13. Leonard Hamilton (Florida State) – 604
14. Fran Dunphy (LaSalle) – 593
15. Steve Alford (Nevada) – 577

A win tomorrow would also give Kentucky its first two-game regular season sweep of Tennessee since the 2011-12 season. For that reason alone, I’ll be waking up with Beat Tennessee energy coursing through my veins.