SEC Basketball’s Culture Shift Would Never Happen Without Calipari

Members like Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Auburn had made the NCAA Tournament field less than 15 times throughout each program’s respective history.

Even in Calipari’s first season, only four SEC teams made the tournament field (Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida and Vanderbilt).

“When I first got in the league, there were three teams getting in the tournament,” Calipari said Wednesday night after Arkansas’ loss to Auburn. “In those first four or five years, I was begging for seven, eight teams and I was full of crap.”

*No NCAA Tournament held in 2020 due to COVID-19

Kentucky won its first title since 1998 in Calipari’s third year at the helm and remained the gold standard for coaches in the SEC until the calendar flipped to 2020.

While he remains as the league’s active winningest coach (425 wins between Kentucky and Arkansas), Auburn’s Bruce Pearl is catching up rather quickly with 383 wins.

Calipari will be one of the first to commend the conference’s efforts to not only be a football behemoth but a basketball powerhouse such as the ACC and Big East were previously.

With so many legendary coaches out of the profession, a new wave of SEC schools have embarked on a journey to hardwood enshrinement.

Along with Pearl at historical doormat Auburn, Nate Oats (Alabama), Buzz Williams (Texas A&M), Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Chris Beard (Ole Miss), Chris Jans (Mississippi State) and even Todd Golden (Florida) have inspired confidence as the strongest conference in college basketball history.

Should Arkansas and Oklahoma hold up its end of the deal, the SEC will have a record 13 teams in the NCAA Tournament field, according to Joe Lunardi’s ESPN bracketology.

Leagues like the Big East and ACC are projected to have four bids each with 23 days until the field is announced March 16.

“But I was saying, ‘[SEC] deserves this.’ We don’t– Now you’re talking about this league deserving 12 [bids], they (say), ‘Well you can’t do that.’ Well, don’t build all these big leagues then, for the money. Don’t do that because now you’ve got a bunch of us in one league.”

Even Georgia, who is outside of Lunardi’s projected field as one of the first four teams out, could be bid No. 14.

That’s a number that will likely never be met again should the Bulldogs take care of business and upset either No. 1 Auburn or No. 2 Florida over the next week.

LSU has been a tough out for most teams in conference play and have been on a mini-heater over the past four games.

After nearly beating Ole Miss and Arkansas, the Tigers have won its previous two games against Oklahoma and South Carolina in convincing style.

“I can remember back the Big East or the ACC, but they didn’t have as many teams. And then the bottom couple teams, a Seton Hall maybe a Wake (Forest) back in the day. This [league] – LSU, do you guys play them? Thank God. Because they’re playing well now and against us. They played well and they had Mississippi beat down 11 with three minutes to go. That’s LSU.”

Lowly South Carolina, the SEC’s lone winless squad, has at least been competitive and a dangerous out with six losses by four points or less. The Gamecocks won 26 games last season including a 13-5 mark in conference play but things are fluid in the current landscape of college athletics as things can change drastically year-to-year.

“Have you played South Carolina,” Calipari asked rhetorically. “We got to play them at South Carolina along with Mississippi State who just beat A&M along with Texas, along with Missouri, along with Vanderbilt. Who’s playing great at Vandy? That’s easy. We’ll get in (sarcastically laughs).”