Throughout the course of his long and successful career in college basketball, John Calipari has never minced his words about anything. He’s outspoken and will tell it as it is.
That happened again on Monday when he admitted that he didn’t care one bit about the SEC Tournament. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before people shared their thoughts on this controversial opinion.
Notably, that includes ESPN College GameDay’s Jay Williams. The Duke legend didn’t hold back on Calipari’s words, calling his take on the tournament flat-out ‘absurd.’
Jay Williams blasts John Calipari’s ‘absurd’ take
“I know that John Calipari says that he could care less about winning the SEC Tournament, but we are talking about, arguably, the greatest single season conference of all-time. So I think that’s absurd,” Williams said. “Like, I think everybody’s approach is to win every single game they play, right? And you’re also talking about — you can make a case, Seth, that the semifinals of the SEC Tournament could be more exciting to watch than the Final Four. They could (both) be in the Final Four.”
John Calipari
More than that, Williams believes this conference tournament could be great preparation for what the Arkansas Razorbacks might come across in March Madness:
“Actually, you can make the case — you would hope that that would be the Final Four. The teams — think about this, here’s count for you. The SEC has won 21 wins against AP ranked non-conference opponents so far this season, most by any conference a single-season history in the AP poll. Come on, like, that’s what this tournament is about,” Williams added.
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Ironically, Calipari is more than familiar with this instance, as he won six SEC Tournaments during his days with the Kentucky Wildcats, including four in a row starting in 2015.
