Jay Williams blasts John Calipari over SEC Tournament take: ‘I think that’s absurd’
In an interview in Fayetteville on Monday, John Calipari stated that he did not care about the SEC Tournament, a statement that caused controversy among college basketball fans. Many people have voiced their opinions on the subject, including fans, professionals, analysts, and ESPN College GameDay’s Jay Williams.
The Duke great responded to the Arkansas coach’s remarks during the half of the Wofford vs. Furman SoCon Championship game, explaining why Calipari’s viewpoint is “absurd.”
We are discussing what is perhaps the greatest single-season conference in history, despite John Calipari’s assertion that he could not care less about winning the SEC Tournament. That is ridiculous, in my opinion,” Williams said to the halftime panel. For example, I believe that everyone’s strategy is to win every game they play. Additionally, Seth, you raise the possibility that the SEC Tournament semifinals will be more thrilling to watch than the Final Four. Both of them might
You could actually argue that you would prefer that it be the Final Four. Here is a count for the teams to consider. The SEC leads all conferences in a single-season history in the AP poll with 21 victories against AP-ranked non-conference opponents thus far this season. Come on, that is the main goal of this competition.
During his tenure at Kentucky, Calipari guided the Wildcats to the Final Four twice, the Elite Eight twice, a Sweet Sixteen, and a second-round exit. He also won six SEC Tournaments, including four consecutive starting in 2015.
Under Calipari, Kentucky only won one national championship, losing to Vanderbilt in the championship game in 2012. In that regard, a team’s performance in the NCAA Tournament is not correlated with their performance in the SEC Tournament. Calipari’s remarks coincide with the fact that neither he nor his Arkansas Razorbacks have won the SEC Tournament since 2018 and 2000, respectively.
