Calipari’s complaints about Selection Committee fall on deaf ears
With Selection Sunday upon us, here’s a safe prediction: John Calipari will complain about Kentucky’s placement in the NCAA Tournament bracket. He will say the Selection Committee under-seeded UK. Or the Selection Committee stacked the deck to thwart UK’s advancement. Or something.
Is it plausible to think the Selection Committee would try to hinder Kentucky’s chances of advancement? SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey didn’t think so.
“I’ve been in this long enough,” he said Wednesday. “I happen to know many of them, and hold them individually and collectively in high regard. ... The committee comes at these issues with a lot of integrity and preparation.”
Without directly saying so, Calipari hints broadly that the committee wants to prevent him from getting to college basketball’s grand stage.
To which SEC consultant Mike Tranghese said, “I think there’s people out there who do not like John. I don’t think that’s far-fetched.
“But I don’t think it’s in the committee room.”
Tranghese has been in that room. As Big East commissioner, he served on the Selection Committee from 1997 to 2001.
“There’s such a high degree of integrity,” he said of the deliberations on seeding and bracketing. “I mean, I was in the room with teams and people that were really disliked. Coaches they disliked.”
Stacking the deck against these teams and people?
“Never came up,” Tranghese said. “Never brought up. Wouldn’t allow it to happen.”
Why is there animosity toward Calipari? “Could be his personality,” Tranghese said. “John’s outspoken. They like everybody to fall in line. I mean, they didn’t like me as chair. I said some things. ‘Whoa. You can’t say that.’ Well, fire me.”
Calipari likes to use 2014 to make his case. UK was an eight-seed that year. If the seeds held, the Cats would have to play undefeated Wichita State in the second round.
Tranghese said he believed Kentucky should have been better seeded that year. Maybe so, but UK had a 1-6 record against ranked teams. UK lost four of its last seven regular-season games, including a 72-67 loss at 13th-place South Carolina.
And UK’s 24-10 record and No. 29 ranking aren’t much different from the other eight-seeded teams that year: Colorado (23-11 and No. 32), Gonzaga (28-6 and No. 30) and Memphis (23-9 and No. 31).
Plus Wichita State was not the overall No. 1 seed that year. That distinction went to Florida. Wichita State ranked third among the No. 1 seeds.
Tranghese said that Calipari might have a case to make regarding the balancing of regions. Since 2002, the committee has put a higher priority on keeping teams geographically close to home than making the regions equally competitive, he said.
This year’s chair, Stanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir, said making the regions equally strong remained a “key principle.”
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi said he believed an attempt is made to balance the brackets.
“I think they do a way better job of balancing the top of the region than people give them credit for . . . ,” Lunardi said. “Invariably, someone will look at big-name teams all in one region and go, oh, that region is loaded. But then if I go back or anybody goes back and looks at the true seed numbers of how they split them up, often times those regions are weaker or not as stacked as the naked eye would suggest.”
With LSU’s suspended Coach Will Wade facing legal and NCAA problems, the idea of thwarting the Tigers in the seeding and bracketing seems plausible. Would the NCAA want LSU playing in the Final Four? Lunardi did not think that the Selection Committee would try to punish LSU.
“There are other committees at the NCAA that will get their chance at that if it comes to pass,” Lunardi said.
Outlook for UK
Former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese on how he projects Kentucky’s chances of winning the NCAA Tournament: “Got to get lucky like a lot of teams.”
Tranghese also said UK must avoid a certain type of team. What type? “An experienced team with great guard play,” he said. After a pause, he added, “Not a lot of those type of teams out there.”
SEC attendance
According to the numbers supplied by the SEC, attendance at home games for member schools fell slightly this season. The average home attendance was 11,298. The average in the 2017-18 season was 11,641.
Attendance increased at six SEC schools: Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Kentucky’s average attendance decreased from 21,875 last season to 21,695.
‘That’s us’
Auburn set a single-season SEC record for three-point baskets in its 73-64 SEC Tournament quarterfinal victory over South Carolina on Friday. The Tigers made 13 three-pointers to raise their season total to 368. That broke the record of 361 set by Arkansas in 1994-95.
“It means a lot,” said shooting guard Bryce Brown, who made a team-high five. Then he added, “We don’t come out here and just jack up shots. The record total of three-point baskets reflect the work put in to be better shooters, he said.
Maybe more startling, 34 of Auburn’s 47 shots against South Carolina were from beyond the three-point line. That translated to 72.3 percent of the shots.
Even for Auburn, which came into the game having taken 48.2 percent of its shots from three-point range, that was a lot.
When told more than 70 percent of Auburn’s shots were threes, Brown smiled. “That’s us,” he said. “Coach (Bruce Pearl) says be who you are.”
Razor focus
Sportswriter Bob Holt, who covers Arkansas for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is known for his laser-like focus on all things Arkansas.
It was not a surprise that Holt knew that Florida guard KeVaughn Allen, who is from Little Rock, had averaged three more points per game against the Razorbacks than against the rest of Florida’s opponents.
With Arkansas playing Florida in Thursday’s second round of the SEC Tournament, Holt asked the Gators’ coach for a reaction. Mike White quipped, “I think he knows deep down you’re going to ask about him, and he wants to do something extra for you.”
Then Allen, who came in averaging 11.9 points, scored 17 points in Florida’s second-round victory over Arkansas on Thursday.
When Holt asked about this uptick, White said, “All right. I’m giving in. You’re right. Maybe he gets a little excited (about playing against Arkansas). The numbers back you up, Bob.”
Addition by subtraction
For introductions on SEC teleconferences, the moderator says the coach’s name followed by the team’s record overall and in conference play.
Director of Communications Chuck Dunlap, who was pinch-hitting as moderator on Monday, broke from custom. Upon introducing Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew, he skipped the part about win-loss records. The Commodores were 9-22 overall and 0-18 in the SEC.
‘Concern, compassion’
Former Valparaiso Coach Homer Drew will be rooting for Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament.
Drew said one reason why relates to the diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2011 and how John Calipari reacted to this news.
Several coaching colleagues made calls of support, Drew said. One of the first calls came from the UK coach.
“Just to show concern, compassion and prayer,” Drew said.
Book note
Cecil Hurt, sports editor and longtime Alabama beat reporter for The Tuscaloosa News, always brings a book to the SEC Tournament. During timeouts, he may read a few pages.
The book he brought this year: “The Dark Side of Camelot,” by Seymour Hersh.
Happy birthday
To Patrick Patterson. He turned 30 on Thursday. … To Jock Sutherland. He turned 91 on Thursday. … To Jim Master. He turned 57 on Saturday. … To Sam Bowie. He turns 58 on Sunday (today). … To Patrick Sparks. He turns 36 on Sunday (today). … To Skal Labissiere. He turns 23 on Monday. … To Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl. He turns 59 on Monday. … To Cory Sears. He turns 39 on Tuesday. … To Jerry Hale. He turns 66 on Wednesday. … To Jimmy Dan Conner. He turns 66 on Wednesday. … To Pat Riley. He turns 74 on Wednesday.
Sunday
NCAA Tournament Selection Show
When: 6 p.m.
TV: CBS-27
This story was originally published March 17, 2019 at 1:48 PM.