John Calipari proposes moving SEC Tournament to start of season

While NCAA Tournament expansion is front-and-center in college basketball, Arkansas coach John Calipari has a new idea for the SEC’s tournament. He proposed moving it to the start of the season.

Calipari detailed the idea while speaking with reporters at the SEC spring meetings this week. It would move the tournament to November and give every team three games. From there, the teams left would get four games at the end of the year.

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Calipari’s proposal would eliminate the possibility of teams playing potentially four games in four days to reach the NCAA Tournament. Last year, Arkansas played three games in as many days to win the SEC Tournament for the second time in program history.

“Before the season, as the season gets started, the first thing that happens is the SEC Tournament,” Calipari said, via CBS Sports. “And everybody gets to play three games, and the final teams get to play four games…at the end you can move your season back and then you don’t have to play three games in a week and go to the NCAA tournament.”

Calipari’s big idea comes as the NCAA Tournament gets ready to expand to a 76-team field beginning with the 2026-27 season. Expansion won’t add any days to the calendar – the Round of 64 will still take place the Thursday and Friday after Selection Sunday – but the First Four will now become an “opening round” to get March Madness underway.

The new opening round will include all teams on the 16-seed line and 12-seed line, according to the NCAA, along with four 15-seeds and four 11-seeds. The 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams and the 12 lowest-seeded at-large teams will occupy those 24 spots. From there, the 12 winners will join the remaining 52 teams in the full bracket.

John Calipari: ‘You have to help mid-majors’

After the NCAA announced tournament expansion, John Calipari was among the voices across the sport to react. But he stressed the need to protect access for mid-majors to the Big Dance rather than giving more bids to the power conferences.

“Half of the additional bids need to go to the non-Power 5 conferences,” Calipari told ESPN. “You have to help the mid-majors.”

Of course, Calipari has been on both sides of it throughout his career with stops at UMass and Memphis before his run at Kentucky and, now, Arkansas. That’s why he wants to preserve spots for those smaller programs in the bracket, rather than giving power conferences more bids.

“You have to ask, why is this tournament so huge?” Calipari said. “Because of David and Goliath. And I’ve been both. I’ve won as David and lost as Goliath.