John Calipari could learn from Mark Pope's thoughts on the SEC Tournament

Mark Pope and John Calipari have very different opinions on the SEC Tournament.

Former UK coach and current Arkansas coach John Calipari hugs Kentucky coach Mark Pope before the game Saturday Feb. 1, 2025 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The SEC Tournament is coming up this week, and that means a lot of Kentucky fans will make the trip to the Music City. With Nashville only being three hours away from Lexington, Big Blue Nation shows up in droves to root on the Wildcats.

John Calipari was very open during his time in Lexington about how he did not care about the SEC Tournament. Clearly, this opinion traveled with Calipari to Arkansas as he doubled down on his opinion of the Tournament.

Coach Calipari had this to say this week about the SEC Tournament, "I don't care about the conference tournament. Which is why we won it so many times because I could care less. The Tournament that matters is the NCAA Tournament. Now, you play that Tournament to get the best seed you can get and if you're going to get to the finals, win or don't go to the finals and lose because you're exhausted and you got to play on Tuesday or Wednesday. So, I'm like, 'Let's play well and try to improve our seed."

Arkansas head coach John Calipari works with his team against Vanderbilt during the first half at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, March 4, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Coach Calipari is completely right that the NCAA Tournament means more than the SEC Tournament, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't care.

During Pope's radio show, he was asked about the SEC Tournament and had this to say, "We’re going to win. That’s why we’re going down there."

Kentucky fans spend their hard-earned money to make the trip to Nashville to watch the Wildcats play in the SEC Tournament, and Coach Pope wants them to watch confetti fall.

If Kentucky falls short of this goal and isn't able to win the tournament fans can go to sleep knowing this team made the trip down to Nashville with every intention to win.

Kentucky will get started in Nashville on Thursday evening playing the winner of Oklahoma and Georgia.