March 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe issue that we have is, do we continue to play on Sundays?\u201d Calipari asked. \u201cWhy would you play on Sunday? If the two finalists are playing, us and Vandy, and all you\u2019re going to do is hurt one, or whoever wins, they\u2019re not moving at all anyway, but if they lose, they\u2019re going to flip with the other guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEither they gotta fix that within the committee, or we gotta play on Saturday,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cForget about lead-in to the [NCAA Tournament Selection Show]. We\u2019ve gotta do what\u2019s right for our young people. What you\u2019re saying, that\u2019s hard on me, but think about playing. We played three games in less than three days, we got back at two in the morning last night because of the weather, and we\u2019ve got to leave at eight tomorrow to go play this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not complaining, because we\u2019re playing, we\u2019re a four-seed, let\u2019s go,\u201d Calipari continued. \u201cI\u2019ve had stuff thrown at me before. You know that. And that kind of gets me going. You try to slow my team down by putting the barriers up, and alright, we\u2019re putting our shoulder through that. But this is hard. This is going to be a hard run. Hawaii\u2019s good. I\u2019m not worried about anything else but them. I\u2019m watching tape and trying to get focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut let me ask you- how much can we really practice today? We\u2019re showing tape. We can\u2019t practice. We didn\u2019t get in until two in the morning. We played three games in two and a half days. And we\u2019ve got to play Thursday! We could\u2019ve played in the evening. Nah, let\u2019s make them play at one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not fair, [Calipari],\u201d Russo responded. \u201cI screamed about it last night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there are other teams in the same position,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cAnd you know what, no one wants to hear it. And I\u2019ll use it. Believe me when I tell you. Don\u2019t tell anybody, I will use it to our benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sunday featured the championship game for the SEC, the Ivy League, the American Conference, the Atlantic 10, and the Big 10. The SEC Championship is the big event of the day for ESPN, while the Big Ten Championship has been the longtime lead-in to the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on CBS. Saturday featured 11 conference championships, while Thursday and Friday had zero.<\/p>\n
As always, these things usually come down to money for the conferences and television networks involved, rather than what\u2019s necessarily in the best interest logistically for the teams and student-athletes.<\/p>\n
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