John Calipari recently likened playing in the SEC this season to sitting down at a poker table full of sharks. The Arkansas coach told reporters that he scanned the league standings from top to bottom and didn’t find a single automatic win.
“Then I started thinking, ‘Are we the win?’” Calipari deadpanned. “Maybe they’re looking, saying, ‘We’re playing Arkansas. Thank God for that.’”
Calipari surely isn’t the only SEC men’s basketball coach apprehensive about the 18-game gauntlet ahead. The SEC isn’t just the sport’s clear-cut top league this season. It’s building an argument as one of the strongest in recent memory.