With the regular season concluded, Kentucky has one more stop on the way to its record 62nd NCAA Tournament appearance: the SEC Tournament.
For years under former Head Coach John Calipari, Kentucky fans were told that the SEC Tournament simply wasn’t of much importance and was merely an appetizer to the far more prevalent NCAA Tournament— though, after 2015, it’s hard to say “Cal” had much success there either.
Calipari echoed this sentiment last season after the Cats lost to Texas A&M, a bubble team in the NCAA Tournament prior to the win, in its first game in Nashville, marking the second year in a row that UK had fallen in its first game, bringing its SEC Tournament record to 1-5 in its last six.
“We’ve got some stuff to figure out,” Calipari said after the loss. “Now the real stuff starts next week.”
There was one problem with Calipari’s approach, however, Kentucky fans do care about the SEC Tournament.
The Wildcats, once the clear best team in the conference, have won the SEC Tournament 33 times, winning their first in 1921 and their last in 2018. In fact, when the Cats fell in 2019, it ended a four-year SEC Tournament championship streak.
Every year hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Kentucky fans flood Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, often having more representatives than much closer institutions like Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Fans even packed out Amalie Arena in Tampa in 2022.
Year after year those fans who spent plenty to travel with their Cats were sent home disappointed and, often, rather quickly.
With the Cats now under the leadership of Mark Pope, UK’s new man in charge, he hopes to end that streak of disappointment.
Acknowledging the elephant in the room, it’s a tall task with star NBA prospect Jaxson Robinson and backup point guard Kerr Kriisa done for the season and other squads in the conference, such as No. 1 overall Auburn and the nation’s leading offensive unit Alabama, having lifted their programs to Kentucky’s level. In fact, the SEC is on pace to set an NCAA record by getting 12-13 teams of the conference’s 16 in the field.
Regardless of that, however, winning banners, or at least showing heart and fighting as if the banners matter, was something Pope promised as early as his introductory press conference in April 2024.
“We don’t (moderate expectations) here at Kentucky, I understand the assignment. We are here to win championships,” Pope said. “We’re here to win banners in Nashville. Our assignment is to win banners in the Final Four and National Championships.”
While the Wildcats have taken losses, ending with a record of in a stacked SEC, the heart Pope promised from his players has been seen all throughout the year.
Pope promised in his introductory press conference that his players would play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back, saying “Our players are gonna learn they’re not doing those jerseys a favor by letting them clothe them.”
When reflecting on his college journey ahead of senior night vs. LSU, veteran Ansley Almonor exemplified this sentiment to a tee.
“The payoff is going to be something you can’t even comprehend,” Almonor said of coming to Kentucky. “At this point last year I wouldn’t be able to even comprehend that I was here and what I’ve gone through so far. It’s the mecca of college basketball and you’re gonna play for the best fans. If you have this opportunity, I would take it for sure.”
With a plethora of seniors — Almonor, Robinson, Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, Koby Brea and Lamont Butler — ready to begin their last ride in Kentucky blue and plenty more players fighting for a program that took a chance on them, the 2025 SEC Tournament is sure to mean more to Kentucky men’s basketball than it has in years.
Kentucky’s road to attempt to break its five-tournament championship drought will begin against the winner of Oklahoma and Georgia on Thursday, March 13, from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The game will tip off 25 minutes after the conclusion of game seven and air live on the SEC Network.
(* Kentucky has made the NCAA Tournament 62 times, but Eddie Sutton’s trip in 1988 was vacated by the NCAA because Eric Manuel was found to be academically ineligible.)
(** The 2020 SEC Tournament was canceled due to the onset of Covid-19, which prematurely ended the college basketball season. No SEC Tournament champion was crowned that season and only first-round games were played. Kentucky was the No. 1 seed.)
