Jay Wright: Conference Tournament Is A 'Big Money Making Venture'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- John Calipari went berserk on ESPN and he may have a point.
Hours after his Kentucky team beat Texas A&M to win the SEC tournament championship in overtime on Sunday, Cal's squad was given a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament by the selection committee. A&M received a No. 3 seed.
"Did we not play a basketball game today?" Calipari, upset about the seeding, asked in an animated interview on ESPN on Sunday evening.
Villanova's head coach Jay Wright understood the sentiment of the Moon Township, Pennsylvania native and former Philadelphia 76ers assistant. Wright admitted the conference tournaments are simply about the green.
"The seeding is based on the entire season, your entire body of work," Wright explained to Howard Eskin on Monday's 94WIP Morning Show. "And we all know why we play the conference tournament. We play the conference tournament so the conference can make money and that's the thing about the NCAA that I think we really need to address. We need to say what it is. It is a big money making venture that involves amateur athletics. That's what it is. It is amateur athletics.
Listen: Jay Wright on the 94WIP Morning Show
"These kids are amateurs, it's a beautiful thing, but a lot of people -- the NCAA and the universities -- are making a ton of money," Wright continued. "I believe it's OK that these kids are amateurs, but you just gotta say what it is. We play the conference tournament for entertainment, it's exciting, it's fun for the kids, it's great TV, and because it's great TV the schools get a lot of money."
Wright's Wildcats, after losing the Big East tournament championship to Seton Hall on Saturday night, fell from a No. 1 to a No. 2 seed. In doing so, Villanova missed out on the potential opportunity to play at the Wells Fargo Center in the Sweet 16.
"I'm pretty sure the committed protected their one seed in [North] Carolina and said, 'We're not gonna put Villanova in the east and make our one seed play in the home city against our two seed.' If they were to advance, in essence, you would be giving an advantage to the two seed over the one, so there would be no reason to be a one seed," Wright said. "So they moved us out to the south, where if we were lucky enough to advance we would be in Louisville. They're protecting their one seed. And I get it."
Some folks believe no team should have home-court advantage in the national tournament, and Wright agrees.
"No, it's really not [fair]," Wright said when asked about home-court advantage in the field of 68. "A few years ago, actually it was '09, we played in the first-round at the Wells Fargo Center and it was an advantage. It really was. But if the rules are such that they're going to let you do it, you've gotta give yourself a chance to do it. You're stupid not to. But I really don't think they should do it."
