NEW YORK — If you asked most casual college basketball fans under what circumstances Kentucky and UConn played last night, they’d probably think it was crafty scheduling by the coaches.
But it wasn’t. The two coaches involved plain don’t like each other.You think they would ever schedule each other? John Calipari couldn’t get Jim Calhoun to annually schedule him when Calipari was at UMass and the two coached 50 miles apart.
There’s been some talk recently that this experiment to have the SEC and the Big East play each other on a yearly basis a la the Big 10-ACC Challenge may not work in the long-term.
After all, only eight schools officially participated in the event. The same amount of teams played in last year’s Invitational, the first one. The number should be pushed to 16 and the eight games involved should occur over the course of two days, which is happening. The Big 12-Pac-10 Hardwood Series spreads its play out, further diluting its brand.
But if the organizers of this event want to give fans and viewers a reason to associate December non-conference basketball with the Invitational, they’re going to have to continually set up a game like the one we saw in Madison Square Garden last night. Sure, there won’t be a John Wall every year, but brand name sells. His heroics could help build on a niche scheduling tradition if the organizers of the Invitational take the right steps to try and repeat setting up another UConn-UK game next season. Last year’s marquee matchup was Marquette-Tennessee, and while that’s a nice game and was a quality headliner at the time, it didn’t have the sizzle of last night’s game.
The Garden was absolutely electric. Kentucky fans made up 65 percent of the Garden crowd, and it was a Wednesday. That team’s fans travel like no other. UConn is close by to the Garden. Its alumni live all around the New York City area. Either Syracuse, UConn, Kentucky, Florida, Georgetown, Villanova or Tennessee (Bruce Pearl factor) would always have to be invited to play in New York. They are the buzz teams. Heck, you can throw in Louisville, too, though UK-Louisville would not give up its home-and-home rivalry to play in New York, I promise you.
Madison Square Garden gives the event a much-needed boost, but the place was downright tame during Georgia-St. John’s. And St. John’s is having a good year! Until that program returns to prominence, it should always play in the undercard game.
Syracuse and Florida play tonight and it should be a really good matchup. These two conferences combine for 28 teams. Each year, the odds are in their favor to have enticing tilts. I don’t know if the Invitational can survive in the long-term, but if it wants to give it a shot, keep putting Kentucky at MSG. That joint felt like Lexington last night.
