Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari tried to get out of SEC Media Day with COVID test

John Calipari has been going to SEC Media Day for a long time. After 15 years at Kentucky, the new Arkansas basketball coach got his first taste of the event in Razorbacks‘ cardinal and white Tuesday.

But before the conference converged on Birmingham, Alabama, Calipari joked that he tried to find a way out of his media duties.

“So yesterday, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I did a COVID test because I thought if I had COVID, I wouldn’t have to come,” Calipari said Tuesday.

“My wife called me and said, ‘Not happening. You’re going tomorrow.'”

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Despite the new gear and his new status as leader of the Arkansas program, Calipari said SEC Media Day didn’t feel any different compared to his tenure with the Wildcats.

Overall, he believes the event has changed and become a little less meaningful as the conference has risen in the national pecking order.

“They were really important before because we had to promote our league in basketball,” Calipari said. “No one looked at us, now all of a sudden, we’re like it in basketball, too.”

Joining Calipari at SEC Media Day were players Adou Thiero and Johnell Davis, a pair of transfer wings who bring quality experience to the program.

The Razorbacks will open their season, and the Calipari era, on Nov. 6 at home against Lipscomb.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: John Calipari tried to get out of SEC Media Day with COVID test