‘Legend’ Calipari leads Razorbacks into Sweet 16

Mike Reiss Close Mike Reiss ESPN Personnel Writer Mike Reiss is an NFL press reporter at ESPN

and covers the New England Patriots.

Reiss has actually covered the Patriots since 1997 and signed up with ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was called Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.Mar 22, 2025, 05:55 PM ET PROVIDENCE, R.I.– John Calipari had a message for his No. 10 seed Arkansas guys’s basketball team before Saturday’s

matchup versus No. 2 St. John’s in the second round of the NCAA competition.”I said prior to the game,’How about we offer ourselves a chance to make some magic? Let’s go fight like heck, play complimentary and loose, [and] whatever occurs, happens,'” he said.The Razorbacks responded in a physical, hard-fought 75-66 win that put Calipari, in his very first season with the group, back in the Sugary food 16 for the 16th time.

He ended up being simply the second coach to take four various groups to the Sugary food 16, joining Lon Kruger (Florida, Kansas State, Oklahoma, UNLV). Calipari previously took UMass, Memphis and Kentucky.What makes this journey so special for the 66-year-old Calipari is that it seemed so unlikely at the end of January.Editor’s Picks 2 Related”I informed them this is as rewarding a year as I have actually had based on how far we have come,”he stated,

a referral to Arkansas beginning 0-5 in the SEC and dealing with extended lacks due to injuries from leading scorer Adou Thiero and guard Boogie Fland.Freshman forward Billy Richmond III led

Arkansas with 16 points and 9 rebounds Saturday, while Karter Knox included 15 points (9-of-11 from the complimentary toss line)and Johnell Davis had 13. Arkansas( 22-13)next plays No. 3 seed Texas Tech– a 77-64 winner over No. 11 Drake– in San Francisco.This is the outermost a Calipari team has actually advanced because 2019, when his Kentucky squad lost to Auburn in the Elite Eight. Considering that the COVID-19 season in 2020 with no tournament, Kentucky had actually missed the NCAA competition, was distressed by No. 15 seed St. Peter’s in the first round, was up to No. 3 Kansas State in the 2nd round and lost in the preliminary to No. 14 Oakland.That flurry of March infamy led Calipari to leave for Arkansas in the middle of the bellowing of the locals in Lexington, a relocation that rocked the sport on Last Four weekend in 2024. After looking helpless at times earlier this year, Arkansas ‘resurrection has actually been among the sport’s greatest surprises in 2025. Saturday’s slugfest versus St. John’s was a hot ticket. The game drew celebs and boldfaced names, including Spike Lee, Celtics

president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Knicks executive vice president William Wesley(a.k.a. “World Wide Wes”)– an indication of how it transcended a common second-round NCAA competition matchup.The training clash in between Calipari and Rick Pitino naturally contributed to the sizzle.The entrance to Providence’s Federal Hill, an area a few full-court heaves from the arena, is embellished with an upside-down pineapple. It’s a standard Italian symbol of abundance and quality, and a fitting symbol for the match of two Hall of Popularity coaches who both happily discussed their Italian heritage today. Arkansas players saluted John Calipari after he led his 4th various program to

the Sugary food 16. Said D.J. Wagner: “I seem like he deserves whatever. He’s an incredible coach. He’s a legend.” Emilee Chinn/Getty Images So tension and rivalry were overflowing in abundance and quality in a familiar launching pad for both coaches ‘careers.Pitino led Providence College to the Final Four in 1987, then delegated coach the Knicks.Calipari’s defining run throughout his time at UMass, a Final Four trip in 1996, started with a weekend in Providence. He walked to the postgame news conference with his arm around retired Brown University sports details director Chris Humm, who escorted him in 1996. Humm wore a pineapple tie as an ode to the Federal Hill entrance and their effective strolls to pressers a generation before.The arcs of Calipari and Pitino reuniting here is so powerful due to the fact that their journeys are more familiar than they ‘d care to admit– punitive encounters with the NCAA, high-profile exits at the NBA level and redemption arcs from both.

Winning is the ultimate way to make it through and advance in college basketball, no matter the caliber of hardship, a style that’s as old as the competition bracket itself.”It’s been an actually tough year,”said Arkansas assistant Bruiser Flint, who initially coached with Calipari at UMass in the 1990s.” We lost our finest players. We didn’t really have that lots of guys. He kept ’em together. He got the big guys going.

He kept the focus. He kept telling the guys to think we’re going to be the most enhanced team in the nation. And we did that.”And he made the guys believe and after that he kept informing everyone, your time will come and we’re going to need you and simply be all set. And he just kept preaching that and that’s a huge reason that we’re here today. “The day before the match with St. John’s, Calipari stated he hopes his career will one day be seen through the lens of a hard-driving coach whose groups played hard and competitively.”I am who I am,” he stated. “Like it or not, this is who I am and how I deal with kids.” His Arkansas players have actually reacted in among the most unexpected stories of the tournament.”The fire in him, he wants the very best for us and he desires us to win in every minute, “guard D.J. Wagner said.”So whenever you look over there, you visiting him shouting or going crazy, and it is truly out of love since he takes care of us and he desires us to win so bad.”I feel like he is worthy of everything. He’s a fantastic coach. He’s a legend. “