Calipari, Arkansas cast into mafioso-style NCAAT first-weekend pod in Providence

By Kevin McPherson

LITTLE ROCK — There’s the possibility of an old Italian-American mafioso boss sitdown … ahem,  the possibility of a showdown to be more precise … in Providence, R.I., this week thanks to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s infinite wisdom to bring two coaching legends of Italian descent and with somewhat entangled coaching careers together at the same NCAAT first-weekend pod.

Two made men – Arkansas’ John Calipari and St. John’s Rick Pitino — were long ago rewarded with Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductions (both coming in the 2010’s), they both have multiple Final Fours including a national championship coaching at the same blueblood school (Kentucky), they’ve crossed paths and competed head-to-head in memorable college games and as NBA head coaches, and they’ve both had NCAAT success vacated under scandal during their storied careers.

There’s not much more to say as a Goodfellas-esque build-up to another possible head-to-head matchup between the two living-and-still-coaching legends, that is IF they are to meet up once again, which could happen as soon as Saturday in the NCAAT West regional Round of 32 in Providence.

But first, both must win-and-advance beyond their first-round matchups — that’s Pitino and 2-seed St. John’s taking on 15-seed Omaha on Thursday following game one of the night session between Calipari and his 10-seed Arkansas Razorbacks against 7-seed Kansas, the latter of which brings its own Naismith HOF coach in Bill Self, who also has a long and storied career in the college game, which includes its own share of off-the-court controversy as well as memorable and notable matchups going head-to-head against Calipari.

It’s savvy, made-for-TV stuff culminating on the biggest of stages — the Big Dance and March Madness. The odds favor one of the three coaching elders — Pitino is 72, Calipari 66, and Self 62 — surviving the upcoming weekend gauntlet and moving on to the Sweet 16. Although Omaha — led by former Arkansas associate head coach Chris Crutchfield — will be looking to play spoiler in the whole endeavor.

During his Selection Sunday press conference, Calipari did not elaborate much on the heavyweight coaching matchups. Instead, he expressed relief that his team was rewarded with an at-large bid in his first season as Head Hog.

“We’re in,” Calipari said. “Anybody looking at this saying, ‘We may not get in?’ But I’m saying, they were taking teams that we had beaten. And they were like, you start looking around like everybody was so confident we were getting in. I’m like, ‘hey’. But the whole point was, get in. It’s the first year. Getting things established. Struggling early, and my teams have struggled early in the past, but not like that, because we haven’t played in a league like that and where schedule will dictate some of it.

“But to stick together, to be in dark places yet overcome, to understand the battle that you have is with yourself, the life lessons that these kids take from this is really good. To be able to say, ‘alright, we’re in the tournament’. Hard road. It may be the hardest, but so what, we’re in.”

In what has been at times characterized as a no-love-lost relationship, Calipari is 14-12 head-to-head coaching against Pitino, which includes an 11-9 mark with both as college head coaches. Their most significant postseason matchup went to Pitino in the 1995-96 Final Four when on his way to his first national championship Pitino led his Kentucky Wildcats to a national semifinals win over Calipari’s UMass Minutemen. UMass would later vacate the Final Four appearance due to NCAA infractions, and Pitino would eventually win a second national title at Louisville — Kentucky’s in-state rival — but that championship in ’12-13 was later vacated due to NCAA violations.

Calipari (UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky) and Pitino (Providence, Kneutcky, and Louisville) are the only two coaches in D1 history to lead three different programs to the Final Four, and obviously Pitino returns to the city from which his first Final Four was forged.

Although the Hogs and Red Storm have not competed in decades with Calipari and Pitino also not having matched up in years, it was Pitino who took to social media with a video just a few weeks ago imploring Kentucky fans not to boo Calipari just prior to the Hogs’ 89-79 road victory on Feb. 1 in Calipari’s first return to Rupp Arena, where he roamed the sidelines the previous 15 seasons.

Calipari and Self have a long head-to-head history, too, highlighted by each beating the other to win a national championship — Self’s Jayhawks over Calipari’s Memphis Tigers in the ’07-08 title game, and Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats over Self’s Jayhawks in the ’11-12 title game.

And just in October to unofficially tip off the 2024-25 campaign, preseason-No. 16 Arkansas hosted preseason-No. 1 Kansas in a charity exhibition game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, resulting in an 85-69 Hogs win.

In that exhibition game, Arkansas played without preseason-and-returning All SEC big man Jonas Aidoo while Kansas was without All American big man Hunter Dickinson as well as a couple of guards.

Self was not caught off guard by the selection committee’s choice to pit his Jayhawks (21-12, 12-10 vs. Big 12 teams) against the Hogs (20-13, 9-11 vs. SEC teams) in the first round (tip is slated for around 6:10 p.m. CT on Thursday in a game that will be televised nationally on CBS).

“Nothing surprised me,” Self said on Sunday. “I didn’t have any anticipation, but I told my staff a week ago, ‘You watch, 7 versus 10, we’re playing Arkansas.’ You could ask any of them (KU assistant coaches). I’ve been saying that for a week.”

Both teams suffered through rough patches during the regular season. The Hogs began SEC play 0-5, while the Jayhawks fell from early-season No. 1 out of the polls completely. Arkansas’ best wins over NCAAT at-large bid qualifiers were at then-No. 12 Kentucky, over then-No. 14 Michigan on a neutral-site court, over then-No. 15 Missouri at home, over then-No. 25 Mississippi State at home, at Vanderbilt, and a home-and-away sweep over Texas. Kansas’ impressive wins over NCAAT at-large bid qualifiers were against Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina, Iowa State, and Arizona.

The Razorbacks come in ranked 18th in Division 1 in defensive efficiency and 73rd in offensive efficiency according to KenPom, while the Jayhawks come in ranked 11th in offense and 113th in defense measured by the same metric.

Calipari said he’s not too familiar with Kansas’ season.

“I haven’t watched them that much, but I’ve coached against Bill a bunch, and him the same,” Calipari said. “He kind of, we know each other pretty well. They, the big kid (the 7-foot Dickinson) didn’t play. He did not play here, so they’re a different team with him. We’re going to have to have a heckuva game, and we’re going to have to play well.

“You know, it was funny, it came up to me yesterday about Boogie (Fland, Arkansas freshman star guard who missed the team’s last 15 games recovering from thumb surgery) that he had good workouts and he was going to be able to practice, and they called the doctor and the doctor said, ‘If he thinks he can go, let him get through practice, and I’m good’. He wants to play. The greatest piece of it was Boogie saying to me, ‘I don’t want to screw them up. I just want to help’. I said, ‘Well, you may play 10-15 minutes’. But, so what? He said, ‘I’d be good’. And I said, ‘We may need you more. I don’t know’. But then I grabbed the team and said ‘It’s not really changing anybody’s role or what’s going on, we just have an eighth man’. Instead of having seven, having foul trouble or having two or three guys not playing well, which is normal stuff, now you have a little bit of breathing room.”

Fland — Mr. Basketball in New York City as a high school senior in ’23-24 before becoming Arkansas’ second-leading scorer (15.1 points per game), leader in assists (5.7), and second in steals (1.5) through 18 games as a freshman in ’24-25 — is looking to make another splash appearance on the east coast. He was the catalyst in the Hogs’ two away-from-home wins there in December — an 18-point, 6-assist, 4-rebound performance in a 76-73 come-from-behind win at Miami on Dec. 3, and a 20-point, 7-assist showing in an 89-87 come-from-behind win over Michigan in New York City on Dec. 10.

Though Arkansas went 9-6 against SEC teams once Fland departed due to his thumb injury, it’s a Razorbacks squad that has been down to a thin 7-player rotation for weeks and could use the added depth from its talented rookie guard who led all D1 freshmen in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.7:1).

Aside from the Calipari, Pitino, Self, and Fland storyline angles, there are plenty more packed into this weekend’s Providence pod as well as the West regional as a whole …

– Between them, Calipari, Pitino, and Self have combined for 5 national championships and 17 Final Fours. More hardware on the way for one of these college coaching icons?

– Arkansas and Kansas have their own rich history when it comes to head-to-head matchups, especially in the NCAAT. The Jayhawks lead the all-time series between the two schools, 8-6, and that includes a 93-81 upset win over the 2nd-ranked and No. 1-seed Hogs in the ’90-91 NCAAT Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four. More recently in a game that Self was not on the sidelines due to health issues, Arkansas upset defending national champion, 4th-ranked, and No. 1-seed Kansas, 72-71, to advance to the ’22-23 NCAAT Sweet 16.

– Calipari is the first first-year Arkansas coach to win at least 20 games and advance to the NCAAT since, lol, John Pelphrey (’07-08). Pelphrey’s Hogs defeated Indiana in the first round of the NCAAT tourney before losing to North Carolina in the Round of 32.

– Arkansas is back in the NCAAT after missing the Big Dance last season in then-head-coach Eric Musselman’s 16-17 final-record swan song as Head Hog. But looking back on the last 11 seasons, Arkansas has earned NCAAT bids in 7 campaigns under 3 different coaches (Mike Anderson in ’14-15, ’16-17, and ’17-18; Musselman in ’20-21, ’21-22, and ’22-23; and now Calipari in ’24-25). Anderson went 2-3 in NCAATs and Musselman was 8-3, the latter of which included back-to-back Elite Eights followed by a third consecutive Sweet 16.

– Calipari’s one national title, six Final Four appearances, and numerous conference and conference tournament titles coaching Kentucky, Memphis, and UMass speak plainly enough to his HOF resume, but spanning the most-recent five seasons at Kentucky his teams were only 1-3 in NCAAT games, which included David-vs.-Goliath-esque first-round mega-upset losses to Oakland (last season) and St. Peter’s (’20-21). The point is, Calipari is looking to not only pick up a win, but to nab two victories to advance to the NCAAT’s second weekend (a.k.a. Sweet 16 berth) for the first time since the ’18-19 campaign at Kentucky.

– Junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero — the Hogs’ leading scorer (15.6 points per game), leading rebounder (6.0), and steals leader (1.7) — apparently will not be available to play this weekend. “Not this week,” Calipari said of Thiero’s availability. “Like he didn’t practice today (Sunday). Not this week, but if we advance, we’ll see.” Again, “this week” would include Thursday against Kansas and Saturday (if the Hogs defeat the Jayhawks) against either St. John’s or Omaha.

– With or without Thiero, who followed Calipari to Arkansas from Kentucky in the offseason, the Razorbacks still have two other former Wildcats who will be making their second-consecutive appearances in the NCAAT — sophomore guard DJ Wagner (11.1 points, 3.5 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 2.3 turnovers, 80.5% free throws) and sophomore center Zvonimir Ivisic (9.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, 37.9% on three-pointers). The duo have a combined 52 starts this season with Wagner starting all 33 games while averaging a team-high 34.4 minutes per outing.

– Speaking of Big Dance experience, Arkansas’ two preseason All SEC picks — Johnell Davis (11.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 steals, 83.7% free throws) and Jonas Aidoo (6.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, 57.3% field goals) — have advanced all the way to the Final Four (’22-23) and Elite Eight (’23-24), respectively, while playing at Florida Atlantic (Davis) and Tennessee (Aidoo). While not performing at all league levels throughout the ’24-25 season, both are playing their best basketball just in time for postseason. Davis has averaged between 14 and 15 points per game spanning the team’s last 15 games while Aidoo has recorded double-doubles (points and rebounds) in 3 of his last 5 outings.

– Much like Aidoo, Arkansas junior forward Trevon Brazile is playing his best basketball down the stretch of the season as he enters his first-ever NCAAT after three previous seasons split between Missouri (’21-22) and Arkansas (’22-23 and ’23-24). Although the ’22-23 Hogs would advance to the NCAAT Sweet 16 in March 2023, Brazile’s season ended in early December 2022 with a severe knee injury that required surgery and a long rehabilitation that kept him off the floor until the start of ’23-24. In his last six games in ’24-25, Brazile averaged 12.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 assist while shooting 61.9% from the field, including 50% from 3.

– Freshmen wings Karter Knox (7.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 33.0% three-point field goals, 80.6% free throws) and Billy Richmond III (5.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 54.0% field goals, 74.5% free throws) will obviously be making their NCAAT debuts, but they continue to progress and provide positive production that impacts winning.

– The aforementioned Dickinson (7-2 fifth-year senior) earned All Big 12 and third-team All American honors after averaging a double-double — 17.6 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steal — for the second-consecutive season. He’s complemented by two Jayhawks — senior 6-7 forward KJ Adams (9.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists) and senior 6-2 guard Dajuan Harris, Jr. (9.2 points, 5.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals) — who were key cogs on Kansas’ ’21-22 national championship team. Senior 6-4 guard adn three-point sniper Zeke Mayo averages 14.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 41.3% from distance. The Jayhawks go about 8-to-9 deep in their player rotation, averaging 76.2 points per game while shooting 35.2% from 3 as a team.

– St. John’s star big man Zuby Ejiofor (6-9 junior) is a Kansas transfer who has thrived under Pitino, averaging 14.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 blocks while shooting 57.8% from the field in his first season with the Red Storm (30-4, including an 18-2 record to win the Big East conference regular-season title).

– The aforementioned Crutchfield is in his third season leading his alma mater, Omaha (22-12, including 13-3 to win the Summit League regular-season title). Crutchfield served as associate head coach at Arkansas during the ’19-20 season, which was the first season with Musselman serving as Head Hog.

– The West’s No. 1 seed, Florida, is arguably the best team in college basketball heading into the NCAAT. Also in the West is two-time defending NCAAT champion and 8-seed UConn, 9-seed Oklahoma from the SEC, 3-seed and Big 12 runner-up Texas Tech, 4-seed Maryland from the Big 10, 5-seed Memphis of the American Athletic Conference, and 6-seed Missouri of the SEC, and dangerous 11-seed Drake of the Missouri Valley Conference.

– Arkansas is making the program’s 36th NCAAT appearance. All-time, the Hoop Hogs boast one national title (’93-94), two title-game appearances, six Final Fours, 10 Elite Eights, 14 Sweet Sixteens, and 22 Round of 32 appearances.