John Calipari might have left the Kentucky Wildcats to coach Arkansas this offseason, but sprouting a Razorback red versus Wildcat blue sportscoat on the sidelines is about the only change Calipari has faced with his new team.
Not only did he take most of his former school’s coaching staff with him but also three previously committed Kentucky recruits and another three key players from the 2023-2024 Kentucky squad.
Yet despite Kentucky’s willingness to let their head coach of 15 years go, John Calipari has taken his Kentucky 2.0 team to the Sweet Sixteen, one step further than his teams have gone in six years.
The tenth seeded Arkansas Razorback defeated the No. 2 seed St. John’s in March Madness’s Round of 32 this past Saturday, March 22 in a thrilling 75-66 victory.
Five of the eight Razorbacks who played on Saturday either played for Calipari at UK last season or switched their commitment from Kentucky to Arkansas once Calipari made the move.
Their loyalty has paid dividends; the Razorbacks have the chance to advance to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years if they can knock off the three seed Texas Tech on Thursday night, March 27.
Kentucky Players Turned Razorback For Calipari
No. 3 Adou Thiero(Kentucky transfer): 26 games played, 28.3 MPG, 15.6 PPG, 6 RPG, 1.7 SPG
No. 26 Boogie Fland(previous Kentucky commit): 20 games played, 32.9 MPG, 14.2 PPG, 5.4 APG, 1.6 SPG
No. 21 DJ Wagner(Kentucky transfer): 35 games played, 34.5 MPG, 11.1 PPG, 3.6 APG
No. 44 Zvonimir Ivišić(Kentucky transfer): 34 games played, 19.3 MPG, 8.8 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.9 BPG
No. 20 Karter Knox(previous Kentucky commit): 25 games played, 23.6 MPG, 8 PPG
No. 22 Billy Richmond(previous Kentucky commit): 35 games played, 17.5 MPG, 5.8 PPG
John Calipari’s Revitalization
Since bring Kentucky basketball a national championship in 2012, John Calipari has been underwhelming in March to say the least. The past three years Kentucky suffered three embarrassing losses in the first couple rounds that deteriorated Calipari’s legendary status with the fan base.
After losing to the 14 seed Oakland in the 2024 March Madness tournament(Oakland’s first tournament win EVER), Kentucky fans were ready to see their hall of fame coach pack it up.
But was it too soon to let go of a head coach with such caliber?
Only time will tell; although the Arkansas Razorbacks are amongst the sixteen March Madness teams left, so is Kentucky. New Wildcats Head Coach Mark Pope certainly deserves some respect for the turnaround of Kentucky basketball this season.
But what about John? The initial response by the media once Calipari left in April 2024 was a mixed bag. On one hand you had journalist like Rick Bozich from WDRB saying “He burned through dozens of 5-star recruits with one national title in 15 seasons. His expiration date passed several years ago,” but most realized the potential of Calipari in Little Rock.
Skip Bayless of Fox Sports summed it up best saying,
“He won one NCAA game (and one SEC tourney game) in the last 4 years. He lost to a 15 seed in ‘22 and 14 seed this year with two players that will go top ten in the draft. Good for Ark … but good for Kentucky.”
It wasn’t always a success story…
The Arkansas Razorbacks started 0-5 in conference play and were in and out of the AP Top-25 poll all year. Their growing pains were evident but down the stretch the Razorbacks have clearly outgrown them, even with star players like Boogie Fland and Adou Thiero suffering injuries late in the season.
Fland has played off the bench for Arkansas in March Madness after missing eight games but Thiero is still on the sidelines.
However, he did practice on Friday before the St. John’s game so he should be good to go versus Texas Tech on Thursday.
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