Rick Pitino with UK coach Mark Pope on a visit to Lexington earlier this season. (UK Athletics Photo)
Former Kentucky coach John Calipari is not back in Lexington this week, but he thought he would be.
Arkansas is a 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will open play today in Providence, N. J., against Kansas.
Calipari admitted Wednesday he expected the NCAA to have his team playing in Rupp Arena, especially after Arkansas came into Rupp Arena and stunned UK this season.
“And they didn’t (put Arkansas in Lexington)? When I saw we weren’t there, I’m like, ‘Wow, somebody must have been sick and went to the bathroom or something for them not to put us there.’ But, look, this is so different from me in that fighting to get in it, the rewards of this.”
Calipari did sort of predict that his team might play Kansas in the first round.
“I thought it may be played somewhere else,” Calipari said.
Calipari and Kansas coach Bill Self have met twice in national championship games with each coach getting one win. They also played a preseason exhibition game this year.
But the Arkansas-Kansas winner likely will get No. 2 seed St. John’s and coach Rick Pitino in Saturday’s second round. Obviously, Kentucky fans know there is no love lost between Calipari and Pitino and in the last year Pitino has become more popular in the Bluegrass than Calipari.
What did Calipari think of his team’s pod in Providence?
“Do you want me to tell you exactly? It came down to the last four teams and we weren’t in yet. I’m like, ‘Could they (NCAA selection committee) possibly do that when four teams that got in were below us in the SEC? They can’t do it. Can they do it?” Calipari said.
“And we got in. Then I started breathing. I still haven’t thought of all the other stuff you talked about. We have a hard game, a hard game tomorrow. Hard game. I just want to be at my best where I’m helping these kids for 40 minutes. I do everything I can to help them.”
Self isn’t sure the NCAA deliberately wanted to set up a Self-Calipari-Pitino story line with this four-team pod that also includes underdog Omaha.
“I don’t look at it quite as deep as some other people do. I looked that we were seeded probably where we deserve to be and who you’re going to play on the 10 line. I said a week ago that it’s going to be Arkansas. I said, you watch, we’re going to play Arkansas. I didn’t have any idea who the two would be, but I think it’s fine for us,” Self said.
“I would think, and I don’t know positively, there will be a little story line with Kansas and Arkansas, but the potential of a Calipari-Pitino second-round game may put Kansas in a favorable light, to be honest with you. We’ve been talked about enough over the years and over time. I’m kind of looking forward to having people talk about others and maybe we can kind of sneak up on somebody.”
Pitino said it “really doesn’t matter” if the NCAA selection committee “pre-ordained” a NCAA pod with St. John’s, Arkansas and Kansas or not.
“They’re great coaches, but I’m just concerned about Omaha because this team is… their point guard will be a top-four point guard in the Big East. They have the Player of the Year in the power forward spot. I’m just excited to be here regardless of who’s coaching. It doesn’t matter to me,” Pitino said. “I’m very concerned about the talent we’re facing.”
Pitino does like being in Providence, the place he coached before he came to Kentucky.
“It’s one of my favorite coaching stints of all time. It was certainly magical. I still talk to all the players all the time and it was 1987, so a long time ago, but it was a fun time. It was a sad time. It was every emotion that you could possibly feel, both positively and negatively,” the St. John’s coach said.
“Providence, though, when I was at Kentucky, I would take my family for two to three weeks to Newport in the summer to vacation, and we did that, like, for a long time.”
One Response
The NCAA loves great story lines. We will see how dominant the SEC when the end is on the line. I can see at least 2 SEC teams making the final 4 maybe even 3 teams. I do not feel like Kentucky will be one of those teams. In fact I would be shocked if we even make it to the sweet 16. If we do make it to the sweet 16 or beyond to me this was a successful first season for Mark Pope. Given the circumstances of how late he became the coach and having to assemble a roster from scratch. We can definitely build off a sweet 16 for next year and possibly make a final 4 run. Nothing is impossible especially when you see 12 and 11 seeds making it to the final 4 almost a norm over the last 4-5 years. So nothing is impossible but we are one injury away from being possibly blown out by any team. I just hope Williams grabs the ball with 2 hands and doesn’t act like he’s Magic Johnson. I hope Butlers mysterious shoulder injury can at least hold up for the remainder of the year. I would love to see our bench get hot and knock down some 3s. Garrison needs to get back on his game. Alomonor needs to start hitting his shots again but also his playing time is like a roller coaster ride one game he might get 18-20 minutes while the next game he might get 2-3 minutes. I would love to see Carr get a double double. I would also love to see Oweh get some more assists. Everyone will probably try to key in on Oweh and when the defense collapses when he drives to the basket I would love to see him kick it out for a open 3 pointer. I would love to see Brea get hot from 3 like he was the first 10 games of the season. If we can even do half of these things we should easily win in the first round and in the second round.