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John Calipari vs. Bill Self leads first day of March Madness action
USA TODAY Sports’ Jordan Mendoza helps you get set for the first day of March Madness with three games you cant miss.
Sports Seriously
Arkansas coach John Calipari believes the emergence of Trevon Brazile and Billy Richmond III has been key for his team.Kansas coach Bill Self acknowledges the challenge of facing Calipari, stating that both coaches will be trying to “beat each other’s brains in.”Calipari highlights Kansas’ size and guard play as strengths, particularly the performance of leading scorer Hunter Dickinson.
PROVIDENCE — Ditch the familiarities and ignore the October exhibition.
That early meeting will have no influence on the first-round NCAA Tournament game between No. 7 Kansas (21-12) and No. 10 Arkansas (20-13), scheduled for Thursday night at 7:10 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Arkansas’ 85-69 thrashing of Kansas last fall is a minor detail as legendary coaches, Bill Self and John Calipari, prepare to meet again.
Calipari doesn’t put any stock into that meeting and Self might use it only for extra motivation.
“They didn’t have [Hunter] Dickinson and we didn’t have Jonas [Aidoo],” Calipari said during Wednesday’s press conference. “We were centered around Boogie [Fland]. They were still trying to figure out stuff and I’m glad they were doing it. It was a sellout, we made money for charity, but no, it has no bearing on this game.”
Said Self: “I do know there are some things that they did in that exhibition game we would like to slow down and take away. Hopefully it benefited us by getting our butts kicked by them in that exhibition game and helped us prepare for this game.”
Self is 7-6 all-time against Calipari and the duo have two national championship matches against each other.
What Bill Self says about…
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Publish date : 2025-03-19 21:44:00
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