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Rick Pitino and John Calipari address media after round of 32 showdown
Rick Pitino and John Calipari address media after Arkansas beat St. John’s in round of 32 of the NCAA men’s tournament — VIDEO: NCAA
Sports Pulse
RALEIGH, N.C. — If you talk to enough people who were close enough to the truth, which isn’t easy when it comes to John Calipari and all the myths that surround his every move, they’ll tell you there was a moment last April when he was on the verge of going to Arkansas and thought deeply about whether it was something he’d regret.
You’re talking about a man who had spent his entire adult life trying to get a coaching job like Kentucky and 15 years as the biggest show in college basketball for better or worse. Now here he was at 65, just one signature from leaving it behind.
For the first time maybe ever as he climbed from UMass to the NBA, then from Memphis to Lexington, Calipari had to think hard about whether he might be making a huge mistake.
More than 11 months later, and here we are: In the two biggest moments of his first post-Kentucky season, Calipari beat Rick Pitino to get Arkansas to the Sweet 16.
No wonder his wife, Ellen, was visibly crying as the final seconds ticked away of an intense 75-66 upset over St. John’s that might be as personally satisfying as any victory he’s had since leading Kentucky to the national championship 13 years ago.
Nobody needs to feel sorry for Calipari about the way anything in his life or career has turned out, but we can all appreciate to some degree how it must feel to be really good at something for a very long time and suddenly have the same people who praised you for it question in a very loud and public way whether you can still do the job.
Saturday, the question was answered. As it turns out, yeah, Coach Cal has still got it.
Getting this Arkansas team to the Sweet 16 would have ranked as one of the more meaningful…
[ad_2]Source link : https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/dan-wolken/2025/03/22/john-calipari-arkansas-basketball-sweet-16-ncaa-tournament/82616714007/
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Publish date : 2025-03-22 23:36:00
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