I was in Pittsburgh right now and covered the first round of NCAA tournament games there. I was a court for Jack Gohlke-Games-Oaklands 14-3 upset by Kentucky constructed by the future auditor’s 10 3-pointer.
What we didn’t know at that time was that it marked John Calipari’s last game as a coach for Kentucky. The heat increased with its lack of new tournament success, but for him that bolt for SEC rival was Arkansas another issue.
There is the unique speech of college basketball for you. If Gohlke does not meet these pictures, we will not get today’s massive coaching -showdown in the second round.
Since the only thing that feels like it means from the first round of this NCAA tournament is that it produced a matchup by Calipari against Rick Pitino.
Saturday’s meeting on the appointment is 14:40 eastern time, when Caliparis 10-seeded Arkansas is facing Pitino’s second-seeded St. John’s with a trip to Sweet 16 on the line.
There is an old saying that Mars comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Well, March Madness really came in like a lamb this year. Exciting as some of the games were, it produced only one 11-6 upset and two 12 seeds that beat fives. Nothing wilder than that – much more chalk than usual.
I then have a feeling that the tournament will go out like a lion – starting with a matchup of two lions of the sport.
In the Brotherhood in College Basketball Coaching, many opposite coaches are comrades-day’s Drake-Texas tech game as a great example. The Calipari-Pitino rivalry, which goes back to their Kentucky and Louisville days and even longer, is not. There is respect, but it ends there.
“I don’t think we’ve been to dinner once during our lifetime,” said Pitino Friday. “We are both Italian. We both love the game. I think that’s where the similarities end.”
Pitino tried to make Calipari a fixed substance earlier this year, at least on the surface, although it was more like stirring the pot. From his office at St. John’s, he filmed a video of himself who told Kentucky fans not to boo Calipari when he returned to a game with his Razorbacks.
“It was nice of him. I would rather have a Christmas card, but it was nice of him,” Calipari cracked Friday.
Calipari has a lead of 13-10 over Pitino in their all time head-to-head. Pitino won his first two meetings in the NCAA tournament, Calipari the next two.
Adapt that Saturday’s showdown will break the 2-2 tie. They coaching brand new teams no year 2022 thought would have been theirs. The players are actually too young to basically have any reminder of the previous attacks in this rivalry.
Arkansas split back from a 0-5 start in Sec games to earn an NCAA tournament in large bid and then beat Bill Self and Kansas in the first round. St. John’s has won 10 in a row, Big East dominated for the regular season and tournament titles and captured the program’s first NCAA tournament in 25 years against Omaha.
“They are a team that will be prepared,” said Calipari about Pitinos coaching. “They will play hard. They will play roughly. It will be shock and grind. You will not get a free arrangement without being supported. It’s his team.”
We will see how things are handled at the moment one of these coaches gets heated or there is a conversation that someone does not like (and there will be conversations that none of them are). For a tournament that may be on the way to a very chalk Final Four, Pitino-Calipari may be what we stop remembering the most.
