Kentucky fans need to zip it, stop stalking Calipari also

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Kentucky really needs to shut up for its own sake. The Wildcats are really embarrassing themselves.

That comes not from a Razorbacks fans, but from a journalist who just happens to cover Arkansas whose job it is to provide non-biased obervations of the college sports world.

And right now, the easiest observation to make is Big Blue Nation is way out of its element and having a complete meltdown, all because it neither knows how to process sports relationships, nor the NIL era.

Recently, a Tweet went out that said something along the lines of John Calipari is finally winning now that he is at a school where they don't actually care about winning.

So Calipari isn’t washed. He just needed to go somewhere where they dont care about winning to actually start winning again
— BigBlueArthur (@bigbluebosshog) December 13, 2025

It was weird looking at the reactions. The Arkansas fans who responded were rather reserved for Hogs fans on social media, especially as it relates to Kentucky basketball, pointing out the obvious passion Razorbacks fans have for the sport as the other recognized basketball school in the conference.

Others appeared to feel pity for a program unable to get over a break-up with its ex-coach that the Kentucky fan base made clear it wanted. There was little doubt the Wildcats no longer had room in their hearts for Calipari while their program fell behind Arkansas as the flagship of the SEC.

So, when Eric Musselman left to return home at USC to be on the West Coast closer to his mother, Arkansas turned to Calipari, who was no longer wanted by his fans. While it was slightly difficult for the former Kentucky coach to leave because of all of his years there, the hatred regularly shown by Big Blue Nation made it clear both sides needed a change, so a change they would both have.

In regards to the post, it leads to two points of discussion. The first is whether Arkansas cares about winning and the second is why Kentucky is all about Calipari nearly two years out from their break-up.

Does Arkansas care about winning in basketball?

First off, Kentucky fans must hate the idea of constantly looking up at the Razorbacks when it comes to basketball success. Sure, the Hogs are great at every sport except football, but Big Blue Nation only truly cares about basketball, so sitting around watching the Hogs advance deep into the tournament every season, knocking off overall No. 1 seeds on the regular, must drive Kentucky fans insane.

During this decade, Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament, then went out in the first round three seasons in a row before Mark Pope finally guided the Wildcats to the Sweet 16. At no point did Kentucky out-perform the Razorbacks.

In fact, like much of the SEC, they grossly underperformed in relation to Arkansas. The Hogs went to a pair of Elite Eight's and a pair of Sweet 16's over five seasons, although, as reminded bitterly by the rematch with No. 17 Texas Tech this past weekend, it should be three Elite Eight's and Sweet 16.

For multiple years under former head coach Eric Musselman, Arkansas carried the SEC banner, going further than any other team in the conference. Meanwhile, Kentucky held the shame of the league as a blue blood that couldn't carry its load.

It was below the school's standard, but blind love of Calipari kept Kentucky from moving on from its coach and looking for a new direction. Rewind a few years, and Arkansas was in a much similar situation.

Mike Anderson, who was as beloved a coach as there can be, was a Razorback through and through. He was there all throughout the Nolan Richardson years, serving as his right-hand man.

Richardson trusted him with everything, including taking his daughter to treatments in Tulsa near the end of her life. Anderson served his years under Richardson almost as an extra appendage.

He began to look like him, dress like him, yell like him, but he wasn't quite Richardson. There was significant success elsewhere, including Missouri, so when he came to Arkansas as the new head coach, expectations were high that the Hogs would return to the team that walked in and blew out Rick Pitino's Wildcats everyone was supposed to fear so much back when the Hogs joined the SEC.

They then took down Kentucky in three of the first four as the Razorbacks claimed the national title and then went back to the national championship with Big Blue smeared all across the bottom of their high-tops and Anderson on the bench while it happened.

However, while Anderson managed to win at a decent clip, he wasn't winning at Razorback basketball levels. Arkansas went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a few times, but after the Hogs got bounced by Butler in 2018, 79-62, it became clear Anderson, no matter how loved he was, wasn't going to deliver at the rate the program expects.

So, new Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek, fired Anderson and moved on to the Musselman era that restored Razorbacks basketball to its rightful place. Kentucky didn't care enough about winning to make such a bold move against someone it too loved, and it has cost the program.

Relationship issues

Part of Kentucky's problem is Pope can never achieve his full potential while his fans pine for Calipari. It's been non-stop since the former Kentucky coach showed up at Arkansas.

It's easy to track the number of readers by location. Almost always, there are as many people from Kentucky reading stories about Calipari as Arkansas fans.

Sometimes there are even more. They were relentless last season, making comments after every game and about each press conference.

It was obvious they weren't happy being the ones who got left in this relationship. However, they made it clear they didn't want him around, begging for Calipari to be fired.

When he beat them to the punch because the Kentucky brass didn't have it in them to pull the trigger, Big Blue Nation felt jilted. They also couldn't process him going to Arkansas, a team they thought themselves superior to so long as they could ignore the postseason results each year and basic reality.

Yet, here we are in Year 2, and these fans are still obsessing over Calipari rather than supporting their own coach. Musselman was far more successful than Calipari this decade, but when he left, Razorbacks fans didn't stalk him.

They not only don't know his every move, most don't even recall where he went. They wished him the best, assumed he would pop up as a potential opponent in the postseason, and let West Coast basketball reside where it belongs, completely unseen because of the time zone difference.

For the record, Musselman's Trojans are 10-1 and in second place in the Big Ten. That's information pretty much no Razorbacks fans would know. However, Kentucky fans can probably recite where Calipari had dinner the night before the game in Dallas this past weekend.

It's time to let it go. Sure things are a little rough right now, but Big Blue Nation needs to learn a lesson pounded into Razorbacks fans during the Musselman era.

It's not about winning a bunch of big games early in the season. Those don't matter much in the long run.

Instead, it's about getting hot in the second half of the SEC, especially late, skipping out early in the SEC Tournament, and making a huge run in the NCAA Tournament. That requires giving rosters jammed together through NIL money time to gel.

These teams don't come together until late because they need time to bond, learn each other's game and also to care about one other. That's how Arkansas became a postseason juggernaut and Kentucky became the football season champions of basketball while bombing in the postseason.

So, Kentucky, stay out of Arkansas business. It makes you look horribly desperate and a bit pathetic. Stop stalking Calipari.

You've got a man. How about showing him some love an attention for once?

He's going through a tough time, and an actual good fan base would be there for him, lifting him and his players up as they struggle to figure out how the puzzle pieces fit.

Build toward a time where you face your ex, Calipari, in a moment where you are at your best. However, until then, it's best you don't think about him or pay him any attention at all.

You're no longer the pride of the SEC the Hogs trampled over when they came into the conference as the new basketball power. Instead, you're just a sad, desperate group of fans living in the middle of the pack who can't get over the past and a break-up you said you wanted.

It's hard to watch. So, take time to get over it, and in the meantime, keep quiet.

Stop putting Calipari's name in your mouth every few minutes and definitely don't talk to Arkansas about caring about winning until you finally show you can compete with a program like that in the postseason on a regular basis.

Does Arkansas care about winning in basketball?

Relationship issues

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