Big Risk by Arkansas Taking on Calipari Has Paid Off

Bringing in Kentucky coach could've killed program's momentum had it not worked out

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari reacts to a made shot against the Georgia Bulldogs in a 68-65 comeback win Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. / Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — To hear the national pundits tell it, John Calipari abandoned Kentucky to come save a poor, destitute program that knows nothing of winning basketball in hopes that one day there might be a culture in Arkansas that knows at least a little something about winning a few basketball games.

While even the docuseries fails to mention it, that is about as far from the truth as this story can be. Yes, Calipari is a Hall of Fame coach who came, unexpected to most, to take the Razorbacks' job last spring, but it wasn't Calipari who was taking the risk on Arkansas. It was the Hogs who were risking a lot in bringing in Calipari in hopes it might work out for both sides.

What keeps getting left out of the equation is two years ago, the standard at Arkansas was to at least be a No. 4 seed and make it to the Elite 8. The Razorbacks had done it back-to-back seasons and the goal was to break through to the Final Four.

Instead, that bar lowered to three consecutive Sweet 16s instead of rising to a pair of Elite 8s with a Final Four tacked onto the end of the three-year cycle. Despite a rough season in former coach Eric Musselman's final year and Alabama making the Final Four that same season, Arkansas still led the SEC in NCAA Tournament wins in the 2020s.

Meanwhile, Calipari looked like his career might well be done over the past half decade at Kentucky. He posted a nine-win season and a pair of first round upsets to St. Peter's and Oakland, two teams most of America didn't know actually played Division I basketball.

Kentucky became the program Cinderella teams dreamed of getting paired with while Wildcats fans bemoaned the "lifetime" contract Calipari had signed. They wanted him and his one NCAA Tournament win in a half decade gone.

Arkansas was taking a huge risk on possibly bringing him in. The biggest momentum seen in the program since the 1990s Nolan Richardson teams could die in an instant if Calipari's trend of postseason failures continued.

Razorbacks fans cared only for tournament success in March, not the SEC regular season and tournament championships Calipari prided himself on so much. It wasn't the greatest match, plus he was persona non grata at Bud Walton Arena.

It was going to take a lot of work to make fans trust Calipari and want to cheer for him if he took the job, which turned out to be a real issue as the stands were largely empty for much of the season, including Calipari's debut. Simply walking in from Kentucky with the moniker "Hall of Fame" coach wasn't going to earn loyalty.

One of the biggest risks to bringing Calipari in was how Arkansas achieved those long NCAA Tournament runs. It came through hard work and extensive scouting and preparation. There was a pride in how well Razorbacks players knew the opponent.

Arkansas may lose, but it was going to take a far superior team. On the flip side, Calipari's Kentucky teams looked both unprepared and unfocused when it came to the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky with the most baffling mistake of the tourney so far. Oakland made the and-one and missed the free throw, but UK threw the rebound -- which was a live ball -- out of bounds thinking he had one more foul shot. pic.twitter.com/LXiyGBmD6J

— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) March 22, 2024

In the end, the risk taken by Arkansas paid off. It took a big run at the end to surpass the previous season's disastrous win total and squeeze into the NCAA Tournament, but the Razorbacks have not only looked prepared, they have been effective.

Calipari still has work to do on building relationships with the fans, but he took care of the most important thing on his list. He's winning NCAA Tournament games in March.

Now, Arkansas has officially made the Sweet 16 four of the past five seasons and has the opportunity to make it three Eilte 8 appearances over that same stretch. It's the second most successful decade, second only to the 1990s.

That decade featured six Sweet 16s in seven years, including four Elite 8s, three Final Fours and a pair of national title game appearances between 1990 and 1995. That's the level of performance Arkansas is trying to restore, and Calipari helping to make it four Sweet 16s in five seasons goes a long way toward that.

Now, if only the rest of the world knew how successful the Arkansas program actually has been.

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