Kansas' Bill Self on Preparing to Face John Calipari's Arkansas Team in NCAA Tournament

Self and Calipari have twice met in the NCAA Tournament National Championship game

Apr 2, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self talks with guard Tyshawn Taylor (10) and guard Elijah Johnson (15) during the second half in the finals of the 2012 NCAA men's basketball Final Four against the Kentucky Wildcats at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

It's not often you get a pair of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coaches squaring off against each other in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament but Thursday will bring exactly that when Kansas takes on Arkansas.

Bill Self will lead Kansas into Providence where it will take on John Calipari and Arkansas. This meeting will feature a pair of head coaches that have met in the national championship a couple of times before.

Self won his first national championship at Kansas in 2007 when the Jayhawks beat Calipari's Memphis team in overtime. The two coaches met again in 2012 with Calipari's Kentucky squad beating Kansas in the national championship.

Bill Self on Coaching Against John Calipari

Self was asked about playing a John Calipari coached team shortly after the brackets were announced Sunday, and shared how he views his Hall of Fame opponent.

"He's always great, you know, recruiting great players and terrific athletes" said Self. "I think they do a good job coaching them too. And I think they usually guard, and I'm sure they'll do that, and they're battle tested, obviously, going through the going through the grind of the SEC, but yeah, it'll be a fun, competitive game.

"I know we're going to have to play really well to win, and I believe they're going to have to play well to win too. So we bond against each other quite a bit over time, but I don't believe we ever gone against each other, except in two really big games in the in the NCAA Tournament. So, so and we split those so, so it'll be, it'll be a much talked about matchup, I assume."

Kansas and Arkansas will tip-off at 6:10 p.m. CT on Wednesday in Providence, Rhode Island in a game that can be seen on CBS.

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