John Calipari sends final message to NCAA Tournament committee: 'I think we've proven it'

John Calipari sent one last message to the NCAA Tournament committee ahead of Selection Sunday after falling short in the SEC Tournament. Arkansas lost to Ole Miss 83-80 in the second round.

The Razorbacks hit 20 wins this season by beating South Carolina in their first SEC Tournament, so that’ll help Calipari’s case. As he put it, the coach knows his team did enough this season.

But will it be enough in the committee’s eyes? Arkansas is on the Last Four Byes section of the latest ESPN bracketology and would be a No. 10 seed playing No. 7 Gonzaga in the East Region.

“We’ll possibly do something,” Calipari said in reference to a watch event during Selection Sunday. “Hopefully we’ve done enough and done enough in this league. You’re playing the 1 ranked, 2 ranked. You’re doing the things that we’ve done. I think we’ve proven it. I’m not in the room. I don’t know what’s happening around the country because I haven’t watched. I don’t have any idea who’s doing what right now. I was focusing on this game.”

As far as what Calipari and crew can do in the tournament, they could go on a run. That’s from a talent perspective, but you still have to play the games on the court.

“Well, you hope so,” Calipari said of going on a run. “But you don’t know who you’re playing and where you’re playing, all that stuff. My whole thing is just let’s keep playing how we’re playing. Just so you know, the last game we played, I think with 13 or 14 minutes to go, I said, Cut it off, the rest of that wasn’t my team. I know what my team is. It’s like the South Carolina game. I threw the tape out. Burn the tape. That ain’t my team. So if we play the way we’re capable of, we’ll have fun.

“Again, you think about what this team as a group has been through with injuries, individual players, guys struggling, really struggling. Guys are continuing to play and do it together, then all of a sudden two of your best players go down.”

With the way Ole Miss played Auburn in the quarterfinals, there was a “what if” Arkansas made it there factor. In a close game, Arkansas could hypothetically win that and play Tennessee in the semifinals Saturday. Instead, the top seeded Tigers survived.

“I thought we were winning that game,” Calipari said. “I’m still a little stunned that we didn’t. So my hope is we go in there and we’re feeling great ’cause these guys got up after South Carolina. We’re 0-17 now. We were down 30, maybe more, 36. How many were we down?”