John Calipari shocked NCAA didn't put Arkansas in Lexington: "Somebody must have been sick"

One of the biggest storylines of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is in Providence, where three Hall of Fame coaches are in the same pod in the West Region: John Calipari’s No. 10 seed Arkansas Razorbacks, Bill Self’s No. 7 seed Kansas Jayhawks, and Rick Pitino’s No. 2 seed St. John’s Red Storm.

The first-round matchup between Calipari and Self is entertaining enough, but if the Razorbacks upset the Jayhawks and the Red Storm takes care of business vs. Omaha, we’ll get another round of Calipari vs. Pitino, a rivalry that peaked when Cal was at Kentucky and Pitino at Louisville. The storyline is so great that Calipari said he was shocked the Selection Committee didn’t go a step further and put the game in Lexington, where both coaches led Kentucky to national championships.

“I said [St. John’s] would be the No. 2 [seed] if we come out No. 10 [seed],” Calipari said in today’s press conferences. “They told me who the No. 7s [seeds] were. I said, ‘We’ll play Kansas. And if we’re the two, it’ll be him.’ I thought it may be played somewhere else. Where do you think I thought they would put us to play?”

“Lexington,” several reporters in the room said.

“Come on,” Cal said. “And they didn’t? When I saw we weren’t there, I’m like, ‘Wow, somebody must have been sick and went to the bathroom or something for them not the put us there.'”

Instead, it’s Providence, an “Italian City!”, Calipari exclaimed in the press conference, opening his arms wide. Arkansas vs. Kansas tips off Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS, followed by St. John’s vs. Omaha. In official games, Calipari and Self are tied at 6-6 (each with a national championship against the other), but the Razorbacks beat the Jayhawks by 16 in a preseason scrimmage.

“Playing someone I have respect for in this is hard,” Calipari said of Self. “Both of us are trying to beat each other’s brains in. Then you feel bad and then you move on thinking about the next game.

“No, they’re good, they’re big. They struggled some, so have we, but he’s a great coach, has built terrific programs and cultures that win. So it will be a hard game for us, a really hard game.”

Kansas is a 4.5-point favorite. Calipari confirmed Arkansas will be without Adou Thiero (knee), but Boogie Fland (thumb) has been cleared to return.

“He was good today,” Calipari said of Fland. “His hand was bothering him a little bit, so he went light. I’m trying to think of the rotation. Like how am I going to do this?”

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Pitino only considers one coach his rival — and it’s not Cal

Calipari admitted to predicting the draw when it comes to storylines, but Pitino didn’t take the bait. When asked about Cal and Self, Pitino said he’s only concerned about one team right now, and that’s Omaha, St. John’s first-round opponent.

“It really doesn’t matter. They’re great coaches but I’m just concerned about Omaha,” Pitino said. “I’m just excited to be here regardless of who’s coaching. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m very concerned with the talent we’re facing.”

Pitino doubled down on that when asked about his success in winning two games in one weekend, telling reporters that he didn’t watch any Arkansas or Kansas games this season (even though there was a rumor he was going to attend Kentucky vs. Arkansas at Rupp Arena in person).

“I think the first thing you do is don’t think about the second game because I think all of us in this room, if we knew who was going to win, I wouldn’t be coaching and you wouldn’t be writing. You have no idea who is going to win Kansas-Arkansas. Two great coaches, great talent, you just focus on what you can control and that’s Omaha. Our respect for Omaha is off the charts. They can really, really play.

“There are certain teams I have seen sometimes in scouting that had a lot of weaknesses that you could exploit. I don’t see that with this basketball team. The best thing to do is take care of preparing for the first game, pay no attention to the second game at all because I have not seen Kansas or Arkansas at all this year. I have seen a lot of teams play, but I haven’t seen either one of those teams play. I have now on tape, but I haven’t prior to that. I couldn’t tell you who the better team is. I think they’re both outstanding. Kansas was a pre-season number one in the nation. Arkansas has been really, really hot of late, so two great teams. They’re going to do battle.”

Pitino being Pitino, he couldn’t help but get in one subtle shot at Calipari, his perceived longtime rival, while reflecting on his time at Providence.

“There’s only one coach I really consider a rival in my whole career — and I’ve been blessed to coach against Frank McGuire in his last game, coached against Dean Smith. There’s only coach I’ve had a strong rivalry with, and today, I respect him as much as anybody in the game.”

It’s Calipari! He’s going to say Calipari!

“…and that’s Jim Calhoun. We hated each other at BU and Northeastern. Hated each other and there were 300 people at each arena. He goes on to coach at Connecticut, I go on to coach at Providence and we hated each other there as well. And today, I don’t think I respect any coach in the game as much as I respect Jim Calhoun.”

Give us Pitino vs. Calipari on Saturday. We deserve it.

Make sure you are LOCKED IN for March Madness. Join KSR+ to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including the latest recruiting and roster intel, basketball game threads, and in-depth scouting reports. Just $1 for a week.