Head coach John Calipari has his Arkansas men’s basketball team in their second consecutive Sweet 16 since taking over the program two years ago, and is an upset over top-seeded Arizona away from the prospects of taking his fourth different team to the NCAA Final Four.
Calipari led the Razorbacks to their first SEC Tournament Championship in six years with a double-digit win over Vanderbilt on March 15. Victories over #13 Hawaii and #12 High Point in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament ran Arkansas’ winning streak to seven games. High Point was coming off a dramatic first-round upset over the fifth-seeded Wisconsin, and gave the Razorbacks everything they could handle in a 94-88 win last Saturday night. Calipari’s squad’s last loss came on February 28 to a Florida Gator team that was stunned as a #1 seed by ninth-ranked Iowa on Sunday. Next up for the Razorbacks is top-seeded Arizona in the Sweet 16.
The metrics for the Big 12 Champion Arizona Wildcats (34-2) are no doubt daunting. They’re riding an 11-game winning streak that includes four combined wins over NCAA Tournament favorites Houston and Iowa State. Arizona was the top rebounding team in the Big 12. In their last ten games, they are averaging 81.8 points, 38.9 rebounds, and shooting 48.5% from the field, while holding their opponents to just 68 points per contest. Arkansas will counter with Darius Acuff Jr., who earned First Team All-American and SEC Player of the Year honors after a phenomenal freshman campaign, averaging 23.3 points and 6.5 assists per game. The Razorback point guard has taken it to another level in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 30 points in Arkansas’ two wins. Acuff Jr. is part of a freshman syndicate that took NCAA basketball by storm this season, which includes BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer (Duke), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), Kingston Fleming (Houston), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Keaton Wagler (Illinois), and Tennessee’s Nate Ament. This talented group looks poised to make history in the upcoming 2026 NBA draft. With Acuff Jr. running the Razorback offense over the last 10 games, they’ve averaged 91.5 points, 17.5 assists, and 7.3 steals, while shooting 49.6% from the field.
Calipari’s lone National Championship came in 2012 with Kentucky, led by star freshman Anthony Davis. Calipari would guide the Wildcats to two more Final Four appearances in the next three seasons, giving him four total in the Bluegrass State. He stepped away from the Wildcat program in 2024 despite signing a lifetime contract in April of 2019. The often-maligned head coach also led UMASS to the 1996 Final Four with Marcus Camby and a runner-up finish in the national championship game with Derrick Rose and Memphis in 2008. Both of those Final Four appearances have asterisks and were officially vacated by the NCAA for rules violations concerning Camby and Rose. With an upset over Arizona on Thursday, Calipari would have the Razorback program in prime position for their first Final Four appearance in 31 years. Nolan Richardson led Arkansas to three Final Fours, including a 1994 NCAA National Championship with Corliss Williamson.
Calipari’s vacated Final Four appearances (1996, 2008) due to NCAA rules violations would likely be an afterthought in today’s college sports landscape. The 67-year-old Calipari is proving that old hats can not only survive in this new NIL era in college basketball but thrive in it. He joins Kelvin Sampson (Houston), Tom Izzo (Michigan St.), Rick Pitino (St. John’s), Rick Barnes (Tennessee), and Brad Underwood of Illinois as head coaches 63 years old and over in this year’s Sweet 16.
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