Arkansas’ bludgeoning at the hands of Tennessee in Saturday’s SEC opener has caused social media to flood with reactionary takes about Razorback basketball and, of course, head coach John Calipari.
Some are saying Calipari is the “most overrated coach” in college basketball history, and others are accusing him of only being able to win when he illegally pays his players. Jeff Goodman and the Field of 68 crew pondered whether or not the Naismith Hall of Fame coach had “officially lost his fastball.”
Perfectly reasonable stuff to outcry after a whopping one conference game. Great job, everyone.
In all seriousness, it really doesn’t make much sense to draw such drastic conclusions from a single game – especially when it was a road matchup with the nation’s top-ranked team. The Hogs have also dealt with numerous injuries through the early part of the season, meaning that multiple rotation pieces like Johnell Davis and Jonas Aidoo are just now getting up to speed.
Even amongst all of that, Calipari still picked up a signature non-conference win against a ranked Michigan team in Madison Square Garden – proving the 65-year-old still has some gas left in the tank.
Razorback fans are reserving their judgement until later in the year for this reason. The guys over at Sleepers Media are also not hitting the panic button – but it’s for a different, much more cynical reason.
“I don’t know that Cal has a serious chance at winning a national title anytime soon,” Sleepers’ Greg Waddell said. “But there’s a lot of programs out there, and I think Arkansas is one, where the goal isn’t necessarily national championships. The goal is just to be relevant.”
“As long as John Calipari is your coach, you’re going to have NBA players in your uniforms and you’re going to win enough games to make the tournament, and that’s relevancy.”
That’s the sort of silly take you can only get from national media outlets that, while churning content pinned to Calipari on the regular, appear to remain pretty ignorant on the state of affairs at Arkansas.
Where Does Arkansas Sit on College Hoops’ Hierarchy?
Arkansas is historically one of the most prestigious programs in basketball history. 24 regular season conference championships, seven conference tournament titles, 14 trips to the Sweet 16, six Final Fours and, of course, a national title in 1994.
The Athletic made a tier list back in 2023 ranking the most prestigious programs in college basketball. There were six blue bloods in tier one: Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, UConn, Duke and North Carolina. There were six more teams in the second tier, including Michigan State, Indiana and Louisville.
Arkansas slotted in at tier three, which included 15 teams – title-winning programs like Michigan and Syracuse and conference foes Texas and Tennessee among them. That puts Arkansas basketball squarely in the top 15-25 most prestigious programs in the country.
Until Eric Musselman came to town, you could certainly argue that the Razorbacks had been a fallen giant through much of the 21st century. The days of Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson were long gone, and the Hogs hadn’t made a Sweet 16 in more than two decades. That was, until the Muss Bus led Arkansas to two Elite Eights and a Sweet 16 in three consecutive seasons.
The Hogs pulled off multiple upsets over No. 1-seeded teams in March Madness, and saw five-stars like Anthony Black and Nick Smith Jr. drafted in the NBA lottery. Of course the 2023-24 season did not go as planned, but Arkansas basketball was certainly nationally relevant during Musselman’s five years in Fayetteville.
Then, after the Head Hog jettisoned to the west coast to take the USC job, Arkansas landed by far the biggest fish of the offseason by bringing Kentucky head coach John Calipari to town. It takes a lot of pull to lure in a Naismith Hall of Fame coach from a blue blood program, even with all the pressure he was under in Lexington.
Recent Past Shows Relevancy Not Enough for Arkansas
Calipari is making $40 million over the next five years to coach the Razorbacks. To suggest that Arkansas will be okay with merely appearing in the NCAA Tournament after waltzing through the regular season is pretty ridiculous.
That’s about what the Hogs achieved under Mike Anderson, and athletic director Hunter Yurachek fired him to bring in Musselman. The way Sleepers Media described it, Arkansas met the criteria for relevancy (again) a decade ago, when it was occasionally finishing in the top four of the SEC, consistently making the NCAA Tournament and producing NBA talents like Bobby Portis and Daniel Gafford.
But that wasn’t good enough. That’s why Musselman was brought in. He took Arkansas back to where it belonged – deep tournament runs in March Madness and consistent rankings in the AP Poll. But after just one down year following that three-season tournament tear, Razorback fans were already growing restless with the Head Hog.
The way Waddell describes the Hogs’ place on the ladder, you’d have expected Arkansas fans to have been distraught when Musselman bailed for USC. Instead, it was viewed almost as a mutual parting of ways – even before Calipari entered the conversation as a candidate. Yurachek certainly seemed to not be too beat up over his departure. It was almost as if he knew he had an ace up his sleeve.
So no, Razorback Nation is not going to be content with merely sleepwalking to the tournament each year.
Where is the Bar Set for Arkansas Basketball Under Calipari?
Arkansas is widely viewed as one of the 15 or so schools that are capable of being a national powerhouse and winning titles through a combination of historical prestige, funding and fan support. While the Hogs don’t quite carry the “national title or bust” standard that many blue bloods hold, they’ll certainly expect some major silverware to come out of Calipari’s tenure.
If Coach Cal is able to win the SEC and make a Final Four at some point during his five-year contract, I think that would be enough to satisfy most fans. There will obviously be some grace this season with it being his first year in town and the SEC being historically tough, but soon the pressure cooker will heat up with expectations of big regular seasons or deep tournament runs.
And at the end of the day, the expectation being a Final Four at some point is a kind of code for winning a national title. When you’ve made it that far, it’s implied that you’re really in the mix to win it all if you can close the deal. Especially as a non-Cinderella. Don’t take it from us, take it from Richardson himself.
“I don’t see why it couldn’t be a job where he could come in and win a national championship,” the legendary coach said of Cal. “I can see what they can. I don’t know another coach who could do it better than Calipari because of his recruiting.”
Coach Cal’s recruiting pitch that Arkansas was going to be “Calipari University” in a different headquarters was a pretty brash statement that definitely raised some eyebrows, but the Head Hog is certainly aware of the caliber of this program.
“This program, when you’re coaching in it, it’s bigger than me,” he clarified in his radio show at Sassy’s on Monday night. “This program was about Coach Richardson, Coach Sutton, the things that they did here.”
From those two legends of the past to the Hall of Fame coach currently leading the Razorbacks, Arkansas is a program steeped in history. To suggest that simple tournament appearances and “relevancy” will be enough to meet expectations is far off the mark.
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Goodman and Co. discuss whether Coach Cal still has his fastball or not:
Full Sleepers Media segment previewing Arkansas vs. Ole Miss:
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More coverage of Arkansas basketball from BoAS:
