By Robert Lastella
The matchup many have been waiting for since the NCAA tournament bracket was released will happen today in Providence. Rick Pitino and Saint John's will face off against John Calipari and Arkansas at 2:40 PM. On Saturday, 1740 career wins will stand on the sidelines of Amica Mutual Pavilion, with the side that gets that to 1741 punching their ticket to the Sweet 16.
Calipari and Pitino have accomplished a lot in their own right, however, a Round of 32 loss for either would be failing to meet expectations so it is safe to say there is a lot at stake in this matchup. Arkansas has battled back from an 0-5 start in SEC play and Saint John’s win over Omaha in the round of 64 was their first tournament win since 2000 and neither side wants to see their efforts to get here go by the wayside.
As for the two coaches, they have crossed paths many times, with their most heated crossover being when Calipari was the head coach of Kentucky and Pitino was at Louisville, two schools where it is practically required for the two coaches not to like each other. According to Pitino, despite the two coaching against each other at the two biggest basketball schools in Kentucky, there really isn’t much of a rivalry and he notes the game on Saturday is between players, not coaches.
“I don’t go against coaches, we go against teams, he doesn’t have to worry about me, my jump shot’s long gone. He's got to prepare for our team. We've got to prepare for his players. He's preparing for our players. John and I don't play one-on-one,” Pitino said.
As for the matchup itself, Arkansas will have to find a way to exploit Saint John’s staunch defense, with veteran guard Johnell Davis figuring to play a big role coming off an 18-point performance against Kansas in round one. As for SJU, coming off a barrage of 14 threes against Omaha they will look to find their shot early in this one, while also establishing their tough defense to slow down Davis and the Razorbacks.
Arkansas has battled back from being out of the NCAA tournament conversation at points this season, enacting multiple player-only meetings which helped break them out of their slump and now with veteran players and a hall-of-fame coach, they have a serious chance to make a run in the tournament, but they will have a tall task in Saint John’s. The good news for the Razorbacks is between Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, they have 2 leaders who have been in battles like this before and they will need to rely on their leadership to get past Saint John’s in this one.
These two coaches have battled many times before and although the teams may be different, there are traits that a coach can carry from team to team and Calipari sees that with Pitino and his Saint John’s team. When speaking with the media prior to the Round of 32 matchups, Calipari described many things about Pitino-led teams, but the one thing that stands out is that all his squads play hard and SJU is no different.
“They’re a team that’s going to be prepared. They're going to play hard, they're going to play rough, it's going to be bump and grind. You're not getting a free layup without getting bumped. I mean, that's his team. He's not pressing as much where he'd go, 2-2-1,1-2-2-1-2-1-1, he's doing mostly, man, sometimes he'll trap. But what you find out the second-half numbers are ridiculous. So they're wearing you down like you're in combat, and eventually, if you're not used to it, hopefully we understand that. We talk to the kids about it, but they're good. He's done a great job with his team. That's why they're a two-seed. That's why we were a 10 seed. Their guard plays and people say, they don't shoot it. Are you ready? In the last five games, their percentage is better than ours from the three. So then you gotta say, you really don't shoot it. Those are numbers that are real. So they offensive rebound like crazy. If they get 18 offensive rebounds and make 10 threes, they beat anybody in the country,” Calipari said.
The Razorbacks have dealt with injuries all season long, with Boogie Fland and Johnell Davis battling back from hand & wrist injuries and currently Adou Thiero is dealing with a knee injury that could potentially keep him out of the round of 32 games. Although Saint John’s hasn’t dealt with injuries to many of their top scorers, they have lost Brady Dunlap and Jaiden Glover, 2 key role players to injury.
Fatigue and injury happen to everyone at this time of the year and according to Pitino, the injuries haven’t slowed down Arkansas, in fact, they’re playing some of the best basketball of the season right now.
“We don't have Brady Dunlap, we don't have Jaden Glover, three players out for the season. So we're pretty banged up as well, but they're playing great basketball out of the last seven games right now, and they played a great game last night, a great game in a lot of different areas,” Pitino said.
The battle of two of the most storied coaches in the sport will take place Saturday at 2:40 PM from Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island and the winner will punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 next weekend and join Rocco in San Francisco.