It’s Still Early, But Things Are Not Going Well For John Calipari At Arkansas

And he’s not the only guy struggling

It’s arguably a bit early to talk about the most disappointing situations in college basketball right now - March is still a long ways away - but there are some things that are worth mentioning. CBS Sports ran a lot of this down earlier this week and there are three particular situations to look at: Rutgers, Indiana and Arkansas.

When Rutgers signed Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, the excitement was off the charts.

Right now, Rutgers is just 10-8 and a long shot to make the tournament. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Things can still improve, but it looks like Rutgers will have to win the Big Ten tournament to make March Madness.

Indiana is 14-5 and that should count for something, right?

Well, not so much.

IU has lost to Louisville by 18, Gonzaga by 16, Nebraska by 17 and, most damaging of all, back-to-back losses to Iowa and Illinois by 25 points each. Illinois scored 94 points, which is the most points anyone has ever scored against Indiana in Assembly Hall or whatever it’s called these days.

The fans have turned on the coach and at the last home game chanted “Fire [Mike] Woodson!” The Indianapolis Star is speculating that Woodson may not make it through the season.

Finally, Arkansas.

When the Razorbacks hired John Calipari after last season, we marveled at the local press coverage. The Arkansas media was dazzled that they reeled in a Hall of Fame coach. We made fun of their gullibility and, from what we understand, that was not appreciated.

They did hire a Hall of Fame coach, but like so many coaches, he has fallen off sharply near the end of his career.

Calipari has only won one NCAA tournament game since 2018-19. Like everyone els, he gets the Covid amnesty so give him a pass for 2019-20 (no tournament anyway) and the following season.

In 2021-22, Kentucky lost to Saint Peter’s. In 2022-23, they beat Providence then lost to Kansas State. And last season, Oakland - Oakland! - knocked Kentucky out in the first round as Jack Gohlke came off the bench to hit 10-20 and all of those shots were from behind the line.

Kentucky fans had had enough and Calipari knew the jig was up.

He took DJ Wagner, Boogie Fland, Zvonimir Ivisic, Adou Theiro and two Kentucky recruits in Karter Knox and Billy Richmond with him. Toss in highly regarded Johnell Davis, and there was reason for excitement.

Well, now the Razorbacks are 11-6 and 0-4 and in 14th place in the SEC, having lost to Tennessee (76-52), Ole Miss (73-66), Florida (71-63) and LSU (78-74).

Awful bonus: Kentucky beat woeful Miami, but only 76-73.

Kentucky plays Missouri, featuring former Blue Devil Mark Mitchell on Saturday, but the game that is really going to have people talking is Arkansas’s visit to Kentucky on February 1st. It’s too bad that UK can’t put it on Pay Per View because BBN would pay whatever they charged to watch that one.