Even and Calipari and Pitino, Oh my god! Trainer heading first round in Providence

John Fanta

College basketball broadcaster and reporter

Providence, RI -You could feel the sum in the Amica -Mutual Pavilion on Wednesday. This was not a typical media day before the first round games at the NCAA tournament with several national media, cameras everywhere and much anticipation for the figures that went into the interview room.

If Purdues Matt Painter keeps the fourth most common victories on the list of head coaches of a NCAA tournament location, everything you need to know should tell you.

Rick Pitino. John Calipari. Bill itself.

All three legendary trainers are not only in providence. You happen to be in the first round of the NCAA tournament in the same pod. That is 2,593 victories, 103 years of experience in the head coach, five national championships, 17 trips to the Final Four and countless trophies.

When Jayhawks and Calipari’s Razorbacks are in a first round 7 against 10 in the region in the West around 10 on Thursday at 7.10 p.m. ET, it will mark their third meeting in the NCAA tournament. The two previous ones? The National Championship Game 2008, won by Mario Chalmers and Kansas, and the National Title Game 2012, in which Doron Lamb and the Wildcats Calipari solution won.

Obviously, this encounter is not at the level of this, but that shouldn’t remove an exciting matchup. The Jayhawks entered the season.

On the other hand, Arkansas started in the second 0: 5 and looked like the NCAA tournament was missing. However, the Calipari team navigated in a season that was beaten up by injuries to win five of his seven games that led to Big Dance.

The winner of the showdowns Self vs. Calipari will probably meet Pitino, whose season was the opposite of these other legends and St. John’s first championship championship in the regular season in the regular season in Big East since 1985, in which Lou Carnesecca brought the Johnnies to the final. The St. Johns team from Pitino also won the Big East Conference tournament for the first time in a quarter of a century, which was driven by the top defense of the nation.

All three brought another viewpoint to the table on Wednesday, with both Calipari and self -representatives thought that this matchup could happen.

“I somehow predicted it. I predicted my team in practice,” said Calipari, who was only looking for his second NCAA tournament victory since he brought Kentucky to Sweet 16 in 2019. “The team was like ‘how?’ It is because I did it!

Although it was not the regular season he had hoped for, said Calipari that it was in a sense to refresh it to scream out to do the big dance because his team had fought hard during the most important season. However, Calipari did not hold back on Wednesday when he was asked for his feelings during the selection Sunday exhibition.

“Should I tell you exactly?” Asked Calipari. “It was important to the last four teams and we were not there yet. I am so. ‘Could you possibly do it if there were four teams that entered the seconds among us? You can’t do it. Can you do it?’ And then I started to breathe.

To this “drama” contains the fact that Pitino, who was in Kentucky from 1989 to 197, and Calipari, who was in Lexington from 2009 to 24 and hit him in Louisville against Kentucky Rivalry Games for eight years, messed up bitter rival and through some Legendary Seasons in the Bluegrass rivality.

Self hopes that this could help his Jayhawks, who are usually the team in the spotlight in the NCAA tournament.

“I don’t look at it as deeply as some other people,” said Self when he was asked about the playing of Caliapri and the Razorbacks. “I said a week ago that it would be Arkansas. I said, ‘You see, we’ll play Arkansas.’

“I had no idea who the 2-seed would be, but I think it’s okay for us. I would think and I don’t know positively that there will be a small plot with Kansas and Arkansas, but the potential of a Calipari-Pitino game in the second round could be sneaked up to someone.”

The matchup between the Jayhawks and Razorbacks is two teams that sit against each other in the top 20 of the Kenpom defensive efficiency charts.

The HOGS could use a great performance by the NCAA tournament Great Johnell Davis, who contributed two years ago to lead Florida Atlantic to the Final Four, together with Senior Trevon Brazile, who scored a total of at least 15 points and 11 rebounds in three of his last four games.

If you have to kick for the Jayhawks, Self has not wasted time to specify your answer.

“We need Hunter Dickinson to play a big game,” said Self. “When he plays well, everything else comes together.”

The 7-foot 2-senior moved from Michigan to Kansas to pursue a national championship. While he scored an average of 17.6 points and 10 rebounds per game from shooting 53%, this season was never about collecting numbers. For Dickinson’s legacy in Kansas it is now or not.

These two teams met in October in a charity exhibition that took over the Razorbacks at that time a short Jayhawks team.

“Well, they dominated us in the exhibition,” said Self. “Hunter (Dickinson) didn’t play. Rylan (handle) didn’t play. Shakeel (Moore) didn’t play.

While the back and forth between Calipari and himself, and even the self -matting turned out that Arkansas could be distracted, Pitino would not admit a rivalry with Coach Cal.

“There is only one coach that I considered in my entire career as a rival, and I was blessed in his last game to train against Frank McGuire and at the same time train against Dean Smith,” said Pitino when he was asked in 1983 after his first NCAA tournament game during his University of Boston. “The only thing I had a strong rivalry with, and today I respect him as well as everyone in the game Jim Calhoun. We hated ourselves with Bu and Northeasters.

“He trains in Connecticut. I train in Providence and we also hated each other there. Today I don’t think I respect every coach as much as Jim Calhoun. Looking back in this phase of BU against Northeasters.”

While Calipari mentioned him When describing St. John, who did not give his rivals with the name or the team, Pitino was rejected when he was asked about the drama about these four team capsule in the West region.

“It really doesn’t matter. You are a great coach, but I’m just worried about Omaha because this team … your point Guard will be a top four point Guard in the Big Osten” Made headlines for your post -garbage waste bin. “You have the player of the year in the Power Forward Spot. I am only happy to be here, regardless of who trains. I don’t care. I am very concerned about the talent with which we are confronted.”

Yes, the stage is set. It is like a college coaches edition of the HIT show “White Lotus” between the hotels in downtown Providence. We know one thing: there is great egos and Zero Love Lost. The potential for Saturday evening is limitless. At the moment it is against Calipari on Thursday evening.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for Fox Sports. It covers the sport in a variety of functions, from the number to FS1 to the leading host in the Big East Digital Network to the comment in the area of ​​68 Media Network. Follow him @John_fanta.

Would you like great stories that are delivered directly to your inbox? Create or register in your FOX sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to get a personalized newsletter every day.

Get more from College basketball Follow your favorite to get information about games, news and more