{"id":85997,"date":"2025-03-19T22:37:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T03:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/john-calipari-recalls-thinking-arkansas-was-left-out-of-ncaa-tournament-could-they-possibly-do-that\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T22:37:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T03:37:00","slug":"john-calipari-recalls-thinking-arkansas-was-left-out-of-ncaa-tournament-could-they-possibly-do-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/john-calipari-recalls-thinking-arkansas-was-left-out-of-ncaa-tournament-could-they-possibly-do-that\/","title":{"rendered":"John Calipari recalls thinking Arkansas was left out of NCAA Tournament: \u2018Could they possibly do that?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arkansas<\/a><\/strong> will be a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament this season, entering March Madness with a 20-13 record. They\u2019re set to take on No. 7 seed Kansas<\/a><\/strong> in the first round on Thursday.<\/p>\n

When the bracket was revealed on Selection Sunday, however, there was a thought that crept into Calipari\u2019s mind that the Razorbacks might have slipped out of the field entirely. Of course, that wouldn\u2019t be the case and the Razorbacks were indeed in the final field. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt came down to the last four teams and we weren\u2019t in yet. I\u2019m like, \u2018Could they possibly do that when four teams that got in were below us in the SEC? They can\u2019t do it. Can they do it?’\u201d Calipari asked<\/a>. \u201cAnd we got in. Then I started breathing. I still haven\u2019t thought of all the other stuff you talked about. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a hard game, a hard game tomorrow. Hard game. I just want to be at my best where I\u2019m helping these kids for 40 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, all but two SEC teams (LSU<\/a><\/strong> and South Carolina<\/a><\/strong>) were revealed to have made the NCAA Tournament field this season. A record 14 teams punched their ticket to the Big Dance, shattering the old record by three teams.<\/p>\n

The Arkansas head coach\u2019s thoughts aren\u2019t entirely surprising, however. While many bracketologists had the Razorbacks well within the NCAA Tourament bubble after winning their first game in Nashville at the SEC Tournament, their postseason fate wasn\u2019t set in stone during the regular season.<\/p>\n

Arkansas lost its first five games to start conference play, but would go on to win eight of its final 13 regular season games against SEC competition. That final stretch, in the end, was enough for the selection committee to give the Razorbacks the nod.<\/p>\n

Calipari noted on Wednesday that every single one of his players has gone through a \u201cdark point\u201d throughout the season. Howevever, his group has been awarded the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament, and they aren\u2019t taking their spot for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had those life lessons with this group,\u201d Calipari said. \u201cIt\u2019s been rewarding. It will be really rewarding if we play well tomorrow, and playing well does not guarantee we\u2019ll win the game because they\u2019re really good, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tip-off between Arkansas and Kansas is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET during Thursday\u2019s opening day slate. The NCAA Tournament matchup will be broadcast on CBS.<\/p>\n\n

The post John Calipari recalls thinking Arkansas was left out of NCAA Tournament: \u2018Could they possibly do that?\u2019<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arkansas will be a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament this season, entering March…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}