Arkansas Forces National Reporter’s Shocking Change of Heart on John Calipari

Jeff Goodman didn’t hold back when Arkansas’ roster was down to just seven players earlier in the season. “You don’t go into a season with nine scholarship players. That is just pure stupidity,” he said. And for most of the year, the Razorbacks looked exactly as bad as many expected. But now, after a turbulent season filled with injuries and doubt, John Calipari has somehow steered this team back into NCAA Tournament contention.

The turning point came when Calipari returned to Rupp Arena last month. Since then, Arkansas has been on a roll, losing just four of their last 11 games. “Every game we play is an NCAA Tournament game now. I want to write our own story. I want us to write it. We have a chance. It is all in our hands,” Calipari said after their recent loss to Auburn. They have been treating every game as a knockout game since then, and it shows.

Goodman, who was once one of Calipari’s harshest critics this season, now acknowledged the remarkable turnaround. “Of course, how can you not (praise Coach Cal)? He has flipped this team and he has got them in the right side of the bubble right now. Having said that, they should never have been as bad as they were in the first two-thirds of the season. But yes, he (Calipari) has done a hell of a job in the last third of the season.“

A typical Jeff Goodman answer. Arkansas started the year ranked 16th in the nation, but their fortunes took a nosedive once SEC play began. A brutal five-game losing streak in conference play left them with an 11-7 record, and their NCAA Tournament hopes seemed to be fading fast. At that point, the Razorbacks were no longer a favorite but a team fighting for survival.

To make matters worse, injuries threatened to derail their comeback. Boogie Fland was ruled out for the season, and Adou Thiero has missed over 10 games, including the last four. Yet, despite those setbacks, Calipari has kept his team afloat. “This is where I’m going to give Cal a lot of credit,” Goodman admitted. “In the last four games, they’ve been without probably their most important player in Adou Thiero, and he has done a good job getting them back on track. Now, they’ve got the number 9 seed.”

Thiero, averaging 15.6 points and 6 rebounds, was a massive loss when he got injured in their win against Missouri. But in his absence, Trevon Brazile has stepped up in a big way. Since entering the starting lineup, Brazile has scored 41 points and grabbed 39 rebounds, helping Arkansas secure crucial wins over Vanderbilt and Texas. Calipari’s team has defied the odds and won 3 of their 4 games without their star player.

Goodman’s comments are in direct contradiction to what he had said in late January. By the 28th of January, Calipari’s team had a 1-6 SEC record, and it was almost certain that they were going to miss the NCAA tournament. Talking about what in the world is wrong with his team, Goodman made a pretty brutal remark. “Time has passed,” he said of the 66-year-old coach, taking a dig at how he has formed the staff at not just Arkansas but even Kentucky.

“I think time has passed him by a little bit,” Goodman said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “I think he and his staff haven’t adapted like a lot of other coaches in the league and even around the country… Everybody else is adapting and John Calipari and his staff full of yes men haven’t really adapted.”

Goodman had further questioned Calipari’s coaching abilities, stating that relying on the talent gap as he once did was no longer an option with the SEC’s increasing competitiveness. Notably, this was attested by an anonymous SEC coach, as reported by Jack Pilgrim of On3, who commented, “There’s just no fear now when I see him on the other sideline. The game has changed and he is becoming archaic“. That is sure to make anyone boil over with anger and motivation.

And it is not in March that the analyst has had a change of heart. He had called the team dangerous in early February, admitting that even he had the team was almost written off, considering them as good as done. However, he found it remarkable that since Boogie Fland’s injury, Nelly Davis had regained his form. So, now, it’s just that he or anyone cannot ignore the team anymore. He also made a public announcement of it, tweeting, “It’s time to talk about Arkansas and Indiana!! John Calipari and Mike Woodson!!! Two teams that have risen from the dead!“.

Fair to say that confidence is high in the Arkansas camp, but they know the job is far from done. The focus now shifts to the SEC tournament. Calipari knows that if they win their next 5 games in 5 days, they can secure a direct entry to the NCAA tournament. Whether that’s possible or not is a whole different conversation. First, let’s take a look at who they play.

What’s next for John Calipari and co

“You never… the committee will make a decision. You can’t get out ahead of yourself. We just have to keep trying to get better,” Calipari said during Saturday’s postgame press conference. “They told me we have South Carolina, who beat us and they were up 40—no, literally, they were up 40—and that’s who we’ve got to play in the (SEC) Tournament. So let’s just worry about that. The other stuff will take care of itself. We talked about it.”

Arkansas will be hoping that their regular-season form, along with the fact that they played in the most stacked conference in the country, will be enough to get them into the tournament. But Calipari isn’t taking any chances. His focus is on South Carolina- the team that, as Jeff Goodman says, absolutely “molly-whopped” them the last time these two teams faced each other.