March Madness: John Calipari gets brutally honest on Rick Pitino after Elite Eight upset

The Arkansas Razorbacks entered the college basketball season with high expectations. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they were going to live up to them.

They got off to a dreadful start to conference play, with coach John Calipari drawing some steep criticism because of his team’s rather surprising shortcomings.

That’s why it was such a big surprise to see them take down Kansas and St. John’s. However, when asked about beating a fellow legend like Rick Pitino, coach Cal couldn’t care less.

John Calipari didn’t care about beating Rick Pitino

“I didn’t care. It was about let’s just win because what these kids went through, they deserved good to happen because they came together,” he said. “They became one heartbeat.”

Rick Pitino

Pitino and St. John’s were the No. 2 seed, but Calipari wasn’t bothered by that. If anything, he believes his team is capable of everything after the way they rallied late in the season.

Calipari had bigger concerns

“If you went through the year, we went through when we were 0-5, when we were 1-6, and they said they got no chance of making the NCAA tournament. When you’re playing games, you’re not worried about the other coach; you’re about survival,” he said.

see also

25 highest-paid college basketball head coaches: Who earns the most?

Now, he can only focus on taking down the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Sweet 16 to continue his unlikely journey to the top. Only then will he be able to think about his rivalry with Pitino.