John Calipari 'Back to My Roots of Being the Underdog' with Arkansas in NCAA Bracket

It's been a while since a John Calipari-led team was an underdog in the first round of the NCAA tournament, but the legendary head coach is no stranger to being the lower seed.

The Arkansas head coach got his first head coaching job with UMass in 1988 and turned the program around, eventually taking the Minutemen to the Final Four in 1996.

"I'm kind of back to my roots of being the underdog," Calipari said Wednesday at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, per ESPN's Mike Reiss. "This was one of those years that was so rewarding. All I'm thinking about is where we were -- threw us in the coffin, forgot the nails. No chance of the NCAA tournament and all of a sudden we're here."

Calipari's first season with the Razorbacks hasn't gone as well as he'd hoped. They finished the regular season 19-12 and went 8-10 in conference play. After winning just one game in the SEC Tournament, Arkansas' fate was in the hands of the committee.

Ultimately, the Razorbacks were rewarded a spot in the 64-team field as the No. 10 seed. Arkansas will face No. 7 Kansas, led by Bill Self, another legendary coach having a much worse year than he's used to.

Calipari has struggled in the tournament in recent years. He hasn't made it to the second weekend since 2019 when Kentucky reached the Elite Eight. Perhaps being the underdog this year will help Calipari get over the hump and make it out of the first round.

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