Nashville–John Calipari likely wishes he didn’t have to be on what he believes is his fourth different iteration of his Arkansas team of the season. He likely wishes that they could’ve figured this all out by the time they opened their season with Lipscomb in early November. He likely wishes his team looked like itself all along.
Calipari may not have had it all along, but it appears as if he’s finally unlocked the group that can take him where he wants to go.
“I got a new team,” Calipari said last week. “I said to the guys, ‘Why am I still tweaking stuff?’ And they said, ‘Well, you’re looking at tape,” No. We’re a different team than we were two weeks ago.”
It appears as if the fourth version of his team is the best one.
Calipari has missed out on a full-strength roster that is missing the combined 30 points per game that Boogie Fland and Adou Thiero provided it before their eventual injury trouble, but perhaps what he’s got now is good enough. Calipari’s team comprised of high-profile transfers and five-star recruits finally looks the part.
With Wednesday’s 72-68 SEC Tournament win over South Carolina, Arkansas has now won three in a row as well as five of its last six. Two of those wins came against ranked opponents. Bigger than all, Arkansas has put itself in a position to go dancing when the time comes.
“It’s just the end of the year, we’re getting towards March Madness,” Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile told Southeastern 16. “We’re just trying to do the right things at the right time.”
In recent weeks, they have. Calipari’s team looks to be firmly on the right side of the bubble after avoiding disaster against South Carolina. Bracket Matrix has it as a 10 seed. Joe Lunardi has it on the right side of the bubble. Moral of the story; they’re in.
They’ve got a chance to do more than just be in, too.
This isn’t your stereotypical Calipari-coached team. They move it. They cut. They help each other out. They’re also old.
And it’s showing.
Johnell Davis has now scored in double figures three games in a row. Jonas Aidoo looks like an All-SEC big, not just like a guy who has untapped ability. So does Trevon Brazile, who has scored in double-figures in the last three games is playing with a degree of confidence that he hadn’t been previously.
“I’m just on the court for more minutes due to injuries so I have more leeway to be out there and just kind of play free,” Brazile told Southeastern 16. “The confidence comes with being on the court.”
Brazile, Davis and Aidoo combined for 44 points on 15-for-30 shooting from the field. For once, a Calipari team was led by its veterans rather than its young guys.
His players feel as if that matters.
“Automatic win,” Arkansas freshman Karter Knox told Southeastern 16 when asked what having Aidoo, Davis and Brazile at play at a high level means for Arkansas.
Those three look like themselves again. So did Arkansas, which still showed flashes of the first version of itself but withstood South Carolina’s best shot and found a way to close it out. The second or third version of this Arkansas team may have folded. It did the first time in a 72-53 loss when it saw South Carolina play above its level.
Wednesday wasn’t pretty–and included Arkansas almost finding a way to blow a 20-point lead as well as Davis trying to miss a free throw in a situation that didn’t call for that–but it says something about Calipari’s group.
Particularly after the way this matchup ended last time.
“They whooped us the first time,” Knox said, “but we came back, made some adjustments and we got the last laugh.”
Now it’s time for Arkansas to get the last laugh on the trend of Calipari-led teams getting bounced early in tournament settings. Wednesday was a start, but now comes the real tests. Now comes SEC Tournament games that will likely only come against higher seeds as well as NCAA Tournament games.
It avoided disaster on Wednesday, but whether team four or team one shows up when it matters most will determine how far this thing goes.