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Jeff Teague gave a harsh critique of Arkansas basketball head coach John Calipari in a statement that was meant as a compliment. The Razorbacks' head coach is receiving some newfound appreciation from doubters after leading the program back to the Sweet 16.
In the clash of the Hall of Famers, 10-seeded Arkansas notched an impressive 75-66 victory against second-seeded St. John's in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Calipari is now into the second weekend for the first time since 2019.
This result surprised the former NBA point guard, and he discussed his doubts about Calipari over the years on the Club 520 Podcast.
“I was more impressed with Calipari, though, because I never looked at Coach Cal as a great basketball coach. I always thought he was a great recruiter and got hella talent. If you look back, you get Marcus Camby, unbelievable talent when he was at UMass.
“Then you look at his Memphis run, and you get Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and Dajuan Wagner. You can get talent. I never looked at him as a great coach; he never puts people in position to win. Look at all these teams full of talent he had, and he won only one time.
“If you watch his X’s and O’s, I ain’t going to lie; if I had a whiteboard, I could write the plays that they did every single time down. They swing, swing, DJ Wagner, goes to the middle of the paint, he gets a pin down, comes back up and goes to a ball screen. They did it every single time down.
“I used to watch Marquis and them. I used to be like you’re going to win because you're super talented and you play defense, but your X’s and O’s game is a–.”
Article Continues BelowArkansas basketball has overcome a lot to get to this point
Arkansas basketball has been hit with inconsistency and injuries throughout this season. At one point, it looked like this group would not make the NCAA Tournament before a late-season rally. And now the program has its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years.
The Razorbacks will face three-seeded Texas Tech on Thursday for the right to go to the Elite Eight. It will be a tall task for this group to take down the Red Raiders.
However, it's also fair to say that this group is athletic, experienced, and playing with house money. That's a dangerous reality for every team left in this March Madness field, and John Calipari deserves a ton of credit.
