Led by John Calipari, 10 seed Arkansas basketball found a way to take down Rick Pitino and his top-ranked defense St. John’s and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons.
Imagine reading that sentence a decade ago. Or a year ago. Or even two months ago.
Against all injuries, metrics and odds, the Hogs are still dancing in their first season under Calipari. An ugly win over Kansas in the first round exposed one of Arkansas’s biggest weaknesses – scoring against a zone defense – but the Red Storm leaned into their stellar man-to-man defense that had carried them all the way to a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.