The way John Calipari sees it, he doesn’t need to brace himself for the boos that are destined to rain down on him this Saturday night. 

He knows that no love will be lost from the Kentucky basketball faithful when his Razorbacks walk onto the court at Rupp Arena looking to knock off a No. 12 Wildcats team who had recently suffered a three-game losing streak entering Tuesday’s tussle with No. 8 Tennessee. 

The biggest reason Calipari means so much to Big Blue Nation is that he stuck around in Lexington for 15 years, and the only reason he lasted that long was because he won there like few others: four Final Fours, seven Elite Eights, eight Sweet 16s and 58 Wildcats chosen in the NBA Draft. 

The most vehement Kentucky fans won’t care about any of that, though. The only thing that matters to them is that Calipari’s teams failed to advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament in his last five seasons as Kentucky’s coach, and now he leads a rival SEC program that he chose over them. 

As they see it, Arkansas’ 1-6 start in SEC play so far is just desserts for a man they have no use for anymore. In BBN circles, the schadenfreude is being served hot and piping all day and all night for this Arkansas vs Kentucky week. You got to think that a few them are extra angry at him for not leading a better Arkansas team that would warrant College Game Day visiting Lexington, too.

John Calipari Ready for the Kentucky Basketball Hate

As far Calipari is concerned, they can let him have it. 

He’s been through far worse in a coaching career of more than 30 years. “I’ve got bazooka holes in my body,” he said during his weekly radio show on Monday night. “When you shoot arrows, it doesn’t even hit skin. It goes through one of those bazooka holes.”

The 65-year-old is more concerned with his players’ mindset and getting them ready for the trip with practices over the course of the next two and half days.

How well Kentucky-turned-Arkansas basketball players Adou Thiero, DJ Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic compete will play a big role in whether the Hogs win or lose, of course. So will performances by former Kentucky commits Karter Knox and Billy Richmond.

Arkansas assistant Ronnie Brewer expects that these former Wildcats will also get extra special treatment come Saturday. 

“There are guys that Coach Cal brought to Kentucky or brought to Arkansas from Kentucky as recruits,” the former Hogs star said on The Live with Coach Cal Radio Show. “The fans don’t like them either, and that’s totally fine when you go into a hostile territory.”

The jobs of Brewer and Calipari are to make sure their players treat this as much as possible like any other game. That players-first mentality, of course, is the signature of any great modern coach and is a huge reason why Calipari has been able to sign so many future NBA first-rounders.

Despite Arkansas’ struggles in this 12-8 season, Calipari isn’t backing off how much time he spends supporting former players – even when the optics aren’t great. And the talent just keeps on rolling in. 

Arkansas’ two class of 2025 signees, for instance, were just chosen to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game. Both Meleek Thomas and Darius Acuff Jr. are projected to be lottery picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Calipari keeps getting this level of talent – even in the midst of inevitable negative recruiting given the way other SEC coaches are talking – because of his relationships with former players and parents. As much as some Kentucky basketball fans want to accuse him of being a slick salesman, there’s no faking this level of caring for decade after decade.

On his radio show, Calipari mentioned that he’s working to make sure his former players from the pre-NIL era will file their claims by January 31 to get some of the total $2.8 billion to be distributed to former Division I student-athletes as a result of a few landmark cases.

Texting Former Players Before Arkansas vs Kentucky

In fact, just recently he said he texted each member of one of his Kentucky basketball teams – the one either from 2016 or 2018, he didn’t recall exactly – to remind them to file as they may be eligible for $60,000 to $100,000 each. 

He wanted the fans present to know that in the same way he looks out for his former players, he’ll do the same for these current Razorbacks in the future. 

Whether at UMass, Memphis, Kentucky or Arkansas, John Calipari has never had any problems taking care of his players, future, past and present.  The issue is how, going forward, he’ll build on that foundation of strong relationships that has served as his bedrock for so long.

Given how badly Arkansas has struggled so far, and how good the SEC is overall, the relationships by themselves won’t be enough to hang his hat on in the coming years. 

“I just want this to make me a better coach,” he said of the frustrating debut season at Arkansas. “Make me better at what I’m doing for these young people. Make me think a little bit more about ‘Alright, we may have to do some things different.’”

He’d better figure out those tweaks sooner than later, or those verbal arrows that he insists pass right through might start finding other parts of the body.

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Many feel ESPN’s College Game Day is dropping the ball by not visiting Arkansas vs Kentucky:

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