LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Pardon the unusual opening, but first some quotes:
"He took some shots he didn't need to take. "Like, 'Why? Like why would you take that when you haven't made a shot? Why are you doing that?' "
And this: "I didn't think this would be easy. Didn't think it would be this hard, but you know what? It's hard. This league, this year, it's hard."
Guess who?
How did you know?
Two games into Southeastern Conference play, John Calipari and Arkansas are looking up at 11 teams in the standings. On Wednesday night, the Razorbacks did something you'd better not keep doing if you expect to contend in the SEC this winter:
They lost a home game.
Led 10-1, 15-6, 27-18 and then lost to No. 23 Ole Miss in Bud Walton Arena, 73-66.
Boogie Fland, his one-and-done freshman point guard, bricked 15 of 20 shots, including seven of eight three-pointers. He is the player Calipari was talking about in that opening quote.
D.J. Wagner, the former top-10 recruit who followed Calipari from UK, went 4-13 while missing all five of his shots from distance.
Zvonimir Ivisic — Big Z, the Croatian big man whose Kentucky career started with spirited howls that he would be another Calipari first-round draft pick — sat on the bench for 36 minutes and did not score.
Arkansas did not lead for one second in the second half against a team that appears to be no better than the seventh-best in the SEC. The Ole Miss loss followed an uncompetitive 24-point loss Saturday at Tennessee.
It's only two games, but Calipari and his string of former Kentucky players and recruits sit at 0-2 in a fierce league projected to put 12 or 13 teams in the NCAA Tournament.
And Florida, the team that nearly defeated Kentucky in Rupp Arena last Saturday and then hit No. 1 Tennessee with a 30-point KO on Tuesday, comes to Fayetteville for a national TV game Saturday.
Code Red in Arkansas?
Not yet.
But the lights are certainly flashing. This is the first time one of Calipari's teams started its season with back-to-back conference losses in 21 years.
It didn't happen at Kentucky, where nine of his 15 squads started 2-0 with the other six splitting their first two.
His final five teams at Memphis jumped to back-to-back leagues wins in Conference USA.
His last 0-2 league start came in his pre-Tyreke Evans, pre-Derrick Rose years at Memphis when the Tigers opened with back-to-back losses to Southern Miss and DePaul in January 2004.
Then, the Tigers won their next 11, made the NCAA Tournament and exited in the second round to Eddie Sutton and Oklahoma State.
But that was different. That was Calipari on the ascent. That was Calipari winning with guys nobody was saying would make it big in the NBA, like Antonio Burks and Sean Banks.
Calipari throwing sharp elbows. Calipari determined to show the world that he was more than simply a guy who could win with Marcus Camby as he did at UMass. Calipari angling for a shot at a five-star job like Kentucky.
Calipari in a different tax bracket.
This Calipari, the one the Razorbacks will pay at least $38 million over his first five seasons, is not that Calipari. He's no longer 45. He'll turn 66 on Feb. 10.
This Calipari needs to prove he has not lost his fastball. This Calipari is surrounded by the questions created by the recent NCAA Tournament losses to Oakland, Kansas State (twice) and Saint Peter's during his puzzling descent at UK.
This Calipari is working in Fayetteville because fans in Lexington lost that loving feeling. He quit on UK after he sensed UK fans quitting on him.
That was understandable after Calipari turned John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Julius Randle, Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl Anthony-Towns, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, De'Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, P.J. Washington, Tyler Herro, Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley, Cason Wallace and Reed Sheppard into one NCAA title — and no Final Fours after 2015.
This Calipari has to prove he can still win big in a world where NIL ensures that any program determined to compete at the highest level can build a formidable roster. Look around the SEC. Even with Arkansas struggling, the league has nine teams in the Associated Press Top 25.
This Calipari has a team that was listed as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament bracket projected by Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com on Tuesday, a day before the loss to Ole Miss.
This Calipari has a team that slid from No. 43 to No. 47 in the latest NCAA NET computer power formula, three spots behind UC-San Diego, eight spots behind Louisville and its first-year coach Pat Kelsey and 31 spots behind Kentucky and its first-year coach Mark Pope.
This Calipari team is projected to finish 7-11 in the SEC in the latest numbers at Ken Pomeroy's analytics web site.
That would be in a five-way tie for 10th place. That would create a very stressful Selection Sunday in Fayetteville.
This Calipari has considerable work to do — and he has the entire basketball world watching how he does it.
College Basketball Coverage:
- BOZICH | Is Louisville the most improved men's power conference program? A look at the numbers
- CRAWFORD | Kentucky's 1st taste of SEC road life is bitter in 82-69 loss at Georgia
- BOZICH | Where do Kelsey, Pope, Calipari, May rank among 15 first-season Power 5 coaches?
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