GLENDALE, Ariz. — Only a few things in college basketball could overshadow the title game of any NCAA Tournament, especially one as anticipated as what we’re getting here inside State Farm Stadium on Monday night. But a divorce between Kentucky and John Calipari is definitely high on the list.
And now here we are.
At some point this week, perhaps as early as Tuesday, it will reportedly become official that John Vincent Calipari, the 65 year-old Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer, is leaving Kentucky for Arkansas in a move that is surprising on the surface but totally sensible provided the context. Simply put, this seems like a situation where everybody, at least in theory, will be better off moving forward, like a situation where Arkansas fans and Kentucky fans probably both woke up happy Monday morning, which is not normally how high-profile coaching developments work.
More often, somebody feels on the wrong side of things.
But not this time.
Arkansas is getting what it wants — specifically Calipari, a larger-than-life figure who has undeniably slipped in recent years but still just assembled and coached a team at Kentucky that was good enough to secure a No. 3 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. And Kentucky is also getting what it wants — specifically a coaching change after 15 years that won’t cost the school a single penny of the estimated $33 million it would’ve owed Calipari had it removed him after his season ended with an 80-76 loss to Oakland in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament two years after his season ended with an 85-79 loss to Saint Peter’s in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
It’s been a rough stretch at UK.
Things had gotten awkward and uncomfortable, so much so that when reports initially surfaced Sunday that Calipari was in negotiations with Arkansas, what amounts to Big Blue Nation was celebrating on social media, begging their coach to please move on while creating…
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