Sometimes a coach gives a warning before anyone realizes it matters.
Earlier this week, before Arkansas even boarded the plane to Nashville, John Calipari talked about Oklahoma. The Razorbacks coach mentioned the Sooners while discussing the Southeastern Conference tournament field.
It didn’t sound dramatic at the time. It sounded more like a reminder. But now that the bracket is set, Arkansas finds itself facing the very team Calipari pointed out.
The Hogs will open SEC Tournament play against Oklahoma at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Anuddenly that earlier comment feels a little more important.
“You better watch out for Oklahoma,” Calipari said earlier this week.
Before leaving for Nashville, Calipari spoke about several teams in the conference tournament field.
Oklahoma came up during that conversation. Hog fans should remember last year wasn’t that great until they got to late February and rolled right into the SEC Tournament all the way to the Sweet 16.
Calipari made it clear the Sooners were a team capable of giving opponents problems.
“Porter Moser, the job he’s doing, they were 1-6,” he said Tuesday. “We were 1-6, if you remember, a year ago. To keep his team together. To keep them fighting. I think they finished 6-2 the rest of the way in the last eight games, something like that. They were 6-2, and they played well. They won games. Buried some people. Won some close games.”
It wasn’t meant as a headline. It was simply part of a larger discussion about the SEC Tournament and how dangerous the league can be this time of year.
Now we know pretty clearly Calipari had his eye on the Sooners before the matchup became official. Tournament basketball tends to expose teams that aren’t prepared.
Calipari seemed to know that already.
Razorbacks finally open postseason in Nashville
Now Arkansas arrives in Nashville knowing exactly who stands across the court.
The Razorbacks will face Oklahoma in the opening round of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. The surging Sooners stomped through Texas A&M on Thursday night, 83-63, and now get Arkansas at 8:30 tonight.
For the Hogs, the assignment is straightforward. Win and keep playing. A win would help their seeding for the NCAA Tournament. Losing the game won’t keep them out.
Oklahoma enters the game as a team Calipari clearly respects. The Sooners spent the season battling through the same conference grind as Arkansas.
That alone makes them dangerous. Teams that survive SEC play usually arrive at the conference tournament hardened by the experience.
Calipari’s comment earlier this week suggested he knows that. He warned everybody and now he’s had a long enough break to essentially give his best player, Darius Acuff Jr., nearly a two-week break to rest an ankle.
That’s why he sat him out the last regular-season game against Missouri. The fact Calipari got a sudden boost of energy and focus from everybody else was getting ready in case that happened in the tournaments coming up.
Giving freshman Meleek Thomas a confidence boost was a bonus. He ripped off and career high and having both of them confident probably gives Cal some quiet confidence.
He’s not counting on it, though. He has been talking about Oklahoma to anybody that would listen for a week now.
Arkansas begins postseason test
The SEC Tournament often produces unexpected results. Teams that struggled during the regular season sometimes find a rhythm in Nashville.
The Hogs have done that before, winning their way int the NCAA Tournament in 2000 when a lot of us in the media were assuming coach Nolan Richardson was coaching his last postseason.
Other teams arrive with momentum and keep rolling.
For the Razorbacks, the mission begins with one opponent. Oklahoma.
Calipari already told everyone the Sooners could be a problem. Now Arkansas gets the chance to see exactly what he meant.
The Hogs will step onto the Bridgestone Arena floor knowing the margin for error has disappeared.
That’s how postseason basketball works.
