FAYETTEVILLE — The look on John Calipari’s face said it all when he walked out of the tunnel and onto Cawood’s Court inside Rupp Arena ahead of the Arkansas men’s basketball team’s game against 12th-ranked Kentucky on Feb. 1.
Calipari was greeted with mainly boos and a few cheers from Big Blue Nation before facing the program he coached for 15 years, took to 4 Final Fours and led to the 2012 National Championship. His reaction to the mixed reception was a perplexed look.
At that juncture, how fans would welcome Calipari back inside the mammoth arena he called home from 2009-24 stole more headlines than the matchup itself.