With the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament wrapped up, the anticipation for the Sweet 16, which starts Thursday, is palpable. Former legendary Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski chimed in on what he saw over the weekend during his Sweet 16 preview on his Sirius XM show, “Basketball & Beyond with Coach K,” on Tuesday.
While Krzyzewski highlighted Duke’s dominance in their two victories and expressed his ongoing support for the program—rightfully so, after coaching the team for 42 seasons—he revealed that the “star team” of the weekend, as the Sweet 16 nears, was the No. 10 seed Arkansas Razorbacks, led by head coach John Calipari.
The Razorbacks pulled off impressive upset wins against No. 7 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed St. John’s, who were considered by some as potential Final Four and even national championship contenders.
“I really thought that the team that was the star team of the weekend was Arkansas,” Krzyzewski said. “Because of who they had to beat—Kansas and St. John’s—and in doing that, John Calipari had to go against Bill Self, who’s as good as there is, and Rick Pitino.”The Razorbacks had their fair share of ups and downs this season, which is a key reason they entered the tournament as a double-digit seed from the SEC.
However, it’s less about your seeding and more about when you start to catch your stride and get hot at the right time, and that seems to be Arkansas right now—similar to what N.C. State did last season as a No. 11 seed when they won the ACC Tournament, got into the NCAA Tournament, and reached the Final Four.
While Arkansas still had to win two games to get to this point, John Calipari revealed on Tuesday during an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” that 15.6 points-per-game scorer Adou Thiero, who has been out since Feb. 22, is set to be available on Thursday night when they take on the No. 3 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders.
