John Calipari, Rick Pitino were heated at each other and the refs during March Madness clash

If you were going into Saturday afternoon's NCAA Tournament matchup between the Arkansas Razorbacks and St. John's Red Storm and not expecting some fireworks with John Calipari patrolling the sidelines, I don't know what to tell you. For better and sometimes for worse, these are two of the most fiery head coaches in modern college basketball, so it was always going to happen.

With the way that Arkansas-St. John's was officiated, that only made it more likely. Despite knowing that they were the refs for a matchup between two of the most physical teams in the March Madness field, the officials were calling it painfully close. Just about any contact was drawing a whistle and it really underscored a physical affair.

And that was apparently too much for Calipari and Pitino to take.

During the first half of action as the refs had to come over to talk to the two head coaches, they were both clearly feeling some heat bubbling up from within. Both seemingly had some words with the refs and, as they were arguing there, they also appeared to have a heated exchange with one another as well, as John Fanta of FOX and NBC Sports showed us.

John Calipari, Rick Pitino cause drama with heated exchange

Not shockingly, the frustrations of both coaches didn't then subside. In fact, you could argue that they got worse in the second half. The refs seemingly loosened the whistle early in the second period of action but then went back to the frustratingly tight calls, which elicited numerous reactions from both Calipari and Pitino throughout the contest.

At the end of it, though, Pitino is probably the one with the most fire still burning as he and the No. 2 seed Red Storm won't be going to the Sweet 16 despite their storybook season as Big East champs, falling victim to an upset at the hand of Calipari and Arkansas. That one's going to sting as, though the two may not be enemies, they certainly aren't the best of friends either.

But perhaps Pitino should be mad at himself more than Calipari or the refs even (though the latter is a bit more justified). His decision to bench St. John's best player, RJ Luis Jr., amid an abysmal shooting day for his star down the stretch ultimately didn't help anything and, in fact, may have hurt. Then again, he's probably already stewing after his team had one of the worst offensive games imaginable, shooting only 28% from the field and 2-of-22 from 3-point range.

It's unfortunate that the refs played as big of a part in such a hotly anticipated March Madness clash as they did. But at least it gave us one memorable and dramatic moment of ire between the pair of legendary head coaches.