Rick Pitino threw a little shade at John Calipari ahead of potential NCAA Tournament meeting

Rick Pitino loves the drama. Whether it’s intentional or not, it always seems to find him and amidst a historic season by St. John’s, Pitino is stirring more ahead of the Red Storm’s return to the NCAA Tournament. 

Intended or not, Pitino threw some shade at John Calipari ahead of a potential meeting in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Pitino said his only true rivalry was with Jim Calhoun. While he didn’t intentionally throw shade at Calipari, I’m sure there was more to Pitino-Calipari than just a game. 

Pitino, the former Louisville coach, had his fair share of clashes with Calipari during his Kentucky days. Louisville and Kentucky already shared a hatred of their own, add in two of college basketball’s polarizing coaches, I’m sure that rivalry was more than Pitino led us to believe.

Nonetheless, thanks Pitino for giving Calipari one more reason to take down Kansas in the first round. I’m sure he’d love to remind you of the battles they had with each other when they were both coaching the two biggest schools in Kentucky.

Rick Pitino just ignited John Calipari and his underdog Arkansas team a little more for NCAA Tournament

There was already speculation that Arkansas should have been exiled from the tournament and now Pitino gave them fuel to prove a lot of people wrong. Bill Self and his struggling Kansas squad have a lot of pressure already. They’re going to look to get a tournament win for themselves, if nothing more. 

Then you look at the fact that Self and Calipari are meeting up against each other, there’s more than enough excitement for whoever comes out of that. Calipari wants nothing more than to pull off consecutive upset wins and Pitino might have just given him one more reason. 

The irony if Calipari knocks down St. John’s which is one of the strongest teams in the tournament. Would Pitino still think it’s not that big a rivalry? 

Or maybe Pitino would have to actually consider it a rivalry if Calipari takes down the Red Storm. Either way, March Madness has a lure of its own. The last thing you want to do is give a team more fuel. 

Pitino might have done just that and it could ignite more than an NCAA Tournament run. It might just ignite Calipari to stir up a rivalry with Pitino, even if Pitino refuses to acknowledge it.