Thankfully for Arkansas fans, John Calipari has been here before -- 25 times, actually. And of those 25 trips to the NCAA Tournament, Calipari's teams have made it past the first round 22 times, so the man obviously knows what he's doing in March.
Even with two freshmen making their March Madness debut leading the way, the No. 4 seeded Razorbacks had no problem with No. 13 Hawaii in the first round with a 97-78 blowout on Thursday in Portland, Oregon. No. 5 Wisonsin, though, suffered the first major upset of the tournament with an 83-82 loss to No. 12 High Point the game before Arkansas took the court and Calipari showed college basketball how it's supposed to be down as a high seed in the opening round. The upset set up a second-round matchup between Arkansas and the upset-hungry High Point on Saturday.
John Calipari's NCAA Tournament experience has taught him not to look past High Point
"I'll be walking the streets of Portland tonight enjoying this," Calipari said. "But I've got three tapes that I got to watch of High Point. They're good. Wisconsin found out. They are good. And they're not afraid. I recruited (High Point forward) Cam (Fletcher) to Kentucky, so I know how good he is. They're good.
"I mean, we're not walking in thinking, 'OK, this will be an easy one.' No, it won't. None of them are easy. And I've been telling these guys, you're going to look and you're worried about somebody in front of you, and they get beat. And you're playing somebody else. That's why you don't even need to watch games. Just stay in the moment. Let's stay in the five-minute segments. Let's just stay locked in."
John Calipari will definitely enjoy today's win, but has his eyes set on the matchup with No. 12 High Point 🔒 pic.twitter.com/bNnODOofGE
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 19, 2026
Calipari doesn't just know how to avoid an embarrassing first-round upset, but he knew even before Wisconsin learned the hard way just how good High Point really is despite coming out of the Big South.
High Point senior forward Cam'Ron Fletcher played for Calipari for a season at Kentucky and even started a game as a freshman. He then transferred to Florida State for three seasons, had a brief stop at Xavier and is now finishing his career with the Panthers. Even as a former consensus four-star recruit at a mid-major program, Fletcher still came off the bench for High Point, revealing how talented the roster is. Against Wisconsin, Fletcher, even as a reserve, notched a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds in 33 minutes of action.
Calipari knows to expect the unexpected and respect all 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament, but also focus on only one at a time. He's been upset a few times before and also made it all the way to the end. Calipari knew how to survive the first round, and he knows how to accomplish what Wisconsin couldn't against High Point.