John Calipari credits Sweet 16 run to 'a bunch of good guys' who never gave up on each other

Arkansas coach John Calipari led the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 in his first season after his shock departure from Kentucky. The Razorbacks lost to the Texas Red Raiders to narrowly miss out on a trip to the Elite Eight.

During a news conference on Thursday, Calipari lavished praise on his players for their Big Dance run last year despite losing his leading scorers, Boggie Fland and Adou Thiero, to injury.

"I'm not embarrassed of my team," John Calipari said. “We had a bunch of good guys that never gave up on each other. Didn’t give up on themselves. I had a staff that, we didn’t make excuses. We didn’t try to say, 'Let’s go get better guys.' This is who we have. How about when our two leading scorers went down?" (Timestamp 10:44)

Calipari further detailed how the rest of the team stepped up to guide the Razorbacks to the Elite Eight.

"You knew we’d be in the Sweet 16 playing for a Final Four berth, right? But how did it happen? The guys behind them stepped up," Calipari said. "You know why? They were good guys. Instead of blaming—'Well, he doesn’t like me, he likes him more,' or listening to the garbage, they stayed true to each other.

"And all of a sudden, by the end of the year, we’re better than 90%-95% of the teams in the country. Playing six guys. But we had good guys. Would you look at this team and say, 'He had a bunch of good guys?' That means there’s hope."

John Calipari is more comfortable in Year 2

After his departure from Kentucky last year, John Calipari had to assemble his roster from scratch, including recruiting players from his former team. The Arkansas Razorbacks started SEC play with a 0-5 record before recovering.

While speaking to the media on Thursday, Calipari explained that this year, he was more relaxed after concluding his transfers early ahead of practice.

"Last year, you know how it started," Calipari said. "We had no team. I had no staff. I said, 'Can I see the schedule?' There was no schedule. I'm like, 'What?'

"Right now, you can tell I'm more comfortable. I had to walk in here and I didn't know anybody. I didn't know the campus ... I'm just more comfortable. And let me tell you, I am so happy and comfortable and at peace with what we're doing and how we're doing it."

The Razorbacks made several signings in the transfer portal, including Nick Pringle, Karim Rtail and Malique Ewin, to bolster their roster. In addition to his portal acquisitions, John Calipari will be able to call upon five-star talents Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas next season.