John Calipari played possum. Now, he's got Arkansas back to Sweet 16

John Calipari , that clever ol’ dog. He just unleashed the oldest strategy in the book.

Calipari played possum his final few NCAA Tournament appearances at Kentucky . Jack Gohlke poked Cal with a stick, and there was no movement. Big Blue Nation took Calipari for roadkill, boxed him up and gladly shipped him off to Arkansas .

Enjoy your dead possum stew, Hog heads!

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Calipari continued the act and rolled over the first few months into his first season at Arkansas . Kentucky fans must have thought they’d suckered Arkansas with a Trojan horse, while the Razorbacks lost six straight games in January 2025.

Stick a fork in him, eh? Calipari’s been cooked to a crisp, right?

Nope, just a veteran move. Never set the bar too high, too fast. Rein in expectations, then hit the gas.

Well, look at Calipari now. He's speeding into a second consecutive Sweet 16 with Arkansas, pedal to the metal, cruise set to 90 in the hammer lane.

Folks, this rascal rope-a-doped us! He’s still got a punch left in him yet.

How John Calipari doubled down at Arkansas

Calipari hasn’t changed all that much, either. When he crashed out at Kentucky, he encountered fair criticism he’d not leaned into the transfer portal enough, preferring instead to stick to an assembly line of A-list freshmen. Calipari’s one-and-done bonanza worked well for a while at Kentucky, but then old teams started winning in March, and Calipari’s ‘Cats took a beating from a 24-year-old sharpshooter who transferred to Oakland from Division II.

Surely, for Calipari to resurrect his career, he’d have to navigate away from his super frosh ways, yes?

“It's going to be hard for me to change,” Calipari said of how he builds his roster, two weeks before he left Kentucky for Arkansas.

Well, perhaps he won’t have to change.

Instead of entering the transfer sweepstakes, Calipari doubled down with more McDonald’s All-Americans. Combine Calipari’s recruiting chops with the Tyson chicken man’s checkbook , and Arkansas’ roster swiftly took on a shade of blue-chippers.

Never mind transfers, because Calipari hooked five-star teenagers Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas .

Roll out the basketball, and wee! Look at them go.

Acuff went off for 36 points in a second-round win against High Point. Thomas added 19.

Who needs transfers, when you've got freshmen like these two?

Arkansas will go as far as Darius Acuff takes it

To be fair, Calipari did crack the door to some transfers. His lineup features a healthy mix of youngbloods and old bucks who’ve made a few laps around the schoolyard.

Make no mistake, though, this is Acuff’s team. It's the freshman’s show.

"We put it in his hands, and I trust him, and the team trusts him," Calipari said on TNT after the second-round win against an upset-minded High Point team.

This being the year of the freshman in college basketball, Duke's Cameron Boozer sucks up a lot of the spotlight, and still nobody’s outplaying Acuff. He’s surging up the NBA mock draft boards, too.

Acuff’s point totals in the past six games: 36. 24. 30. 24. 37. 28.

Mercy, he's good, and he needed to be against High Point, considering Arkansas' defense took a nap.

Kentucky fans must be having flashbacks. Acuff is just the type of talent Calipari used to bring to Lexington, Kentucky . More studs are on the way, too. Calipari’s latest signing class includes three five-star recruits. And, at Kentucky? Zero. As in, zero recruits, period.

Mark Pope is toiling away with pricey transfers, and while the second-year Kentucky coach tries to meet the unrelenting demands of college basketball's most rabid fan base, Calipari's got his swagger back at Arkansas, free of the pressures of the Kentucky job.

To be clear, ‘Cats fans were within their right to be miffed at Calipari in the last few years of his tenure. He wasn’t meeting the standard, particularly in March. But, Pope’s team has been no great shakes this season, either, and now Calipari is off the mat, looking rejuvenated with an SEC rival. If you had to pick either Arkansas or Kentucky to reach the Elite Eight, the team in red with the bucket-burying freshman sure seems like the smarter play.

Don’t confuse Arkansas or Calipari for an underdog’s story. High Point was Cinderella, not Arkansas. Underdogs don’t land players like Acuff. This roster didn’t come from the bargain rack. Arkansas is fully invested in the Calipari era, and the Razorbacks need to win another game or two for this to truly be a season worthy of adoration.

The way the Razorbacks are playing, fresh off an SEC tournament title, you sure wouldn’t want them located within your region.

Apparently, Calipari didn’t need to change his ways. He just needed a change of scenery and for one of his blue-chip freshmen to play in March Madness like Acuff did against High Point.

Meanwhile, that ol' possum Calipari has his bite back.

Blake Toppmeyer  is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at  BToppmeyer@gannett.com  and follow him on X  @btoppmeyer .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Calipari didn't need to change his ways, just a change of scenery