John Calipari’s nearest and dearest breathed a collective sigh of relief Saturday when he coached his Arkansas Razorbacks into the Sweet 16 of this year’s NCAA tournament. As time expired in the Razorbacks’ second-round March Madness victory over No.

Saturday’s March Madness game between No. 10 Arkansas and No. 2 St. John’s was a battle between two of the biggest coaching personalities in the sport: John Calipari and Rick Pitino. After a hard-fought 40 minutes of basketball,

Much of the success Calipari found early in his career defied expectations. He made a name for himself at the mid-major level when he took UMass to five-straight NCAA Tournaments and a Final Four, and he made another splash at Memphis with six March Madness bids and a trip to the 2008 national championship game.