John Calipari To Arkansas Rumour: Jalen Brunson And Basketball World In Disbelief With Kentucky Legend’s Departure News

A John Calipari rumor took center stage as the hoops community geared up for the much-awaited NCAA Championship game. The NBA insider, Shams Charania took to his X handle and revealed that Calipari’s 15-season-long (410-123) run with Kentucky might come to an end! He also added that the 65-year-old was in serious talks with the University of Arkansas for the head coach role. This update left the New York Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson in utter disbelief.

Notably, this report comes to light just about two weeks after the Wildcats’ unexpected loss to Oakland in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Brunson took to his X handle and reposted the update with a simple question.

The Knicks guard wrote, “What.”

In the last 15 years, he has produced many talented players in the league.

Some players who rose from under Calipari’s guidance to the big league were Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, John Wall, De’Aaron Fox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, and many more. However, in the last 5 seasons, he didn’t have a promising run, winning only one game in the big dance. Apart from Jalen Brunson, the hoop nation flooded the social media comments in disbelief.

Despite the coach’s poor end to the current NCAA season, fans rooted for the legend.

Here’s another fan in disbelief who sent out a similar reaction that Brunson posted.

Jason Dumas, an NBA reporter, expressed his emotions through an ‘eye-opening’ emoji.

A loyal Kentucky fan publicly requested Calipari to stay with the team.

Another shocker of a reaction to the breaking news!

The John Calipari rumor has been doing the rounds in the hoops community over the last few weeks. However, it seems to have grabbed Jalen Brunson’s attention only after a renowned NBA insider pitched in with his update. All in all, the update had a flow-blown effect on social media, mainly because of Calipari’s successful stints in his career.

John Calipari and his Hall of Fame career

Before donning the head coach hat at Arkansas, John Calipari proved his coaching prowess with three programs. He held the position of Division 1 head coach for Massachusetts, Memphis, and Kentucky and became the only coach after Rick Pitino, to take all the teams to the Final Four round.

The star coach entered the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 amid Kentucky’s dream season with a clean sweep. However, the team failed to clinch the title that season. Notably, the 65-year-old has won 855 games so far in his career. Despite that, Calipari faced a lot of criticism from Kentucky fans over the team’s performance in the last few seasons.

In the program’s history, the veteran ranks second behind Adolph Rupp in terms of tenure, victories, SEC regular-season Championships, and conference titles. At the Wildcats he lifted 6 SEC titles along with the same number of regular season Championships.

If at all Calipari takes the big step, he would have a fortune waiting for him at the front door. Since he had already signed up second-ranked recruiting class with Kentucky, Calipari might be owed $30 million, as per Sporting News. 

Do you think Calipari can make a similar impact with the University of Arkansas? Let us know in the comments.

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