PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Chris Crutchfield knows he’s the odd man out. And, for the record, totally gets it.
When you’re in a four-team pod for the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament and the three other head coaches in said pod are all Hall of Famers, you’re going to notice. Rick Pitino, Bill Self and John Calipari have combined to win five national championships; the trio accounts for 17 total Final Four appearances.
“It’s definitely the who’s who of college coaching,” Crutchfield said. “I’m sure a lot of people are asking, ‘Who the hell is that other guy in the bracket?’”
That would be the 56-year-old head coach of the Omaha Mavericks, who are first-time participants in the Division I men’s NCAA Tournament. Crutchfield’s crew will face Pitino and his second-seeded St. John’s team on Thursday night. The winner of that game gets either Self’s Kansas squad or Calipari’s Arkansas team in the second round on Saturday.
For fans, the Providence site is something close to college basketball nirvana, with three of the four active Hall of Fame coaches sharing this court on Thursday night. They also make up half of the six current men’s college basketball coaches with a national title to their name (even with one championship and a few Final Fours later vacated by the NCAA).
In an era perhaps best known for its exodus of HOFers, it’s a genuine treat to see so many in one place in the month of March.
Calipari, for one, doesn’t think that’s an accident. He loves a good old fashioned selection committee conspiracy theory.
Before Selection Sunday, Calipari saw that Arkansas was projected to be a No. 10 seed, which meant the Razorbacks would play a No. 7 seed. He predicted that they’d draw Kansas, projected on or around that seed line. He told his players they’d for sure get St. John’s as the No. 2 seed in their region, too. The selection committee wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation of these storylines.
“I thought it may be played somewhere else,” Calipari said.
Like … Lexington?
“When I saw we weren’t there, I’m like, wow, somebody (on the selection committee) must have been sick and went to the bathroom or something for them not the put us there,” Calipari joked.
Self said that he, too, thought he’d draw Calipari’s squad. It’s just the way the math of 7-10 matchups was likely to work out, with both of those teams in the right ranges.
“I said, ‘You watch, we’re going to play Arkansas,’” Self said. “I didn’t have any idea who the No. 2 would be, but I think it’s fine for us.”
He chuckled. Sure, there have been lots of questions about the history between Arkansas and Kansas as well as the history between the two head coaches. But nothing here has gotten more attention than the possibility of a Calipari-Pitino matchup in the second round. Which means no one is really talking about the seventh-seeded Jayhawks.
“We’ve been talked about enough over the years and over time,” Self said. “I’m kind of looking forward to having people talk about others. Maybe we can kind of sneak up on somebody.”
Frankly, it’s a weird place for Kansas to be, both literally and figuratively. The Jayhawks are usually a much higher seed, assigned a first-weekend site closer to home. But Kansas has been quite inconsistent this season, finishing sixth in the Big 12 standings. So, this is a team that is not being discussed as a favorite to cut down the nets. Or even in the mix to do so.
Pitino has obvious history with Providence; he reached his first Final Four with the Friars in 1987. Calipari’s Final Four run at UMass included an early stop in this city. Meanwhile, Self is trying to get out of the first weekend for the first time since his Jayhawks won it all in 2022. And Crutchfield wants to capture some of the March magic other double-digit seeds have found in the past.
And that’s what’s so great about this tournament. Three of these head coaches have combined to account for nearly 2,500 career wins. The fourth hasn’t cracked win No. 100. But here they are, sharing a court — and the opportunity to do something special.
“I told my team this: Do you understand what March can do for you in life?” Pitino said. “Some of my (former championship-winning) players in Lexington, I don’t know if they’re working, but they’re living a good life.
“If you have that type of run in March, you become part of basketball history.”
