Rick Pitino vs. John Calipari is the story of the college basketball world on Saturday afternoon – just like it was meant to be.
Except a lot has changed. Pitino is with St. John’s and Calipari is with Arkansas.
It’s not long removed from their battles at Louisville and Kentucky but the stakes this time are even higher with a berth in the Sweet 16 at stakes.
While the rest of the sport is drubbing up the matchup, neither Pitino nor Calipari is leaning into their individual war.
I certainly have great respect for him, but we're not really close,” Pitino said on Friday afternoon. “Everybody tried to talk that way. It was just a Kentucky-Louisville and Louisville-Memphis thing.”
Saturday (2:40 p.m. ET, CBS) will be the first matchup between the coaches since 2016 and the first meeting in the NCAA Tournament since 2014.
“We don't know each other's wives or children. We're not really close friends…I don't know a whole lot about him except he's a terrific basketball coach. At a very young age I knew him well when he was in Coraopolis playing in Moon Township [Pennsylvania].”
The downplaying of the rivalry began from the St. John’s coach after its victory over Omaha on Thursday night, saying he doesn’t gameplan for the opposing coach, only the players and scheme.
“I have known him well back then, but I don't think we have been to dinner one time in our lifetime,” Pitino added.
“We're both Italian, we both love the game. I think that's where the similarities end.”
Calipari also tried to sidestep the many questions about Pitino and the relationship between the two that fractured over the years.
“We both have big noses so that's one,” he joked about the similarities between the two. “He has Gucci shoes, and I have itchy shoes so we're different there.”
“Whoever I'm coaching against, that's the rival for that day…The one thing I know, if I dislike a coach, I don't do a good job. So, I try to ignore all that.”
Regardless of what Rick Pitino and John Calipari are wearing, all that matters is who has more points at the end of the game, and it will be the players on the court who get to decide the outcome of the latest installment of the rivalry.