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John Calipari calls for change after NCAA Tournament schedule release

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Matt Wadleigh | Last updated Mar 17, 2026 1:18 PM ET

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari has never been one to hold his tongue.

A day after Selection Sunday, Calipari made a request for a change to the schedule. Arkansas defeated Vanderbilt 86-75 in the SEC title game on Sunday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., and Calipari is not thrilled about having to travel and play a Round of 64 game on Thursday.

“The issue that we have is, do we continue to play on Sundays?” Calipari said. “Either they gotta fix that within the committee, or we gotta play on Saturday…We gotta do what’s right for our young people…We played three games in less than three days.”

After winning an SEC championship on Sunday @RazorbackMBB will turn around for a Thursday NCAA Tournament game on the other side of the country. @CoachCalArk joins @MadDogUnleashed and sounds off on the downside of conference tournaments concluding on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/yS1Ufp32Uw
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) March 16, 2026

Arkansas won on Friday against Oklahoma, Saturday against Ole Miss, and then Sunday against Vanderbilt to win the SEC tournament.

Shortly after, the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed, and Arkansas earned a No. 4 seed and faces No. 13 seed Hawaii on Thursday at 1:25 pm local time in Portland, Ore.

However, Calipari asked for a change with the SEC title game on Sunday, and requested that maybe the Selection Committee consider that fact, or the SEC move the game to Saturday instead.

The Big Ten, Ivy League, Atlantic-10 and American all have their respective conference title games on Sunday as well, so it’s a quick turnaround for other programs due to the scheduling.

Arkansas leaves early Tuesday to fly across the country to Oregon, and the Razorbacks play on Thursday afternoon, although Calipari said his team will use it as motivation.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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