John Calipari after Arkansas loss in the SEC Tournament: ‘Hopefully we’ve done enough’

John Calipari is well aware that Arkansas needed a deep run in the SEC Tournament to capture an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.

And, to their credit, the Razorbacks ended the regular season hot, winning 4 of 5 to end the regular season — including a victory against a ranked Mississippi State team on the final day — before defeating South Carolina in the first round on Wednesday. Any hopes of a dream run to the final, though, were extinguished by a heartbreaking 83-80 loss to Ole Miss on Thursday.

Now, the Hogs will be forced to wait until Sunday to learn whether or not the selection committee deems their late-season run enough to earn a spot in the 68-team field.

“Hopefully we’ve done enough, and done enough in this league,” Calipari said after Thursday’s game. “I think we’ve proven it, but I’m not in the room, so I don’t know what’s happening around the country ’cause I haven’t watched. I don’t have any idea who’s doing what right now. I was focusing on this game.”

Following the game, Arkansas was one of the “Last 4 Byes” teams in Joe Lunardi’s updated bracketology on ESPN. Its NET ranking heading into the day was 39.

Sydney Hunte

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.