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Expert turns tables on Dem critics after Musk accuses Social Security of being ‘Ponzi scheme’

Democrats have pushed back after Elon Musk claimed that social security operates like a ‘Ponzi scheme’ as he continues to argue for cuts to the federal bureaucracy, but one expert tells Fox News Digital that Musk is on track with his criticism of the agency.

‘Musk’s statement about Social Security being the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme does have validity,’ James Agresti, president of the nonprofit research institute Just Facts, told Fox News Digital in response to pushback from Elon Musk’s claim, which included a ‘false’ rating from Politifact. 

‘A Ponzi scheme operates by taking money from new investors to pay current investors. That’s the definition given by the SEC, and contrary to popular belief, that’s exactly how Social Security operates.’

Agresti explained to Fox News Digital that Social Security, believed to be a target of Musk’s efforts at DOGE, ‘doesn’t take our money and save it for us, as many people believe, and then give it to us when we’re older’ like many Americans might believe. 

‘What it does is, it transfers money when we are young and working and paying into Social Security taxes,’ Agresti said. ‘That money, the vast bulk of it, goes immediately out the door to people who are currently receiving benefits. Now there is a trust fund, but in 90 years of operation, that trust fund currently has enough money to fund two years of program operations.’

The trust fund only being able to last for two years is not a result of the fund being ‘looted,’ Agresti explained, but rather it was put in place to ‘put surpluses in it’ from money that Social Security collects in taxes that it doesn’t pay out immediately and pays interest on. 

‘The interest that’s been paid on that has been higher than the rate of inflation,’ Agresti said. ‘So, the problem isn’t that the trust fund has been looted. The problem is that Social Security operates like a Ponzi scheme.’

One of the top Social Security criticisms from Republicans, including President Trump, has been a concern that individuals who are dead or listed with an age well over 100 years old are on the rolls and receiving benefits.

Agresti told Fox News Digital that there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about that issue.

‘What’s unclear to me at this moment is whether or not the people who are on the books are actually receiving checks,’ Agresti said. 

‘Back during the Obama administration, there was a stimulus, and the Obama administration sent out stimulus checks via Social Security numbers to 80,000 people who were dead, and about 70,000 of them, the Social Security Administration knew they were dead. So I don’t know if they’ve remedied that situation since then, but clearly the system is not keeping up with the pace of current data, and that provides an opportunity for fraud.’

Democrats have also made the case that Musk is attempting to strip away benefits that senior citizens have rightfully earned. Agresti told Fox News Digital that is not what is happening.

‘There’s been a lot of misinformation about that as of late,’ Agresti said. ‘You know, when DOGE came in and suggested that the Social Security Administration cut, I think it was about 10,000 workers, Democrats erupted that this is going to weaken Social Security. But the fact of the matter is that Social Security pays those workers who are for administrative overhead from the Social Security trust fund. So, by cutting out the money that they’re paying them, you actually strengthen the program financially.’

Agresti told Fox News Digital that the current administrative overhead for Social Security is $6.7 billion per year, which is enough to pay more than 300,000 retirees the average old age benefit.

Questions have emerged from critics in recent years as to whether Social Security, in its current form, is even capable of remaining solvent to pay benefits to Americans who have paid in over the past few decades.

Agresti told Fox News Digital that the program will ‘become insolvent’ as soon as 2035 if changes are not made. 

‘To give you a feel of how disconnected Social Security is from a fully funded pension plan, if to keep the program solvent and put it on the same firm financial footing as a real pension plan, it would require an extra $272,000 in additional payroll taxes from every person paying payroll taxes right now,’ Agresti told Fox News Digital. 

‘I’ll give you another way in which more numbers prove this point. If you retired in 1980, it took about three years of receiving Social Security benefits to get back the value of your payroll taxes plus interest. If you retired in 2000, it took 17 years. If you retired in 2020. it will take 22 years, assuming the program has enough money to pay those benefits, which it won’t without another increase in taxes on another generation of Americans.’

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Lasers, space radars, missile interceptors: Defense leaders lay out vision for Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ project

Forty years after President Ronald Reagan first conceived the idea, defense industry leaders say the technology is finally advanced enough to build an invisible protective dome of space-based radars, missile interceptors and laser weapons over the United States.

President Donald Trump, infatuated by the Iron Dome missile defense system over Israel, first ordered the Defense Department to begin drawing up plans for a U.S. version, the ‘Golden Dome,’ in January. 

But Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey, so a dome of protection could prove far more daunting for the much larger land mass of the U.S. And the threats to Israel usually come from its neighbors, who use short-range weapons. America’s foes — North Korea, Iran, Russia and China — are half a world away and armed with intercontinental ballistics missiles (ICBMs) and hypersonics, all factors that make the project more challenging for a nation on the size and scale of the U.S.

So questions remain. Will the Golden Dome encompass the entire country, including Hawaii, Alaska and U.S. military bases in locations like Guam? Would it be able to protect against short-range missiles, long-range missiles, unmanned and manned aircraft? 

Answers may come at least in part at the end of the month, when the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget present a funding plan for the project to the White House. But defense industry leaders say the technology exists to make a Golden Dome a reality. 

‘​In our view, it has to kind of be a layered system. Because, you know, shooting a UAV, for example, is very different than shooting a hypersonic vehicle or hypersonic weapon,’ Raytheon CEO Phil Jasper told Fox News Digital. His aerospace company, a major U.S. defense contractor, manufactures the Patriot missile system, Javelin anti-tank missiles and a variety of radar and air defense systems.

The U.S. already employs a layered missile defense system known as the Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) System that uses radar to detect incoming missiles and fire off interceptors. 

It has technology like the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) battery to intercept ballistic missiles and the Patriot to intercept cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft. But the country only has seven active THAAD batteries deployed globally, with an eighth expected to become operational this year. 

Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein said weeks ago that building a Golden Dome will require a Manhattan Project-level whole-of-government approach from the missile defense agency, Air Force, Army, Navy, Space Force, Coast Guard and more. 

Defense contractors, some of whom have believed a Golden Dome-like project was on the horizon for years, say the protection zone may start around major cities like New York and Washington, D.C., or sensitive military sites before expanding to protect the entire homeland. 

‘What I’m understanding [the goal] really is to protect the entire U.S. It is to put a dome around the homeland,’ said Edward Zoiss, president of space and airborne systems for L3Harris Technologies.

Jasper predicted some of these defensive measures could be installed rapidly, as soon as 2026. 

‘What the administration has laid out is that building block approach that you can start to protect certain areas, at times, certain regions, and build that out as you continue to produce these systems. And they can continue to come off of production lines,’ he said.  

BlueHalo CEO Jonathan Moneymaker said the dome would be ‘less of a technology problem’ and more of an organizational structure challenge. 

‘The full potential of all of those capabilities working in conjunction with each other, at that scale, there’s definitely some new elements there,’ Moneymaker said.

John Clark, Lockheed’s vice president of technology and strategic innovation, said the plan will require the Pentagon to ‘think about what it has on the shelf.’ 

‘There are systems that sit today in the Air National Guard or in our current local defense infrastructure domestically. Those could actually be deployed inside of the U.S,’ he said. 

Clark noted that deploying defense infrastructure at home would ‘draw down our current inventory for conflict in the greater world.’ But he suggested that anything pulled out of an Army base today could be backfilled at a later date for global use.

Zoiss, whose company, L3Harris Technologies, has already built satellites for the missile defense agency that could be used for space-based radar systems for a Golden Dome, said the biggest challenge is missiles that no longer follow predictable paths. 

‘If you go back to your high school physics class, if you understand the angle and trajectory of a bullet, you understand exactly where it’s going to land because it follows a parabola,’ he said. 

‘ICBMs followed parabola trajectories for decades. But a new class of highly maneuverable cruise weapons and hypersonic weapons now don’t,’ he explained. ‘Their endpoint is uncertain. And our defensive systems in the U.S. now have to change to be more robust in order to track that weapon throughout its entire trajectory.’ 

Space-based radar will be the critical element of threats to the homeland in the future, according to Zoiss. 

‘Our challenge is really long-range weapons. You know, it’s weapons progressing large distances that are maneuvering around our current land-based and sea-based radar systems. So, if the weapons maneuver around those systems, that means our current architecture can’t provide fire control ordnance. And, therefore, it has to be moved to space.’ 

The Golden Dome could draw on missile defense missions already in the works, like the National Capital Region Integrated Air Defense System, which is designed to protect Washington, D.C., from incoming threats and employs systems like the Norwegian National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS).

And it could look to other systems already in the works on a smaller scale. The Army is working on a new Iron Dome-like air defense system in Guam known as the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 system. And it is developing high-powered microwave systems that could knock entire drone swarms out of the sky. 

The Marine Corps is planning to field three mobile air defense systems this year, including a modified Iron Dome launcher. 

Other needs could be over-the-horizon radar, including filling blindspots in the Arctic region for low-flying missiles that hug the earth’s curvature to avoid detection. 

Guetlein said the nation would have to ‘break down the barriers’ between Title 10 and Title 50 of the United States Code, the federal laws that govern the nation’s defense and clandestine operations.

‘Without a doubt, our biggest challenge is going to be organizational behavior and culture to bring all the pieces together,’ Guetlein said.

Much of the funding is expected to be laid out in Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request to Congress, which the White House is working on. Even with initial funding, the project could take years to complete, and it won’t be cheap. 

Steven Morani, acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said Wednesday he was working with the private sector to address the ‘formidable’ challenges of the project. 

‘Consistent with protecting the homeland and per President Trump’s executive order, we’re working with the industrial base and supply chain challenges associated with standing up the Golden Dome,’ he said. 

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LSU women’s basketball highlights from March Madness win vs SDSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow showed no signs of injuries bothering them on Saturday night, leading No. 3 LSU to a 103-48 victory over No. 14 San Diego State in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

“I was nervous, I ain’t going to lie,” Johnson said about coming back from lingering shin inflammation in her right leg. Saturday marked the first time Johnson had played since the Tigers’ Feb. 27 loss to Alabama.

Johnson led the team with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting, pushing her past the 1,500-point mark for her career, and Morrow grabbed her nation-leading 28th double-double of the season of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Their offensive effort was key to LSU’s 103 points, a program record for points in an NCAA Tournament game.

“Setting the record that’s something no one can ever take away from you,” Morrow said. “That’s something very powerful.”

LSU women’s basketball highlights

The duo played with passion and confidence on both offense and defense.

“I told myself that when I came back that I want to be the energy for the team,” Johnson said. “I feel like when you don’t get a chance to play basketball, it really changes your perspective on coming out and giving it everything you got.”

After a steal and layup early in the first quarter, Johnson looked to the crowd while hitting her chest and jumping up and down.

In a similar fashion, Morrow banked in a jumper and blew a kiss to the crowd to close out the first quarter. The fans’ response was blaring. 

Johnson ended the third quarter with another layup off a fast break. When the buzzer sounded, she looked up to the crowd, raising her hands to booming cheers.

Both Johnson and Morrow have been recovering from injuries that caused them to miss time at the tail end of the season. Morrow re-aggravated a left foot sprain in the third quarter of LSU’s second-round loss to Texas in the SEC tournament.

The duo took their recovery seriously, sporting the Nike x Hyperice boot while speaking with reporters on Friday. 

Earlier this week, Morrow and Johnson were recognized as second- and third team AP All-Americans, respectively. In games the duo have started, the Tigers are 26-3 on the season.

Who does LSU women’s basketball play next?

With the win, the Tigers move on to play No. 6 Florida State in the second round on Monday.

Tatum Esparza is a student in the University of Georgia’sSports Media Certificate program.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Arkansas ‘had to fight’ for unlikely Sweet 16 after miserable SEC start

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — First, Arkansas men’s basketball team had to make the NCAA Tournament.

That was in serious doubt right out of the gate in SEC play. The Razorbacks and first-year coach John Calipari opened 0-5 in the conference, ending with an 83-65 humbling at Missouri, and after losing 65-62 at home to Oklahoma on Jan. 24 stood at 12-8 overall and 1-6 in the SEC.

“It definitely wasn’t fun, going through that time,” said sophomore guard D.J. Wagner.

“I feel like that made us who we are. It built all of our characters, as players, as coaches, even as people. It’s a life lesson you can take. No matter how down you are, it’s always going to get better as long as you keep working. Don’t ever put your head down and mope.”

Two months have passed, and here we are: After pulling things together and rallying to the finish line heading into Selection Sunday, Arkansas is off to the Sweet 16 after grinding out a highly physical 75-66 win against No. 2 St. John’s that gives Calipari another feather in his cap in the longtime rivalry with Rick Pitino.

The Razorbacks held St. John’s to 28% percent from the field and 2 of 22 from 3-point range, overcoming the Red Storm’s 28 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points. Matching the intensity of the Big East champions, Arkansas showed the long-term payoff from its regular-season struggles.

“We had to fight to get here,” freshman forward Karter Knox said. “It’s a blessing that my guys right here, that we worked hard in practice and the gym.”

This is a team shaped by adversity, heating up at the right time thanks to the pitfalls that pockmarked a regular season that was once on life support before a second-half surge against one of the toughest schedules faced by any team in this year’s bracket.

No hurdle was harder to overcome than the poor league start. This forced the Razorbacks to figure out “that we absolutely need each other or we’re going down together,” said Calipari, “and they became one heartbeat.”

“I was with these guys. We had guys in a dark place where they would look like that, but now they know I can be in a dark place like that and overcome it. I hope they also understand that saying, that you can go fast alone but if you want to go far, you go with others. I think they now understand that we all got to do what we’re supposed to do and we got to do this together. We can’t be selfish trying to get our own. Let’s play off one another, and they’re doing it.”

The grind of life in the SEC, which sent a record 14 teams into this year’s field, prepared Arkansas for the grind of gutting out single-digit wins against the Red Storm and No. 7 Kansas in the first two rounds. Of the Razorbacks’ 18 league games, just four came against an opponent that missed the tournament: two against LSU and another pair against South Carolina.

With nearly every game these past two months carrying major postseason implications, it’s not a stretch to say that Arkansas had already been in a win-or-go-home mindset long before Thursday.

“It prepares you a lot,” Wagner said. “The SEC is a very physical conference. Every game, you’re going to play against teams like that. Very physical, very talented like that. Every game we played in the SEC was like that game. That’s how it prepared us.”

In hindsight, however, these early stumbles can also be explained in part by the adjustment to Calipari’s style and the offseason turnover in personnel that completely remade last year’s roster.

Thirteen players left the program after former coach Eric Musselman’s departure for Southern California, with five exhausting their eligibility and the rest entering the transfer portal. In their place came a six-member transfer class ranked among the nation’s best along with another six freshmen, including five-star guard Boogie Fland.

Another factor was injuries. Fland suffered a hand injury in January, when he was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game, and was expected to miss the rest of the season. But the extended runway provided by the tournament berth gave time for Fland to recover, and he played 24 crucial minutes against the Jayhawks and another 20 against the Red Storm.

One key contributor who is still sidelined is leading scorer Adou Thiero, a junior forward who followed Calipari from Kentucky and hasn’t played since Feb. 22 because of a knee injury. Thiero practiced with the team this week and could return for the Sweet 16 when the Razorbacks play the winner of Texas Tech-Drake in San Francisco.

“Everybody had something going on this season,” senior forward Jonas Aidoo said.

One transfer in particular has proven to be vitally important to this surprising run out of the opening weekend. Former Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis was part of the Owls’ run to the Final Four two seasons ago, giving him an unmatched perspective on what it takes to win as the underdog on the tournament stage.

After averaging 11.3 points per game on 38.8% shooting during the regular season, Davis has scored a combined 31 points in two tournament games, making 10 of his 20 attempts and 5 of his 13 shots from 3-point range.

“Of course we rely on him,” Aidoo said. “Just having him with that experience means a lot to us, because he’s been here before.”

Nurtured along slowly but steadily, it’s the young core of Arkansas’ roster that has stepped up in the postseason to create an exponentially more complete and more dangerous team than the one that once seemed headed for a losing finish.

“We knew we were a really talented team,” said Aidoo. “It was just a matter of putting it together.”

Fland’s return has broadened Calipari’s options in the backcourt; he should continue to improve as he shakes off the dust from his extended absence. Knox had 15 points against St. John’s and has scored in double figures in eight of his past 11 games. After averaging 9.3 minutes of action in Arkansas’ first eight SEC games, freshman forward Billy Richmond has played an average of 25.6 minutes in his past eight appearances and had a team-high 16 points on Saturday.

“Well, they’re not afraid and they want to prove themselves,” said Calipari.

The play of these freshmen makes you wonder if there’s even more in the tank. After fighting through the hardships of the regular season, could there be enough, maybe, to make an utterly unexpected run all the way to the Final Four?

“To be where we are, still playing and still fighting and having fun, I’m enjoying it,” Calipari said. “Like I said, I’m not going to let anything faze me in this. Here we are, let’s have fun.”

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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March Madness perfect bracket tracker: 3 left after Saturday games

Through 40 games and three days of men’s NCAA Tournament competition, somehow, someway, there are still perfect brackets out there.

Those who’ve yet to have a bracket buster have either studied the analytics, received some luck or most likely had a little bit of both to get here after the first day of second-round games.

Playing in those perfect bracket-makers’ favor has been a somewhat chalky start to March Madness, as only three double-digit seeds won first-round games, with 12-seeded McNeese and 11-seeded Drake falling in the second round on Saturday. 12-seed Colorado State has a chance to bust some brackets on Sunday if it can upset 4-seed Maryland to reach the Sweet 16.

6-seed BYU likely also busted some brackets on Saturday after upsetting 3-seed Wisconsin 91-89 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011.

It’ll be quite the feat if any of those brackets are still perfect after Sunday’s games, meaning teams correctly picked the winners of 48 games through four days.

Here’s a look at how many perfect brackets remain through the first three full days of NCAA Tournament action:

Men’s March Madness perfect bracket tracker

There are only three perfect brackets remaining on ESPN’s tournament challenge, with 24,388,541 brackets busted through 48 games of action.

At least one bracket will be busted in UConn vs. Florida on Sunday, as one of the remaining brackets has the Huskies advancing with the other two taking the Gators in the game.

It shouldn’t be long until there are no perfect brackets remaining, unless one of the three bracket-makers somehow can predict the future.

Women’s March Madness perfect bracket tracker

There were around 7,000 perfect brackets left before 8-seed Creighton and 9-seed Illinois played on Saturday, and the Fighting Illini’s win eliminated about 4,000 perfect brackets.

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LSU star Flau’jae Johnson raps in March Madness commercial

LSU star Flau’jae Johnson is everywhere this NCAA women’s tournament, and not just for her skills on the court.

Aside from leading the Tigers with 18.9 points through 30 games, the junior’s career as a rapper is taking centerstage. Johnson’s new commercial for March Madness features a catchy song that people can’t get out of their heads.

As the tournament unfolds, here is what to know about Johnson’s budding rap career.

When did her career start?

Johnson initially appeared on ‘America’s Got Talent’ as a teenager as she tried to jumpstart her rap career. She didn’t win, but she advanced to the quarterfinals and kept working away at her craft.

Who is Flau’jae Johnson’s father?

Johnson’s career is an homage to her late father, Jason Johnson, who was better known as the rapper Camoflauge.

Her father was on the verge of breaking through before he was fatally shot in May 2003 — nearly six months before she was born.

‘I feel like his legacy was cut short,’ Johnson told ESPN. ‘It was taken from him. That’s why I sometimes feel like it’s my duty to finish what he started.’

Does Flau’jae Johnson have any music out?

Johnson signed an independent distribution deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2021. The deal allowed her to tap the agency’s strategic resources while employing her own internal management team and retaining the rights to her masters through her personal label, Flauge Entertainment.

Johnson released her first single in 2020 and released her debut album, ‘Best of Both Worlds,’ in 2024. Her debut features her collab, ‘Came Out A Beast,’ with Louisiana native and LSU fan Lil Wayne.

Has Flau’jae Johnson performed?

Johnson’s rap career has gained traction right as her basketball stardom has grown.

Johnson took the stage to perform at the ESPY Awards in July 2024. 

Does Flau’Jae Johnson want to be a rapper or a basketball player?

Johnson wants her other career to be taken seriously and aims to one day have an arena tour.

‘Like, I’m trying to perform arenas. I’m trying to tour. I’m trying to be a real established artist. I want to win a Grammy,’ Johnson told TMZ Sports.

Johnson does have WNBA aspirations and recently said she hopes to play against Caitlin Clark again.

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Rick Pitino defends sitting RJ Luis late in St. John’s loss

St. John’s basketball star RJ Luis nailed a free-throw to make the Red Storm’s deficit 64-62 with just under five minutes left against Arkansas in the men’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

However, the 6-foot-7 Big East Player of the Year was nowhere to be found the remainder of the game, as the second-team All-American was subbed out and didn’t return after making both of his free-throw attempts.

St. John’s played without both Luis and guard Kadary Richmond down the stretch in its 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round, as Richmond fouled out with 6:28 left to play. Luis, who finished the game with one foul, was notably absent amid the Red Storm (31-5) fighting to keep their season alive without another of its top players in Richmond.

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was asked twice about Luis’ omission from the floor late in the game.

‘He played 30 minutes,’ Pitino told reporters after the game. ‘That’s a long time.’

‘So he was tired?’ the reporter asked.

‘No, he played 30 minutes, and I went with other people,’ Pitino responded. ‘You already know the answer. You’re asking leading questions. … You already know why he didn’t play.’

Pitino clarified his answer on Luis when he was again asked about his star player.

‘You know he was 3 for 17, you know he was 0 for 3 (from 3-point range),’ Pitino said. ‘So, you’re answering your own (question). I’m not gonna knock one of my players.’

It was an interesting move for Pitino, as St. John’s struggled to make shots in the game. The Red Storm shot a poor 21 of 75 (28%) as a team, making only two of 22 3-point attempts. Luis, St. John’s leading scorer this season, averaged 18.5 points per game before Saturday, but shot 3 of 17 from the floor with nine points against the Razorbacks.

The scoring output was his lowest in 2025, as the last and only other time he scored under double-digits this season came on Dec. 31 in a one-point loss to Creighton. Luis blamed himself after the game, as well:

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Kim Mulkey’s outfit for March Madness opener? Powder blue suit

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU women’s basketball head coach Kim Mulkey donned powder blue from head to toe for the Tigers’ game against San Diego State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.

Her outfit pairs a powder blue pantsuit with matching textured blue heels. The jacket has a sash of intricate flowers sewn along the front and along the left shoulder and right arm sleeve to continue the sash pattern. The flowers are the same powdery blue. Underneath she is sporting a simple white top. 

Watch LSU vs. San Diego State on Fubo

Mulkey has been known to sport bold and eye-catching outfits and has become a fashion icon in basketball. She often wears pieces from the brand Queen of Sparkles, which is designed by LSU graduate Jamie Glas Odom. 

Mulkey is the only person in college basketball history to win a national championship as a player, assistant coach and head coach, with six total. Her most recent came in 2023 when LSU defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa. That night Mulkey sported a gold, sequined, tiger-striped pantsuit. 

Tigers fans hope she will have several more opportunities to turn the court into a fashion show this March Madness.

Tatum Esparza is a student in the University of Georgia’s Sports Media Certificate program.

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John Calipari getting Arkansas to Sweet 16 a middle finger to doubters

RALEIGH, N.C. — If you talk to enough people who were close enough to the truth, which isn’t easy when it comes to John Calipari and all the myths that surround his every move, they’ll tell you there was a moment last April when he was on the verge of going to Arkansas and thought deeply about whether it was something he’d regret.

You’re talking about a man who had spent his entire adult life trying to get a coaching job like Kentucky and 15 years as the biggest show in college basketball for better or worse. Now here he was at 65, just one signature from leaving it behind.

For the first time maybe ever as he climbed from UMass to the NBA, then from Memphis to Lexington, Calipari had to think hard about whether he might be making a huge mistake.

More than 11 months later, and here we are: In the two biggest moments of his first post-Kentucky season, Calipari beat Rick Pitino to get Arkansas to the Sweet 16.

No wonder his wife, Ellen, was visibly crying as the final seconds ticked away of an intense 75-66 upset over St. John’s that might be as personally satisfying as any victory he’s had since leading Kentucky to the national championship 13 years ago.

Nobody needs to feel sorry for Calipari about the way anything in his life or career has turned out, but we can all appreciate to some degree how it must feel to be really good at something for a very long time and suddenly have the same people who praised you for it question in a very loud and public way whether you can still do the job.

Saturday, the question was answered. As it turns out, yeah, Coach Cal has still got it.

Getting this Arkansas team to the Sweet 16 would have ranked as one of the more meaningful victories of Calipari’s career regardless of whether Pitino or anyone else was on the opposite bench. Arkansas started 0-5 in the SEC, didn’t play anywhere close to its potential for most of the season, and didn’t have a lot of margin for error to make the NCAA Tournament.

That’s not what this season was supposed to be after Calipari, backed by a large NIL budget, essentially recreated the team he would have had at Kentucky this season. But that’s also the beauty of college basketball’s postseason: It can wash away a multitude of sins, just as it can ruin the memories of seasons that deserved better.

That reality is why Calipari had to leave Kentucky in the first place. After 15 years, a few blown opportunities to advance deeper in the postseason and being on the wrong side of two humiliating upsets took too much of a toll on his relationship with the fan base. By the time Calipari walked off the floor a year ago having lost to No. 14 seeded Oakland, it was just … over.

Now, neither side should have regrets about what happened in the three weeks that followed. Kentucky’s in a good place under Mark Pope, playing for its own spot in the Sweet 16 on Sunday. Arkansas’ program is back in the national spotlight. And Calipari’s reputation as the guy who can still beat Pitino in a big game after 30 years of knocking heads with him is restored to its full glory.

If Calipari had a moment of doubt along the way about whether going to Arkansas was the right thing to do, he no longer has to look back.

It’s all forward now, on to San Francisco for the Sweet 16 and a big middle finger to anyone who questioned whether he was still capable of getting a team ready to play its best basketball at the very moment it had to be.

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Rick Pitino defends sitting RJ Luis late St. John’s loss to Arkansas

St. John’s basketball star RJ Luis nailed a free-throw to make the Red Storm’s deficit 64-62 with just under five minutes left against Arkansas in the men’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

However, the 6-foot-7 Big East Player of the Year was nowhere to be found the remainder of the game, as the second-team All-American was subbed out and didn’t return after making both of his free-throw attempts.

St. John’s played without both Luis and guard Kadary Richmond down the stretch in its 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round, as Richmond fouled out with 6:28 left to play. Luis, who finished the game with one foul, was notably absent amid the Red Storm (31-5) fighting to keep their season alive without another of its top players in Richmond.

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was asked twice about Luis’ omission from the floor late in the game.

‘He played 30 minutes,’ Pitino told reporters after the game. ‘That’s a long time.’

‘So he was tired?’ the reporter asked.

‘No, he played 30 minutes, and I went with other people,’ Pitino responded. ‘You already know the answer. You’re asking leading questions. … You already know why he didn’t play.’

Pitino clarified his answer on Luis when he was again asked about his star player.

‘You know he was 3 for 17, you know he was 0 for 3 (from 3-point range),’ Pitino said. ‘So, you’re answering your own (question). I’m not gonna knock one of my players.’

It was an interesting move for Pitino, as St. John’s struggled to make shots in the game. The Red Storm shot a poor 21 of 75 (28%) as a team, making only two of 22 3-point attempts. Luis, St. John’s leading scorer this season, averaged 18.5 points per game before Saturday, but shot 3 of 17 from the floor with nine points against the Razorbacks.

The scoring output was his lowest in 2025, as the last and only other time he scored under double-digits this season came on Dec. 31 in a one-point loss to Creighton. Luis blamed himself after the game, as well:

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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