Former Kentucky basketball head coach John Calipari is making his return to Lexington Saturday. Rick Pitino had a message for Big Blue Nation while thinking back on his return.

The Coach of the Year race is wide open as February looms with a plethora of candidates making great cases for consideration. While Bruce Pearl of No. 1 Auburn and Jon Scheyer of No. 2 Duke are obvious names,

Highland School (Va.) five-star Nate Ament was in Knoxville on Tuesday night. The 6-foot-9, 185-pound forward, a longtime Duke basketball offer holder who now ranks No. 4 overall on the 247Sports 2025 Composite, watched the visiting No. 12-ranked Kentucky Wildcats defeat the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers, 78-73.

Kentucky played only one game last week, a loss at Vanderbilt. Here’s how badly that hurt the Wildcats in the rankings with a trip to Tennessee up next.

With Duke and UNC trending in opposite directions, you had questions before the first meeting of the rivals this season on Saturday.

If you drew up the seed list for the NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels might be an 11. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had North Carolina down as an 11-seed on Tuesday morning — hours before the Tar Heels lost at Pitt, 73-65.

This weekend's national TV slate has great SEC matchups, John Calipari's return to Kentucky and a new chapter of UNC vs. Duke.

John Calipari will make his first visit to Rupp Arena on Saturday since leaving Kentucky for Arkansas. His longtime coaching rival wants Big Blue Nation to treat Calipari with respect.

Pope took over after John Calipari left for Arkansas in a stunning turn of events. However, Pope wasted no time winning over the fanbase, especially since he is a former Kencutky basketball player. Moreover, moves such as this one only helped Pope's case more, and fans were excited to see the fan interaction with the Wildcats coach.

With a 17-3 record, Tennessee ranks No. 8 nationally behind Auburn, Duke, Iowa State, Alabama, Florida, Houston, and Michigan State. Kentucky is on their trail at No. 12 with only Marquette, Purdue, and Kansas in between. When: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. ET

“As you all know, I’m not best friends with John Calipari,” Pitino said. “I respect him, certainly, but it was a mutual thing. The fans wanted a change. John read the tea leaves. He needed a change, and he really didn’t want to leave.