"Arkansas is in major jeopardy in missing the NCAA tournament": College basketball analyst gets real on John Calipari's tumultuous 2025 season

John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks starting 0-4 in conference play was not what many people expected after the program dedicated a lot of time and resources to land Calipari following his departure from Kentucky. One college basketball analyst believes they are in danger of missing the NCAA tournament altogether.

Yahoo! Sports posted a graphic collage on Wednesday featuring Calipari that has critiques from Jeff Eisenberg. He pointed to Calipari's last showing in the NCAA tournament when his former team Kentucky was stunned by Oakland in the first round.

"Give John Calipari credit for stumbling upon a foolproof way to avoid extending his streak of early-round NCAA tournament flameouts," Eisenberg said. "You can't get Gohlke'd again if you're watching from the couch. Arkansas is in major jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament in Calipari's highly anticipated debut season after an unremarkable non-league showing and a nightmare start in SEC play.

"Kentucky coach Mark Pope didn't inherit a single returning player from Calipari, yet the roster he rebuilt on the fly via transfer portal is 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. There's still time for Arkansas to dig its way out of this midseason hole, but the Razorbacks' road to the NCAA tournament is uphill and obstacle-laden."

How John Calipari, Arkansas is struggling in SEC play

The Southeastern Conference is a tough league to win games in. However, many did not anticipate John Calipari and Arkansas going 0-4 to begin conference play.

Their offense has faltered in their matchups against Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida and LSU. They are only averaging 63.8 points on 36.1% shooting, including 26.1% from beyond the arc, losing by an average of 10.7 points per game.

Boogie Fland and Adou Thiero have been the leading scorers in SEC play. Fland is averaging 15.0 points and 4.3 assists but has shot 30.8%, while Theiro has been providing 13.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg. They need a third scorer to assist them, which was supposed to be former AAC Player of the Year Johnell Davis; however, he has struggled to make a consistent impact in the rotation after transferring from Florida Atlantic.

Calipari and the Razorbacks will seek their first conference win when they face the Missouri Tigers at Mizzou Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.