John Calipari's return to Rupp Arena will be the best SEC basketball game this season

Arkansas vs. Kentucky will be an elite game this season.

UK Head Basketball Coach John Calipari addressed the Senate Standing Committee on Education as they heard special testimony on Senate Bill 6, the Name Image Likeness Bill, sponsored by Senator Max Wise (R-Campbellsville) at the Capitol Annex in Frankfort, Ky. on Feb. 9, 2022. / Sam Upshaw Jr. / Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The full 2024-25 Kentucky basketball schedule was released with dates, so now Kentucky fans will know the tough stretches of the conference slate. The other highly anticipated part of the schedule release had to do with when the Kentucky Wildcats will host the Arkansas Razorbacks.

That date is now known as Coach John Calipari, and the Razorbacks will come to Rupp Arena on February 1st for a Saturday showdown on the hardwood. This is a game that all college basketball fans are looking forward to seeing play out, as there are a ton of narratives between these two teams.

On top of Coach Calipari going to Arkansas, so did Zvonimir Ivisic, DJ Wagner, and Adou Thiero, plus a good portion of Kentucky's old 2024 recruiting class.

With all that's going on between these two basketball teams and fan bases, this very well could end up being the most anticipated game in the SEC this season and perhaps all of college basketball.

Coach Calipari is going to want to return to Rupp Arena, securing a big win for his new ball club, while Coach Mark Pope will want to prove to BBN that the change was good for this programming getting a big win.

On top of this, Kentucky and Arkansas will just flat-out be two really good basketball teams, making this an exciting game. It will be interesting to see how Kentucky fans react to Coach Calipari returning to Rupp Arena. The former Kentucky coach deserves a ton of respect, but he will likely be greeted with some boos from the crowd.