Photo of former Kentucky coach goes viral as Illinois beat Arkansas

Former head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, John Calipari, took his current team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, to the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase in Kansas City, Missouri. The Razorbacks faced off against the Illinois Illini and lost 90-77. Kentucky fans have been mildly curious (maybe more than that for some) about their former coach and like to tune in to the games. We’ve already asked if Big Blue Nation is a little too obsessed with Calipari. However, that’s not even what this article is about, it wasn’t a photo of Calipari that went viral among BBN, it was former associate head coach Orlando Antigua.

Antigua left Kentucky a couple of seasons ago to work under Brad Underwood at Illinois. His bio on the Illini website says this about him, “Widely regarded as the nation’s preeminent recruiter and one of the top frontcourt player development mentors in the country.” In the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase, Antigua was coaching against his former boss (Calipari), and as the first half was coming to a close Illinois was up 15 points, his daughter caught this picture:

The caption ” Busted ” speaks volumes: She caught him with a big ol’ grin on his face as he enjoyed the lead and eventually the win. What’s he busted for? It may just simply mean that he was smiling at his daughter when she caught a picture of him, or that he was enjoying beating his former boss, who is now at Arkansas. It’s the latter that BBN ran with.

Big Blue Nation is enjoying it almost as much as Coach O, Kentuck fans spending a lot of the offseason listening to Arkansas fans talk trash. And, of course, deep down in the BBN heart, there’s a bit that is starting to believe that Kentucky got the better end of the stick with Mark Pope.

Was the picture of Coach O relishing in the win over his former boss? Or was it that he was smiling at his daughter sitting behind the bench? Or a little bit of both? His daughter, Olivia, seems to confirm that it’s maybe the first.