SUPER BOWL 2012

... or should I say, The Hooner vs. Johnny Clam Chowder? Nah, Cal vs. Cal works fine. Heck, John Calipari is referred to rather chummily in Kentucky's media notes as Cal, so why can't we?

As we blogged about a few days ago, these two guys don't like each other much. Perhaps their frosty relationship is best described in this piece on lostletterman.com, which explains how Calhoun used to dub him "Johnny Clam Chowder" in an attempt to mock Calipari as an outsider (from Pittsburgh) trying to tell people what's good for New England basketball.

Good stuff there. And here's how Calipari responds to my question on how he'd characterize his current relationship with Jim Calhoun:



Now, let's see how the two coaches stack up, head-to-head, in various different categories.

Head-to-head: Calhoun 3, Calipari 2

Career victories: Calhoun 853, Calipari 509

Career winning pct.: Calhoun .699 (853-367), Calipari .771 (509-151)

Current players on NBA opening day rosters: Calhoun 11 (Allen, Hamilton, Butler, Okafor, Gordon, Villanueva, Gay, Armstrong, Thabeet, Price, Adrien; Calipari 12 (Bledsoe, Camby, Carney, Cousins, Dorsey, Douglas-Roberts, Evans, Orton, Patterson, Rose, Wall, Williams)

Active coaching tree (former assistants now head coaches): Calhoun 6 (Dickenman, Hobbs, Jarvis, Moore, Pikiell, Woodward), Calipari 6 (Barbee, Flint, Kellogg, Martin, Pastner, Roccaforte)

30-win seasons: Calhoun 8, Calipari 7

NCAA tournament wins: Calhoun 47, Calipari 32

National championships: Calhoun 2, Calipari 0

Final Fours: Calhoun 4, Calipari 3

Final Fours vacated by NCAA committee on infractions: Calhoun 0, Calipari 2

Programs brought to Final Four: Calhoun 1, Calipari 3

Sweet 16's: Calhoun 13, Calipari 8

Elite 8's: Calhoun 9, Calipari 6

NIT championships: Calhoun 1, Calipari 1

Background: Boston Irish, Pittsburgh Italian. Let's call this one a draw.

NBA experience: Claims he was once final cut in Celtics camp, 2 1/2 messy years as head coach of Nets. Let's call this one a draw, too.

Infamous quotes: "I f@$&ed up" or "Not one dime back" or countless others vs. calling a New Jersey reporter a "Mexican idiot."

Scandal: Nate Miles recruiting mess vs. Marcus Camby's pay-for-play or Derrick Rose cheating on SATs

Angering other coaches: Unfairly blaming Mick Cronin for not voting Kemba Walker first team all-Big East vs. John Chaney threatening to kill him.