Stephen A. Smith, like many fans across the country, was glued to the television to watch the big Round of 32 matchup between Arkansas and St. John’s. There had been a ton of talk before the game about the coaching matchup between John Calipari and Rick Pitino.

The majority of people across the country had the 2-seed Red Storm advancing to the Sweet 16, but it was Calipari and the Razorbacks who got the job done and advanced to the Sweet 16. After the game, Smith went to social media to talk about the impressive and “surprising” run that the Razorbacks are on.

Yo y’all. @RazorbackMBB is surprising me. I expected @StJohnsBBall to look like the more athletic team, creating problems defensively. But that’s been Arkansas thus far. Even with a frenetic base. Interesting game. Very interesting.

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 22, 2025

“Yo y’all Arkansas is surprising me,” Smith wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “I expected St. John’s to look like the more athletic team, creating problems defensively. But that’s been Arkansas thus far. Even with a frenetic base. Interesting game. Very interesting.”

A lot of the surprise for the Razorbacks winning this game is just the up-and-down season the Razorbacks have had. Injuries have definitely played a role in the roller coaster season. The season appeared to hit rock bottom for the Razorbacks when they lost their first 5 games in the SEC portion of their schedule. However, the team is starting to get healthy, and has been much better the last 10-12 games.

Arkansas will look to continue this run next week when it takes on Texas Tech for the right to advance to the Elite Eight.