John Calipari questions why Darius Acuff Jr. is not in the National Player of the Year conversation: 'What are you saying?'

Arkansas head coach John Calipari believes point guard Darius Acuff Jr. isn’t receiving the national respect he deserves. After the Razorbacks’ 99-84 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday, Calipari wondered aloud why Acuff isn’t being considered a frontrunner for the National Player of the Year Award.

“Look, I’m a little disappointed, and I’m not trying to put more on the kid. Why isn’t he in the equation for the player of the year in the country? What are you saying?” Calipari said. “He’s averaging as many as all those people? He’s got six assists. He’s got three rebounds. He’s doing things in the guts of games. Yeah, maybe they are, but he is too, so why isn’t he being mentioned?

“He’s playing when he could probably take some time off games and he’s playing anyway. I mean, he goes through the shootaround and only does half of it so he has enough [energy] to play the game. Like, should he play down in Florida? Probably not, but I’ll tell you right now if I said you’re not playing down there, he would bust out laughing. ‘You’re out of your mind.’ So I’m a little disappointed in that.”

Acuff’s performance on Wednesday wasn’t his most efficient, but it was still an impressive bullet point in his illustrious resume. In the win, Acuff recorded 22 points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Acuff is averaging 22.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game this season while shooting 49.9% from the field and 43.0% from beyond the arc. His 22.2 points per contest are the eighth most in the country.

While Acuff is expected to win SEC Player of the Year, he isn’t considered a heavy threat in the National Player of the Year race. Duke forward Cameron Boozer is the favorite to win the award, and BYU‘s AJ Dybantsa trails closely behind.

Both Boozer and Dybantsa average more points and rebounds per game than Acuff. However, Acuff averages more assists than both of them. Acuff also boasts a better 3-point percentage than his two competitors.

Boozer is likely the comfortable favorite due to his team’s success. Duke is the No. 1 team in college basketball and Boozer has consistently led the Blue Devils in big games.

Darius Acuff will look to lead Arkansas to its own enormous triumph on Saturday as they square off against No. 7 Florida at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will air live on ESPN.