The John Calipari era at Arkansas has begun after the longtime Kentucky head coach joined the Razorbacks in April. Following in the footsteps of Eric Musselman while leaving behind an impressive legacy behind him in Lexington.
Calipari is now tasked with rebuilding the Arkansas program from the ground up after admitting that ‘there is no team’ in his introductory press conference. Which will require some work in the NCAA transfer portal. And during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, Calipari pulled back the curtain on his roster-building strategy at large including the importance of the portal.
“I want to have a couple players return every year that needed to, I want to have three or four freshmen that are as good as any in the country, and I want to have two or three transfers,” Calipari said. “I want to have eight or nine on scholarship in NIL, I want other guys on scholarship but you understand you’re gonna have to work your way.”
“You’re gonna have to earn your way. You’re on scholarship, you’re getting all that goes along with it, but you know what your role is on this team.
At Kentucky, Calipari specialized in recruiting the nation’s top freshman. Many of which went on to the NBA level following just one season with the Wildcats. But in the new college basketball landscape, Calipari has gone back to the drawing board with his new program.
“And before I started five freshmen and we went to the national championship game. I mean I think those days are done now. I don’t think you can do that when the other guy’s 25 years old 24, 26, and your guy’s 19. You can’t,” Calipari explained. “Yet I still want to get the best freshmen, I think I got three outstanding freshmen this year that are gonna have a chance to do their thing and be in this draft too.”
Calipari’s change in roster-building philosophy comes fresh off of three straight early exits from the NCAA Tournament. With last year’s first-round loss to Oakland accentuated by the youth of his team compared to the experience of the Golden Grizzlies. As Calapari’s new thinking is being seen in real time as the Razorbacks’ roster starts to take shape.
“So I’m just trying to combine all this to make sure we have DJ [Wagner] Adou [Thiero] and Big Z [Zvonimir Ivisic] coming, they transferred from Kentucky with me. You watch what happens for them given they have another year. And then we have Nelly Davis, we have Jonas Aidoo and we have TV [Trevon Brazile],” Calipari said.
There’s no question that on paper it’s so far Arkansas’ roster this offseason, but it will be fascinating to see how the rest of Calipari’s lineup takes shape and looks on the court next basketball season with a new program.
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