Calipari Indeed Changes Philosophy of Roster Management

Arkansas' roster will have more professional league look with two-way deals added in for final four scholarship spots

Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari during the first half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. / Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari doubled down on his roster building plans Wednesday at the SEC's annual spring meetings in Destin. Due to recent struggles in NCAA Tournament play, he has decided a fresh start with the Hogs' is a great time for a change on who he pursues to fill his roster.

Kentucky's first round loss to Oakland comes to mind and is an obvious reason Calipari wants to change. He understands the value of age and experience at the collegiate level in correlation to competing for titles. Former Hillsdale College star Jack Gohlke, playing in his sixth season with the Grizzlies, dropped a 30-piece on the Wildcats including 10 made three-pointers.

"The lesson was you can't do this now with seven freshmen," Calipari said. "You just can't. You're going to hit a team that's 25 years old on average, one was 26, and that team is physically going to get you, and so now we have a couple transfers that are older, some kids that transferred from Kentucky that went through it, and they're a year older, and some freshmen."

Gohlke was 24-years-old and the the age of teams might be an exaggeration but Calipari's point rings true. College basketball has become an old man game. Players are also staying in school much longer now due to NIL. Luckily, college sports in general are approaching the end of players who received an eligibility waiver for COVID-19 during the 2020-21 season.

Calipari remains adamant that he wants to continue making an impact on freshmen's lives. He's placed nearly 60 players during his career in the NBA Draft with a lot of them coming during the one-and-done era at Kentucky. That will not change at Arkansas but will be altered a bit.

“I’m still going to recruit young players because I like changing families,” Calipari said during the Razorback Roadshow in Little Rock. "I think we’ll still recruit freshmen but not like we have at Kentucky. We had seven freshmen. You can’t do that anymore.”

Arkansas has signed a pretty good blend of age, experience and freshmen for Calipari's first season in Fayetteville. Florida Atlantic transfer shooting guard Johnell Davis and Tennessee transfer forward Jonas Aidoo have one year remaining. Both have been critical pieces to teams that made deep runs in previous NCAA Tournaments. Point guard DJ Wagner, small forward Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic all come from Lexington and started at some point during their respective careers with Kentucky. Then, a trio of 5-star true freshmen (Boogie Fland, Billy Richmond and Karter Knox) are poised to make a splash early on.

When Calipari was presented as Arkansas' new coach, the roster was void of any talent due to the transfer portal. He started without a single player on scholarship but needed to act quickly with roster building season in progress.

"It was hard because I had no players," Calipari said. "We are at eight right now. I'm looking for one more guy and that's what we're going to have."

Comments made by Calipari during his "Ways to Win" podcast about bringing in 8-9 players was also expounded on Wednesday. He wants to focus on nine players that will be rotational pieces with 'walk-on' caliber players awarded the final four roster spots.

With Arkansas currently at eight scholarship players, Calipari is focused on bringing one more player to the fold. However, he leaves the door wide open as to who he might be targeting.

"The ninth? It depends on who it is," Calipari said. "Is it a shooter? Is it a stretch forward? Is it a strong physical [post player]? Is it a defensive guy? Right now I can breathe because we got eight and I'm hoping there'll be nine. But what if there's not? Somebody said, 'Well, what if you have injuries?' If the wrong guy gets injured on any team in this country, they're done."

HOGS FEED:

• Calipari's first Razorbacks schedule gives historic feel

• Former Arkansas catcher gets called up to majors after six years

• Biggest question at SEC meetings is biggest question for college sports

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow allHOGS on X and Facebook