Fans Have Good Reason to Listen to Calipari's Warning

Expectations need to be lowered for Arkansas Razorbacks basketball early on

Arkansas Razorbacks' forward Trevon Brazile against UNC-Greensboro in a game Dec. 6, 2022, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — John Calipari has been saying it for a while now, but it's reached a higher level of reality. Arkansas fans may want to tamp down expectations, especially early in the season.

The first major warning sign came from a comment by a recruit who attended practice about a week out from a much anticipated exhibition game against No. 1 Kansas. Fast rising 4-star wing Abdou Toure was impressed by how Calipari ran practice despite it being heavily limited.

"Yeah, it was a great experience to see how the guys practiced with such intensity during practice even though they only had five players [active]," Toure said. "The way Coach Calipari coaches his players to the highest of standards. We talked with the coaching staff about their proposed plan they have for me to make me a NBA player and a great person."

Word has trickled out that Arkansas may be back up to six by Friday night, including Trevon Brazile, known more for his own injury history than his thunderous dunks lately, and a handful of freshmen. Of course, there's still plenty of time for someone to trip over a rock or have an electric scooter accident.

This was a major concern for fans when Calipari voiced his new philosophy of limiting the number of players he wanted to carry on scholarship to maximize NIL while not wasting time training up players at the end of the roster who would likely transfer somewhere else at year's end.

“Nope. I’m having 8 or 9, and then I’ll fill out the roster,” Calipari said back in the spring. “You know what I can do? I can give walk-ons scholarships now if I choose to. Maybe I use that somewhere else. Maybe I can get GA’s who can still play and I use it that way.”

A walk-on player would be useful right now, especially one with experience as a Razorback. Unfortunately for the Hogs, Lawson Blake is in the basketball team promotion business rather than actually playing following a season-ending injury.

pic.twitter.com/zOQYMcYNlI

— Lawson Blake (@_lawsonblake_) July 2, 2024

If everyone can get back healthy in time for the opener against Lipscomb the first week of November followed by a game in Dallas against Baylor and stay that way throughout the season, then it's not that big of a deal other than missed opportunities for team chemistry on the court in the off-season. However, if this ends up biting Calipari in the backside as he has to run players into the ground over the course of what is a grind of a season peppered with projected NCAA Tournament qualifiers throughout, he may be down for changing his philosophy with the next recruiting class.

“There are all kinds of ways to do this, and if this isn’t the right way, I’ll change,” Calipari said. “Normally I’ll change fast, but I’m thinking this is the right way.”

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