Calipari Will Change His Recruiting Method For Now

Late arrival at Arkansas will force Calipari to lean heavily on transfer portal, but will new method stick?

New Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari at press conference after introduction Wednesday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. / Craven Whitlow-allHOGS Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The making of John Calipari’s first roster as Razorbacks coach is shaping up to be a solid one. With commitments from two players in the top 15 of the transfer portal rankings alongside three 5-star freshman, Arkansas is set to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. 

Using the transfer portal isn’t a foreign concept for Calipari. However, relying on it as a means to fill out a roster to this extent is definitely a different experience. That’s the nature of college basketball with rosters essentially turning over every year.

Kentucky fans are a loyal bunch, which is to be expected for a blue blood program. The team stumbled throughout the previous five seasons of the Calipari era in Lexington, but it wasn’t a total failure. 

The championship or bust mantra every year was a lot to live up to. With the game of college basketball evolving minute-to-minute, some coaches couldn’t adapt fast enough or even refused to do so. 

“I’m still going to bring in my freshman,” Calipari said during his introductory press conference with Arkansas. 

He may not have fully embraced the transfer portal in previous seasons. However, to say he didn’t try is a clueless take. The Wildcats signed four 5-star freshman during the 2023 cycle along with Trey Mitchell, a Top 60 transfer from West Virginia. 

Calipari's 2020 and 2021 portal classes were the standard in Lexington. Over a two-year span, Calipari landed Oliver Sarr, Jacob Toppin and Davion Mintz. Although the team struggled during the 2020-21 season with a 9-16 record, the rebuild was one of the best in college basketball. 

The 2021 transfer haul included Georgia’s Sahvir Wheeler, West Virginia’s Oscar Tschibwe, Davidson’s Kellen Grady and Iowa’s CJ Frederick who all ended up being major contributors for a team that finished 28-8, but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Cinderella Saint Peter’s.

During the 2022 recruiting cycle, Antonio Reeves transferred in from Illinois State to be the go-to offensive option for the Wildcats for two seasons. Two 5-stars, Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston, and 4-stars Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero, came in as freshmen. Wheeler, Tschibwe and Toppin were multi-year additions.

This past season, Kentucky’s roster was made up of seven freshmen, a couple of second year players and one transfer, but were again beaten in the first round by Oakland. After losing to fifth and sixth year seniors, Calipari’s knew his roster make-up had to change. Arkansas’ roster will feature fewer freshmen and more experienced players, at least for next season. 

With the 2024 class pretty much signed, it forced Calipari to work the transfer portal with more effort than ever before. Instead of just three to four additions, the state of college basketball will require him to bring in 10 transfers this offseason. With consensus Top 3 transfer Johnell Davis and former Tennessee big man Jonas Aidoo along for the ride, Arkansas is already off to a great start. 

Other top transfers Arkansas has contacted include former Kentucky players such as Audi Thiero, Jordan Burks and DJ Wagner. That would give Calipari seven commitments who might have played for him had he stayed in Lexington.

That will give the Razorbacks coach six new players via the portal to work with which would be the most transfers he signed in an offseason and potentially the top portal class of the cycle. With no guarantee his new roster building theory sticks it still bucks the trend of his previous two decades of work. 

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