Razorbacks Heading to Being Basketball School

Economic realities in today's world make that more realistic, Calipari not hired to be "competitive"

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. — If Arkansas wasn't looking to return to a championship level, new coach John Calipari wouldn't be here now. You don't have to talk to the "inside sources" to figure that out. It's just simple math and how the Razorbacks fit in this entire new world of college sports.

Like it or hate it, that's what they're doing. When the boosters put together the package to lure him away from Kentucky and a $33 million buyout, nobody had to be an expert to see that didn't happen to just make the tournament once in a while. Get ready, sit back and enjoy it.

Don't worry about football. They will always have the talent to be competitive, but it won't be titles on a regular basis. They are putting the pieces together in basketball, including landing one of the top coaches in the game who will get the talent unless he's just completely lost his touch. After figuring out he can't do it with one-and-done players, it will likely be a mixture of high school players and transfers. He's also already landing big men.

Expect a major renovation to Bud Walton Arena at some point. The place hasn't been updated much since it was built in 1993 and it needs modern amenities, including better Wi-Fi and more comfortable seats. Even though that was dismissed in Calipari's first press conference, that was easy to do because they couldn't have it this year anyway. No reason to start that drumbeat publicly. It's coming, though.

Arkansas is now a basketball and baseball school. That's not to slight the accomplishments of track or some other sports, but there are three big ones that generate the most amount of revenue. Basketball can be as profitable as football. Do the math with a lot more home games.

Besides, when the Hogs were competing for national championships every year, you didn't have to be a genius to see there was more interest in a basketball team in the mix for a title every year while the football team wallowed around just trying to make a bowl game in Shreveport. There weren't a lot of complaints then.

Besides, whatever the deal was with some big boosters, they aren't paying that kind of money to finish the basketball season the second week of March. Those type of folks typically want results and big ones at that.

In basketball, there are only 13 players on scholarship and not all of them are premium NIL types of guys. You don't have to have the same resources to get to the Final Four you do just to make the playoffs in football, even expanding it to 12 teams.

Being good at basketball isn't a bad thing. You don't even have to have a deep memory bank to remember the excitement around a couple of Elite Eight basketball runs just a few years ago. Fans would probably enjoy that for a change.

HOGS FEED:

• Hogs' Peyton Holt proving to be the Swiss Army knife for Dave Van Horn's team this year

• Primer for Razorback Gymnastics national semifinal

• Arkansas got big inning to start comeback, but had to scratch, claw for win over Texas Tech

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