In just over a week since his arrival, Arkansas basketball’s newly appointed head coach, John Calipari, has been vigorously striving to reinvigorate the program. He amusingly encapsulated the present state of affairs by stating, “I met with the team. There is no team,” during his inaugural press conference.
Humor serves as a valuable coping mechanism in challenging circumstances, but John Calipari’s current assignment is far from humorous. His statement, “There is no team,” holds literal weight, as aside from walk-on Lawson Blake, no players from last season’s roster will remain in Fayetteville for the upcoming year. Compounding the situation, both Arkansas high school recruits, Isaiah Eloheim and Jalen Shelly, have requested to be released from their national letters of intent.
The good news for Razorback fans is that Calipari is one of the best recruiters in the country. Names like Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony-Towns, Demarcus Cousins, and Malik Monk were all convinced by Coach Calipari to play for him. His team and recruiting class last season at Kentucky were no different.
He’s already started to bring his guys to the Hill with the commitment of Zvonimir Ivisic. The 7-foot-2-inch sensation from Croatia only played half the season but exploded on the national scene with an 18-point, four-block performance against No. 13 Alabama in just 20 minutes.
Arkansas will have more Bluegrass talent to pick from in the coming days. Five of Kentucky’s six high school signees have asked to be released from their NLIs, and three Kentucky transfers have yet to commit to a team.
On the other hand, just because Coach Calipari convinced these guys to play for him once doesn’t mean he’ll be able to do it again. The odds are that he’ll need to dive into the transfer portal to fill Arkansas’ roster. Here’s a list of at least one player at every position currently in the portal that Arkansas should seriously target this off-season.
One of the primary critiques of Eric Musselman’s Arkansas teams was the absence of a traditional “true point guard.” Anthony Black came closest to fitting that role, but being a “point guard in a forward’s body,” he often found himself fulfilling other duties as well.
Breaking News:”Seven players outside of Kentucky that John Calipari should consider recruiting”
