‘He can build the roster exactly how he wants’: Calipari begins task of assembling Arkansas basketball team

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas has its new men’s basketball coach in John Calipari.

Now Calipari needs a team to coach.

The Razorbacks literally have no returning scholarship players or newcomers for Calipari to inherit after he was officially announced as Arkansas’ coach Wednesday.

Of the eight Razorbacks on this season’s roster with eligibility remaining, seven entered the transfer portal and forward Trevon Brazile declared for the NBA Draft and said there’s no chance he is returning to Arkansas.

The Razorbacks’ two high school signees — Isaiah Elohim and Jalen Shelley — both asked for scholarship releases after Eric Musselman resigned as Arkansas’ coach April 4 to take the Southern Cal job.

Despite the Razorbacks’ depleted roster, Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek didn’t sound concerned about Calipari’s ability to find quality players anxious to join him at Arkansas for the 2024-25 season.

“I’m really confident that he can put a great team together pretty quickly,” Yurachek said.

In Calipari’s 15 seasons as Kentucky’s coach, he had the No. 1-ranked recruiting classes eight times according to On3.com. He had the No. 2 class six times — including this year before his departure.

Two Kentucky signees, 5-star center Jayden Quaintance and 4-star center Somoto Cyril, have asked for a release from their national letters of intent.

Karter Knox, a 5-star forward who was committed to sign with the Wildcats this spring, has announced he is reopening his recruitment. Quaintance and Knox are McDonald’s All-Americans.

Aaron Bradshaw, a freshman center for Kentucky this season and a 5-star recruit, has entered the transfer portal.

Following Calipari to Arkansas could be an option for Bradshaw or the Kentucky recruits who committed to play for him.

“Hunter is extremely confident, but we’ve got to get a roster together,” Calipari said. “And some of it is a little bit of everything, but we will.

“It may take a little longer because there are kids that put their name in the NBA Draft that are going to go through some of the [transfer portal] process.

“Which means, do you wait for that kid? Or do you go take somebody that’s not quite as good and you’re going to be juggling balls. That’s what we do now.”

Calipari was asked about what he looks for in building a roster.

“If you’re not into basketball, you won’t come here,” Calipari said. “If you’re smoking, clubbing, drinking, chasing.

“This is about being at a place that has zeroed in on a culture that creates professional habits, and that includes academically. We didn’t have any [academic] issues [at Kentucky]. They all finished the term. We didn’t have any [Academic Progress Rate] problems.

“We had 32 kids graduate. We had six graduate in three years. You can do all that. You can care about the kids and still win.”

Jimmy Dykes, an ESPN and SEC Network analyst, said having a full allotment of scholarships available for newcomers at Arkansas is a positive for Calipari.

“He can literally go get every guy he wants to build that roster,” Dykes said. “He may only end up with 10 or 11 guys because of the NIL money and how he can divide that up.

“But I think it’s a perfect scenario for him. He can build the roster exactly how he wants and have as many players as he feels he needs for that first year.”

Calipari, who built his recruiting reputation on signing high school players who left after one season in college as NBA first-round draft picks, said NIL financial opportunities are resulting in some players staying longer in college.

“They’re giving a bunch of waivers and no one wants to leave because of NIL — ‘I’ll stay here and make more than I would going and getting a job and I’m still playing basketball,’ ” he said. “So that’s one of the issues, which means physical toughness and physicality matter more now than ever before.

“Now you can have freshmen, but they better be physically tough. The transfer portal, you’re getting some older players.

“But the other thing you have to understand, both [national championship game teams] Purdue and Connecticut had players that had been in their program three years. They didn’t leave, they were there three years. So it’s not just go get a transfer.”

Calipari laughed when asked his plans for building a roster in his first season at Arkansas.

“I can’t tell you that,” he said. “I’d be telling everybody else that.

“Look, there’s going to be enough kids that would want to play here for us. That will be fine. I really believe that.”

Calipari has an 855-263 on-court record in 32 seasons at Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky with a combined 6 Final Fours — including the 2012 national championship with the Wildcats — along with 6 Elite Eights and 3 Sweet 16s.

“Whether I was at UMass or Memphis or at Kentucky, kids wanted play for us,” Calipari said. “And hopefully it’s because we put them first and their families know it.”