Fayetteville, Ark.-John Calipari admits that he is still browsing the “new” university basketball, a world in which the 66-year-old traditional recruitment style is no longer the norm.
Calipari did it last season, the first with the Razorbs, and showed that the detractors were wrong. But Arkansas' basketball coach is not interested in doing things in the same way as progress.
Calipari talked about his first year in Arkansas on Wednesday.
The Razorbs began the set of the Southeast Conference last season with five consecutive losses. But Arkansas finally reached Dulce 16. Now, Calipari has adopted a different approach to rebuild the list of the razorbs in his second year in Fayetteville.
“I came here by saying that I want eight or nine boys no matter. “Now I am like, 'let's have eight or nine that they know', but you have other players that we are developing.”
Calipari has been known for a long time as a master recruiter of high school players, regularly collecting classes of the 10 best in Kentucky and Memphis.
The transfer portal has changed things. The recruitment of high school is not irrelevant, but PREPS players are not such a large approach. Now, they are veterans with university experience.
Arkansas had a player who returns last season, striker Trevon Brazile, who also returned for his last season. Calipari built the rest of the list and used a rotation of nine players. The other five team members played 23 minutes in total.
The injuries granted the razor razor of their two main scorers. The Boogie Fland guard, who was transferred to Florida, played in 21 games, and striker Adou Thiero, who was selected in the NBA draft, played in 26. The two played less than 10 minutes in the defeat of the Arkansas season against Texas Tech in the NCAA tournament. The Jonas Aidoo center, the striker Zvonimir Ivisic and the guard Johnell Davis have also gone.
The razorbs have two 10 -toch transfers in Nick Pringle of Alabama and Malique Ewin of the state of Florida. And there are three perimeter first year students. The Meleek Thomas and Darius Aqueff Jr. guards were five -star recruits, and the Ala Isaiah Sealy qualified as four stars.
On Wednesday, Calipari had practically a complete contingent to go through 5 against 5, which rarely happened last season.
“Last year, we were always together, but as the injuries began to take off, they understood how much they needed. In the same way, it probably need to play more people,” said Calipari.
Arkansas reached Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five years after entering the NCAA tournament as a 10th seed and start playing the SEC to 1-5 for the third consecutive season. That beginning came as the least experienced team in the league, said Calipari.
This season, Arkansas returns the greatest production in the SEC, increasing expectations and bets.
“It's only 45%, but it is still the most in our league,” said Calipari.
DJ Wagner is the only return of the double figure score. Karter Knox tested the waters of the NBA before returning, and Billy Richmond III saw many key minutes. It is also considered British, once considered a possible selection of the first round NBA before an acl torn three seasons ago. In his last seven games last season, Brazile averaged 12.6 points and 9.7 rebounds.
“I would tell you that he is playing the best ball since I trained him,” Calipari said. “If he is the guy I am seeing, you are talking about someone who has one or two, then this is underway. It is so good. Now you have to find out who are the other couple who can make differences in the game.”
The mixture of arkansas of young and older seems familiar to Calipari, and anyone who saw their teams in Kentucky. Whether the new approach to the construction of the list or does not arrive or not, even Calipari is not sure.
“None of us know it,” he said. “We are trying to discover how this will work.”
