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Blank canvases always hold the most potential, and new Arkansas head basketball coach John Calipari has some painting to do with the Razorbacks.
Hired away from the Kentucky Wildcats officially on Wednesday, Calipari is bringing a wealth of experience to Fayetteville and a fresh-start mentality in an ever-changing college basketball landscape.
Can the Hall of Fame head coach adapt his roster-building philosophy and scheme to fully maximize an Arkansas roster that currently holds zero scholarship players? With a reported NIL fund of $5 million+, he’ll have every opportunity to land premiere talent during the offseason.
“You can say rebuild, there may not be a roster,” Calipari said during his introductory presser on Wednesday. “I’ve got to put a roster together. No, you laugh, but that’s not funny. I just met with the team. There were three guys in there and they were in the portal.
“We’ve got work to do and the only thing that I want to tell you is I’m not that guy that has a magic wand. That’s not who I am. I’m the grinder that comes everyday. When you watch my team from the beginning to the end of the year, you say ‘Wow, they got better.’ Individual players got better. They become a better team to put them in the best position.”
Revered for his one-and-done recruiting ability and NBA talent development, Calipari has to shift gears with the Razorbacks. He’ll look to flip some of the prospects that made up the No. 2 Rivals’ 2024 recruiting class at Kentucky, but plenty of roster spots will remain for transfers to fill up.
“That’s one of the issues which means physical toughness and physicality matter more now than ever before,” Calipari said. “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 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…
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Author : HawgBeat
Publish date : 2024-04-11 01:36:55
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