Despite Calipari being hired from Kentucky to Arkansas pretty late in the cycle, he was still able to bring in the No. 1 ranked transfer portal class. With three marquee freshmen, the Razorbacks roster is ranked No. 3 overall according to 247Sports.
At Kentucky, Calipari developed a reputation for bringing in talented freshman classes and having most of those underclassmen in important roles. Now, he’s changed his philosophy and has plenty of experience. While he hasn’t changed his approach on coaching his players, having more experienced players on the roster is something he was forced to do in the current college landscape.
“We’re approaching it the same way,” Calipari said. “I knew you have trouble when the kids — we’re playing against a team and the guy is waving to his two kids in the stands. You’re just saying, ‘This got a little old now, what are we doing here?’ So, to say you’re going to do it with 18-19 year olds 24 and 25-year olds, you got to make that adjustment. We have three freshmen on the team, really four, but those three, and we have some older players, let’s see.
You know I want to have a roster of eight or nine, 10 guys we all know, 10, 11, 12, will they have an opportunity to play? Yeah, you have injuries, maybe they play better, maybe they are better than I even thought. B ut the reality of it is, you have a group. If that doesn’t work, I’ll change that.”
Three of those veteran players are guys who have previous experience with Calipari at Kentucky – DJ Wagner, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic. Calipari says having them is a major benefit because it allows them to relay what is expected of players on his team.
“The guys that have been with me can let the others know what I won’t accept,” Calipari said. “They’ll tell them ‘Look, I played for him. He’s not accepting that right there. So you can go do it, but it ain’t going to work.’
“The other thing is, they know how consistent (I am). Like, I’m not going to change. I’m coming every day noticing. I’m going to notice. Don’t think I’m not noticing. In most cases if you’re in my practice, I stop them way too much because I notice too much and I’m not going to let stuff pass. But having them here is important. That’s them educating about me.”
