Arkansas coach John Calipari focuses on new squad at SEC Media Day 2024
Former Kentucky head coach John Calipari said he wants to focus on his new Razorbacks squad during a press conference at SEC Media Day 2024.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — John Calipari began his time at the podium during Tuesday’s SEC Tipoff event by describing his new job at Arkansas as “an adventure.” One that he and his wife, Ellen, were excited to explore.
What he wasn’t interested in discussing was previous forays. Specifically, those in Lexington, Kentucky.
“I’ve talked about all that stuff,” Calipari said, referring to the end of his 15-year tenure at Kentucky. “You can look it up and see what I’ve said. … I want to have fun with this. I know the challenges. I’ve been in this league. I know how hard it is.”
While he didn’t want to spend many words Tuesday discussing the Wildcats, Calipari’s former program still isn’t far from his mind.
Take tailoring the Razorbacks to his liking after replacing former coach Eric Musselman.
It begins and ends, Calipari said, with the program’s culture.
“Before you can teach how we’re going to play, you’ve got to teach them to play,” he said. “And I’ve always said, ‘A coach can stop a play. He cannot stop a player that can play.’
“So we’re trying to teach them all, ‘Here’s what you have to have — these skills — to play the way we play: dribble, drive, space the court, positionless. Here are actions that we’re going to run to open the court, to (get a) touch in the lane. Here’s the opportunities for 3s and all those things.'”
Kentucky’s 2023-24 squad also shaped how Calipari has structured Arkansas practices so far.
The Wildcats were a high-flying offensive attack last season, leading the nation (and setting a single-season school record) for 3-point percentage at 40.9. UK also averaged 89 points per game — the best figure in Calipari’s 15 seasons at the helm. Yet for all Kentucky’s offensive excellence, its defense routinely underperformed.
It culminated in the worst defensive squad of the Calipari era (in terms of points per game).
UK gave up 79.7 points per outing, the fourth-worst showing in the program’s rich record book.
“My mindset — toughness, swarming, guarding your man plus one? We’ve done all that probably more so than I normally do,” Calipari said of the new crop of Razorbacks.
That defensive-minded focus bled into Calipari’s roster construction.
“They’re more physical. They’re older,” he said. “What I found out when you try to have seven, eight freshmen and you’re going against an older team of 24-year-olds, 23-year-olds? That’s a big difference, and especially in big games where they are more mature to play through than with young guys.”
This story will be updated.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
