Arkansas
Hot chicken! John Calipari cooks spicy dish for Arkansas Razorbacks basketball | Toppmeyer
John Calipari to Arkansas: Current and former college coaches weigh in on the move
John Calipari shocked the college basketball world with his announcement that he’s heading to Arkansas and we asked his fellow coaches what they thought of the move.
The last time a chicken man and an antihero teamed up, both fellas met grisly ends.
“Breaking Bad,” that story was called.
For the sequel, a tastier development is unfolding for the Arkansas Razorbacks, where mega-booster John Tyson and John Calipari are cooking up some spicy kind of dish.
The former Kentucky coach is building the best roster chicken patties can buy.
Neither Calipari nor Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek hid the reality that Tyson, the chairman of the Tyson Food company’s board, wielded significant influence in getting his friend, Calipari, to leave Kentucky for Arkansas.
The unstated implication: Calipari would enjoy rich NIL backing to reload Arkansas’ roster.
Arkansas basketball transfers came from Florida Atlantic to Tennessee
Just look at what Calipari already has on the grill.
He’s assembled a robust transfer class featuring Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis, Tennessee’s James Aidoo and Kentucky’s Zvonimir Ivisic.
Big Blue Nation must be wondering, where was this Calipari in Lexington? This marks a pivot from how Calipari built his Kentucky rosters, where he relied on blue-chip youngsters, even after the transfer era took hold. Although Calipari didn’t completely ignore transfers, he undervalued them.
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While transfers starred for other teams making deep NCAA Tournament runs, Calipari insisted on doing things the old way at Kentucky, signing one ballyhooed recruiting class after another of talented teenagers, rather than stock up on a few more experienced veterans from the portal.
As Kentucky’s coach, Calipari stubbornly admitted he wouldn’t adapt how he built his roster.
“I’ve done this with young teams my whole career. It’s going to be hard for me to change that. … I don’t see myself just saying, ‘OK, we’re not going to recruit freshmen,’ ” Calipari said after his final game at Kentucky, a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to 14th-seeded Oakland.
While UK’s freshmen struggled in that loss, Oakland rallied around the sharp shooting of 24-year-old Jack Goelke, a Division II transfer.
By leaving Kentucky, John Calipari forced himself to adapt
Change is more difficult when surrounded by temptation.
If you want to lose weight, you don’t stock the cupboard with sweets. Likewise, Calipari enjoyed the ability to stockpile McDonald’s All-Americans at Kentucky, making it difficult for him to reserve more roster spots for proven transfers.
Now, he’s forced to adapt.
Calipari inherited an Arkansas roster with one player on it. Literally, one guy: walk-on, Lawson Blake.
As Calipari quipped shortly after his hire: “I met with the team. There is no team.”
Calipari could not possibly field a competitive roster next season without relying on transfers.
Fueled by necessity and chicken bucks, he’s landed some good ones – none better than FAU’s Davis. You’ll recall Davis starred in the 2023 NCAA Tournament while the Owls hooted and hollered into the Final Four. Aidoo and Ivisic are no Zach Edey, but they’re helpful big men with March Madness experience.
By escaping out Kentucky’s hatch door while the posse closed in, Calipari bolted off the hot seat and ran toward freedom. He also gave himself permission to change his ways, because he has no other choice.
Arkansas afforded Calipari a fresh lease on coaching. This may be no “dream job,” as Calipari called blue-blooded Kentucky, but it’s a good job with ample resources. And Calipari is proving that, whatever coaching shortcomings he might have displayed throughout a few disappointing NCAA Tournament exits these past few years, he remains a master at luring talent.
As Calipari correctly stated after his hire, the best teams don’t rely exclusively on transfers, but feature important players whom the program signed, retained and developed.
Look to UConn for the model. The Huskies’ top two scorers were transfers, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer. They melded one-and-done freshman Stephon Castle and a few talented veterans whom UConn developed in-house.
That’s the golden ticket.
Calipari never will completely turn his back on elite recruits. Three national top-30 prospects who had planned to play for Calipari at Kentucky will follow him to Arkansas. They’ll blend with this impressive transfer haul. Building roster chemistry will form Calipari’s next task.
Calipari is damaged goods, but this forced reboot could do him good. Now, this antihero enjoys the power of pollo behind him.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s SEC Columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.
A digital subscription will allow you access to all of his coverage. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfiltered newsletter.
Arkansas
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Louisiana heads to Jonesboro looking to extend its late-season push, while Arkansas State tries to lock up bowl eligibility after dropping a tight one to Southern Miss.
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The Ragin’ Cajuns arrive with a run-heavy identity and back-to-back wins, but they’re slight underdogs against a Red Wolves team that has taken four of its last five.
With both defenses leaking yardage and rain in the forecast, this matchup tilts toward whichever offense handles the conditions and protects the ball better.
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What our Post expert thinks about Louisiana vs. Arkansas State
Arkansas State’s Jaylen Raynor has topped 2,450 passing yards with a 68.2% completion rate, giving the Red Wolves one of the Sun Belt’s steadier aerial attacks.
Louisiana’s defense has struggled to contain the run, allowing 192.6 yards per game and 22 rushing touchdowns, a troubling matchup against an opponent that leans on balance.
And with Louisiana averaging 186 rushing yards per outing and controlling possession for 38 minutes in its last win, the Cajuns’ ability to dictate tempo could become the decisive swing factor.
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Arkansas
Arkansas plan to implement SNAP junk food restrictions ‘not feasible,’ lawmaker says
LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Arkansas’ prohibition on the use of SNAP benefits for unhealthy food items like soda and candy takes effect next year, and state lawmakers and retailers are questioning how it can realistically be implemented.
At an Arkansas Legislative Council meeting Tuesday, State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, (R) District 18, expressed concerns about the lack of clarity from the state on what food items are banned.
“I have started getting concerns from retailers on how we’re going to implement the nutrition side of the program,” Dismang said.
There’s not a clear list of SNAP-prohibited junk food products Arkansas has named in its new ban, which only says that “soda, fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50 percent natural juice, unhealthy drinks, and candy” are now ineligible for SNAP.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services has planned to put the burden of defining what is or isn’t eligible on retailers rather than creating its own list.
The plan was for retailers to refer to GS1 U.S. food product classifications as a guide, but very few retailers actually use that. The state has two other options.
“If they choose to use a third party to help take that GS1 framework and apply it to their own individual product array that they sell, that’s an option as well… the third option is take the broad definitions that we are providing through the GS1 framework and apply it in good faith to their own product array,” said Mary Franklin, director of the DHS Division of County Operations, at Tuesday’s ALC Peer meeting.
“Your three options are not workable options for retailers. That may be the easiest thing for DHS to do, but it is not feasible for every grocer or retailer in the state to maintain their own list,” Dismang responded, “we’re going to be asking our retailers to make those judgment calls at their own peril if they do it incorrectly.”
The senator expressed concern that it may discourage retailers from participating in SNAP, potentially costing recipients their access to benefits, particularly in rural areas.
“What I’m scared you’re going to do is create a scenario where entities, probably in areas that they need it the most, are not going to be able to offer SNAP because of the risk associated with not appropriately categorizing an item,” Dismang said.
“We want to make sure that the rules don’t unintentionally reduce access across communities that already face barriers,” Claire Tiffin, director of community engagement with the Arkansas Food Bank, told KATV.
Dismang has asked that DHS establish its own list of SNAP-ineligible food items that retailers can rely on.
Arkansas
Arkansas basketball win vs Winthrop marred by scuffle between players
John Calipari explains why Arkansas hoops couldn’t blow away Samford
Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari explains why the Hogs had trouble landing a knockout punch vs Samford.
Arkansas men’s basketball mounted a large surge to erase a five-point deficit in the final 1:15 and avoid what would have been a massive upset against Winthrop in an 84-83 victory at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The comeback might not have even been the most notable event from the game’s waning moments.
Trailing by one with 15 seconds remaining, Arkansas’s Meleek Thomas got a steal and initiated a fast break, which ended with a Nick Pringle layup with 11.9 seconds left to give the Razorbacks what would ultimately prove to be the game-winning basket.
After the bucket, Pringle turned around to head back to get on defense, but had his head caught between the arms of Winthrop center Logan Duncomb, who caught the ball after it went through the basket. The two tangled players fell to the court, after which Pringle lifted Duncomb up by the front of his jersey before pushing him back down on the ground.
Coaches and players from both teams sprinted on the court to break the players up before the situation could escalate into a fight.
Both Pringle and Duncomb were issued Class A technical fouls. Duncomb’s foul was his fifth of the game, removing him from the contest. Two players from each team were ejected from the game for running onto the court from the bench.
After the game, Pringle said he apologized to his teammates in the huddle for the altercation.
“I can’t have my team in those type of scenarios, no matter what happens,” Pringle said. “So, you know, just gotta be smarter. I shouldn’t react. I should have just, you know, took it as it was, and let it slide. Big games, that can cost us.”
Winthrop’s Daylen Berry missed a contested 3-pointer on the other end, allowing the No. 22 Razorbacks to hold on for a win in a game in which they were favored by 23.
Pringle, a 6-foot-10 senior, is in his first season at Arkansas after transferring over from South Carolina after the 2024-25 season. He entered the game against Winthrop averaging 5.8 points and six rebounds per game this season.
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