Arkansas
With Trevon Brazile Returning, a Look at John Calipari’s First Arkansas Team
The most memorable moment from John Calipari’s introductory news conference with the Arkansas Razorbacks was a classic Calipari quip.
“There is no team,” Calipari said, holding himself back from going through the traditional first news conference diatribes about “the first team meeting” that every other new coach in America seems to use.
The reloading job Calipari walked into at Arkansas isn’t exactly unprecedented in the modern transfer portal. The Kentucky Wildcats, the job he left, also retained no scholarship players, and several other high-profile jobs barely had enough players returning to play two-on-two, let alone five-on-five, in spring workouts. But it was quite the undertaking, one that appears largely over in the first week of June after the Hogs announced talented forward Trevon Brazile would be returning to Arkansas after testing the NBA draft and transfer portal.
Technically, the Brazile addition is a “retention” for Arkansas, since he spent the last two seasons there under Eric Musselman. Practically, though, this was a complete re-recruitment, with Brazile diving headfirst into the draft process for most of the time Calipari spent building his roster and then serendipitously becoming available late when the Razorbacks needed a starting-caliber power forward.
Once thought of as a potential first-round pick, an ACL tear early in the 2022–23 campaign and general ineffectiveness on a dysfunctional Arkansas squad last season left Brazile’s pro stock shaky. Instead, he’ll become the ninth piece of the puzzle for Calipari’s team, which features an intriguing mix of players following from Kentucky, top transfers and a few freshmen from Kentucky’s fall signing class. Calipari has said in interviews he plans on having nine core pieces and rounding out the remaining four scholarships with developmental players he termed as new-age “walk-ons.” While nothing is ever definite in this day and age of roster building, here’s a look at what Calipari’s first Arkansas team will look like.
Wagner had long been thought of as a surefire one-and-done, but a middling first college season at Kentucky overshadowed by teammates Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard’s explosions left Wagner’s stock such that a second year of school made sense. After considering other options, he eventually followed Calipari to Arkansas, where he’ll be the presumed starting point guard. He’ll benefit from a fully healthy season after dealing with nagging injuries throughout 2023–24, but improving as an outside shooter is essential. Fland, a talented freshman from New York, should provide some bench shot-creation.
The headliner here is Davis, thought of as perhaps the best transfer in the portal this spring and a legitimate potential NBA player. Davis led the FAU Owls to the Final Four in 2023 and averaged over 18 points per game a season ago, shooting 41% from three. He is capable of creating his own shot in ball screens, scored 25 or more points six times last season and seems like the early favorite to lead this team in scoring.
Then there’s Knox, a bruising freshman wing out of the Overtime Elite program who’s a natural three-level scorer. Being consistent from beyond the arc and on the defensive end will be a must for him, but he has a chance to be a highly efficient slasher for the Hogs.
The other Kentucky transfer on the roster, Thiero, could be classified either as a wing or a forward, a jack-of-all-trades type whose biggest strength is on the defensive end. While not a floor-spacer, Thiero provides a good deal of utility with his ability to guard multiple positions, handle the ball and push the pace in transition.
The talent within this frontcourt unit is immense. Arkansas’s rim protection should be elite, with Aidoo, Brazile and Ivisic all posting well above average block rates at their positions last season. They each possess the ability to stretch the defense some, with Brazile and Ivisic being traditional “stretch bigs” and Aidoo continuing to expand his range after flashing that part of his game some with the Tennessee Volunteers. This group could allow Calipari to deploy more of the four- and five-out lineups he used with great success offensively early a year ago.
The primary concern here: physicality. The Hogs seriously lack an interior “enforcer” who can deal with more physically dominant players down low. Aidoo really struggled with those types of bigs at Tennessee, but had cover in backup Tobe Awaka, a bruising force down low. Brazile and Ivisic won’t provide that same relief. If there’s one glaring hole on this Arkansas team, it’s a sturdy backup center, though even backup big men are hard to come by at this point in the transfer portal cycle.
With the resources committed to make the Calipari hire a reality, expectations in Fayetteville, Ark., will be high … especially given that his predecessor made the NCAA tournament’s second weekend three times in the same five-year stretch that saw Calipari win only one tournament game and soil his good favor in Lexington, Ky. Given the challenges of essentially starting from scratch, it’s hard to argue with the roster Calipari built, one that has the talent to push for a spot near the top of the SEC and a trip to the second weekend. In some ways, though, having to build from nothing had its benefits, forcing Calipari to be more transfer heavy and embrace some of the modern roster-building concepts he had been resistant to adopt at Kentucky.
But is this group a title contender? In my estimation, no. Meshing together a completely new group has its challenges, and the talent, while strong, isn’t going to blow away anyone at the top of the sport. Plus, Calipari has a lot to prove after two embarrassing early NCAA tournament exits in three years and no trips to the second weekend, let alone the Final Four, since pre-pandemic.
Arkansas
Arkansas wins 53rd cross country conference championship | Whole Hog Sports
Arkansas
Why Ole Miss Should Beat the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday | Locked On Ole Miss Podcast
Today’s Locked On Ole Miss Podcast discusses why Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels will beat the Arkansas Razorbacks in Saturday’s matchup. This will be the next opportunity to play clean football, and I think they will put it together against the Hogs and Sam Pittman and cut down on the penalties that have been allowing teams to stay in the game.
This matchup is absolutely massive for the Rebels because of what it means in the season as a whole, and Taylen Green against the Ole Miss defense will draw everyone’s eye. People look at the Arkansas stats and assume this is a typical Bobby Petrino team, and that isn’t quite right. John Nabors of Locked On Razorbacks said that if Ole Miss goes up by 14, it is over because this team is not a play-from-behind team.
In our final segment of the day, we give our final thoughts on Ole Miss vs. Arkansas and talk about expectations for Saturday and why everything points to an Ole Miss win, but Ole Miss fans before a trip to Fayetteville have seen this movie before.
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Arkansas
Ole Miss Football Reveals Uniform Combination For Road Game vs. Arkansas
The No. 19 Ole Miss Rebels have a big test on Saturday when they travel to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville, and we now know what uniform combination coach Lane Kiffin’s team will feature on the field.
For the first time in two years, the Rebels will not be wearing a different uniform combination in each of its regular season games. Ole Miss is reusing the uniform it wore earlier in the year at South Carolina, opting to don powder blue helmets, white jerseys with powder blue accents and white pants.
You can view the uniform reveal below, complete with modeling from edge rusher Princely Umanmielen.
Since this is the first year the Rebels have ever used this jersey, they are technically undefeated all-time in this uniform combination after knocking off South Carolina 27-3 in Columbia earlier this year. They hope that good luck follows them to Fayetteville this weekend, a place they have not won since 2008.
The last time Ole Miss reused a uniform combination during the regular season came in 2021, but the last time they did it in a campaign including the postseason was in 2022 when they repeated a uniform in the Texas Bowl against Texas Tech. Assuming this is the Rebels’ only road jersey in this year’s rotation, we should also see a repeat when Ole Miss travels to face Florida later in November.
Kickoff on Saturday between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ESPN.
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