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Calipari, new-look Arkansas stirring up excitement as Hall of Fame coach approaches his debut season

Tue, Jul 30, 2024
NCAAB News (AP)

John Calipari wants his Arkansas Razorbacks to think big.

The Hall of Fame coach is used to big thinking and expectations from his days at Kentucky, of course. Now, Calipari has constructed virtually a whole new Razorbacks roster since his hiring in April, with only forward Trevon Brazile returning after testing the NBA waters.

He's taking over a program that made it to back-to-back Elite Eights followed by a Sweet 16 trip last season. The outsized expectations were already there, but most of the roster was assembled by Calipari and his staff.

It certainly doesn't appear lacking in talent.

"It was only a few short months ago, I walked in with no team, no staff and no schedule and now we're talking about ... how do we get them to get together but think bigger," Calipari said in a news conference on Monday. "You think big but you work bigger. This is not being delusional. You're not dreaming dreams. This is about what you're trying to accomplish for yourself.

"I'm trying to get them to think like kings, because kings think different."

If Arkansas isn't quite basketball royalty like Kentucky, the Razorbacks have reached six Final Fours, won the national title in 1994 and returned to the title game a year later.

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Calipari, 65 and the winningest active coach in men's college basketball, is no stranger to chasing championships and NCAA Tournament berths with largely new but talented rosters. This is a dramatic overhaul even for him.

Calipari brought in Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo, ex-Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis and three of his players from Kentucky: DJ Wagner, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic. Calipari also signed three five-star prospects, with point guard Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III all rated among the nation's top 25 recruits in the 247Sports composite ratings.

Plus, there's Brazile, who explored both the NBA draft and potential transfers. The 6-foot-10, 220-pounder averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds last season. Brazile called it "a no-brainer" to return under Calipari, who was hired after Eric Musselman left to take over at Southern California.

It's not as if Calipari wasn't familiar with Brazile before arriving in Fayetteville, but the forward has made an impression since.

"About halfway through the summer, he just came up to me and was like, 'Man, you're better than I thought you were,'" Brazile said. "I just told him, 'I told you so.'"

Arkansas gave Calipari a five-year contract with an annual base salary of $7 million through April 2029 with a maximum of two automatic rollover years for NCAA Tournament appearances that would extend the contract to 2031.

Big money brings even bigger ambitions of national titles, which would be the second for both Arkansas and Calipari.

Calipari said he can sense the excitement around the program, campus and even the state. He doesn't want fans expecting a bump-free road but he's not exactly tempering their expectations either.

Not with a coach who has led three programs - Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky - to a total of six Final Fours and three national championship games.

"I've got a big job here, to get this thing right and have people look at us and say, what are they doing? How do they do that?" Calipari said. "Let people look at this and say, 'Wow, here it goes again.'"

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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