There were moments this season when Arkansas was doubted, but the Razorbacks still find themselves in the Sweet 16.
The 2024 college basketball season has been a whirlwind from start to finish, be it from a player, coach or spectator’s perspective.
Looking back at the offseason, among all the transfer portal movement and coaching changes, there was one defining moment that changed the landscape of not one, not two, but three different programs this offseason: John Calipari’s shocking move from Kentucky to Arkansas.
One of the most storied coaches of our generation, Calipari had been a mainstay at Kentucky, coaching there since 2009 and compiling a 410-123 record over his 15-year tenure with the Wildcats.
During that stretch, Kentucky had won a National Championship (2011) and made four Final Fours (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014), seven Elite Eights (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018), with 12 NCAA tournament apperances.
However while at Kentucky, Calipari failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament since 2018, raising questions about his strategy of primarily recruiting freshmen in the new era of college basketball, while other teams prioritized transfers and experience.
Still, the head coach was fully tied to Kentucky, earning a historic ‘lifetime’ contract in 2019, so the departure was still a surprise, especially to an Arkansas program that Calipari had never been a part of.
Calipari’s move sent shockwaves through college basketball, creating a domino effect with other programs. BYU’s Mark Pope emerged as the favorite to replace Calipari, leading the Cougars to poach Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young from the NBA ranks.
Signing a five-year deal worth $7 million annually, which was lower than his salary at Kentucky, many wondered how Calipari would approach the change. Would he maintain his strategy of primarily recruiting freshmen and watching them develop? Or would the transfer portal be a key asset due to the coaching change?
The newly minted Arkansas head coach had much work to do upon entering Fayetteville, as nearly every Razorback from the 2023-24 season entered the transfer portal or were out of eligibility, so Calipari started from rock bottom as he built out his new roster.
The beginning pieces started to come together from his Kentucky roster. Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Zvonomir Ivisic all transferred over to Arkansas. Additionally, freshmen Karter Knox, Boogie Fland and Billy Richmond all de-committed from the Wildcats and joined Calipari at his new destination.
Just like that, seven rotation pieces were put together. Now, it was time to round it all out with the transfer portal. But, rather than look for a complete roster with five or six new additions, Calipari instead targeted just three players: Tennessee’s Jonas Aidoo, FAU’s Johnell Davis and Arkansas’s Trevon Brazille, who had entered the portal initially before withdrawing.
With that said, Calipari had his new roster built from scratch, keeping true to his philosophy of high school development, while rounding out the group with three experienced transfers to fill the gaps.
Fast forward to the regular season, and Arkansas started off 11-2 with a marquee 89-87 win over Michigan. But, their two losses came to Baylor and Illinois, while the other 10 wins weren’t over significant competition.
Then came the start of SEC action, and things started to unravel for Calipari’s squad, which lost its first five games in conference play, dropping games to Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU and Missouri.
From there, doubt really started to creep in on whether Calipari could right the ship or if Arkansas would even be a player in year one under the famous head coach.
But then, the Razorbacks began to gain some momentum, with the major turning point being an 89-79 win on the road over Calipari’s former team, Kentucky.
From there, Arkansas went 6-4 in conference play, winning the needed games while playing other teams close in losses to set up a favorable position heading into the SEC Tournament, where the Razorbacks did enough with a win over South Carolina to earn a No. 10 seed in March Madness.
The Razorbacks had a tough draw for the 2025 tournament with No. 7 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed St. John’s waiting in the balance, Calipari’s group did the improbable, recording consecutive upsets to reach the Sweet Sixteen in the coach’s first year in Fayetteville.
After the transfers led the way against Kansas, it was the freshmen who saved the day against St. John’s, as forwards Knox and Richmond led the way with 16 and 15 points, respectively, stepping up big in Thiero’s absence to push Arkansas to the Sweet Sixteen.
“D.J. [Wagner] stepped up and took on whatever [I needed him to do]. Billy (Richmond) stepped up. Karter (Knox) stepped up. Nelly (Johnell Davis) started being who we wanted him to be. Jonas (Aidoo) finally,” Calipari said on Thursday ahead of the team’s Sweet 16 game on Thursday. “Did anybody think Jonas would play this week three weeks ago, four weeks ago? No. If you say you did, you’re crazy. And now all of sudden he’s playing. And then TB (Trevon Brazille) doing what he’s doing.”
After all the doubts and the questions over the past year, be it from his exit at Kentucky, the start at Arkansas, or his unwavering philosophy during a time of change, Calipari got to live in the moment and reap the reward.
“Most of my career was: shouldn’t, wouldn’t, can’t, won’t. We’ve been the underdog. You remember UMass. Memphis, the same thing,” Calipari said this week on the Dan Patrick Show. “We had a pretty good run at Kentucky, and there was that 8-9 year period where we were the one. But, most of my career, I’ve been [the underdog]. So, I’m fine in that role. I’m comfortable in the role. I’m just trying to make sure my team is comfortable in that role. We’re the underdog. Every time they play in those kind of games, they play well.”
To get to this moment, Arkansas has dealt with quite a bit of adversity, be it the slow start to conference play, the inconsistencies from players, or the injury bug coming at the worst time.
“This season has been the most rewarding season [for me],” Calipari said. “I’ve had seasons where we won more games and won national titles, Final Fours and Elite Eights. I’ve had all those, but what this team has been through to survive it, has been as rewarding as any season.”
Through it all, the Razorbacks have found a way to play for each other, and that resolve has been seen through the team’s togetherness on their path to the Sweet 16.
“The only people that know what we went through is us,” Calipari said. “The only people that know the individuals and what they had to go through is us. To know that every player on this team had to overcome something — and they’ll come up and say, ‘when we lost five games — ‘I’m, like, right. What about when you were in my office in tears? What about that?’ Well, I don’t remember. Oh, I remember… But for them to do what — we were 0-5. We were 1-6 and had two road games that we weren’t going to win either game. And all of a sudden this team starts to right the ship.”
So the rewarding thing for a coach is seeing your kids smile and knowing where I always had to say, I believe in you and there’s nothing you can do that disappoints me. So just go play. I don’t even have to say that anymore. I believe — we believe, too, Coach. That’s a big change from where we were.”
Now, entering a matchup against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday, Calipari has the chance to return to the Elite Eight for the first time in six years, but under completely different circumstances.
Regardless, the approach is the same for the head coach, who has been through all walks of life in the NCAA tournament.
“We approach the postseason the same,” Calipari said. “I’ve been the 10 seed. I’ve been the 8 seed. I’ve been other seeds. Again, there’s so many ways of doing this, including on the court. There’s a lot of ways to do this and have success. So, for me, what I’ve done, I want this to be like regular season like nothing has changed. The board hasn’t changed. What we do, our shoot-arounds don’t change. Everything is the same so I want them to feel comfortable that this is no different.”
The Razorbacks will have star forward Adou Thiero available for Thursday, but it’s unclear in what capacity he’ll be able to play after missing the last eight games for Arkansas.
Still, regardless of how this weekend turns out for John Calipari and Arkansas, the head coach has done the improbable this season, finding a way to overcome adversity in a new situation, while staying true to himself and defying the odds as an underdog.
