Calipari doubles down on plans for unique roster build

Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari held a media scrum at the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin (Fla.) Wednesday and doubled down on his unique plans for building his first roster.

The Razorbacks currently have eight scholarship players locked in for 2024-25 in Jonas Aidoo, Johnell Davis, DJ Wagner, Adou Thiero, Zvonimir Ivisic, Karter Knox, Boogie Fland and Billy Richmond.

While there are technically still five open scholarships, Calipari reiterated he is looking for just one more impact piece, presumably from the list of NBA Draft withdrawals following Wednesday evening’s deadline.

“It was hard because I had no players. I want you to understand that,” Calipari said. “There was no team. We’re at eight right now.

“We’re ecstatic. I’m looking for one more guy and that’s what we’re going to have.”

Among the potential priorities pending final stay-or-pro draft decisions are Coleman Hawkins (Illinois), Wooga Poplar (Miami), Jamir Watkins (Florida State), Arthur Kaluma (Kansas State) and perhaps former Razorback forward Trevon Brazile.

As far as specifics are concerned when it comes to what attributes he is looking for in the next addition to the roster, Calipari was open to several possibilities.

“It depends on who it is,” Calipari said. “Is it a shooter? Is it a 4-man that can shoot? Is it a strong, physical… is it a defensive guy?

“Right now, I can breath because there’s eight. I’m hoping there will be nine, but what if there’s not? Some are saying what if we have injuries?

“If the wrong guy gets injured on any team in this country, you’re done. I don’t care if you have eight guys, nine guys, 15 or 16 guys. My thing is, if a couple guys get injured I’ll have six really happy players because they’ll get all the minutes.”

Once the final piece to the projected rotation is in place, Calipari clarified his intent to fill out the rest of the roster’s depth with his modernized version of walk-ons.

“People talk about walk-ons. It’s a different era,” Calipari said. “A walk-on for me will be on full scholarship, have the PELL if he’s eligible, the student money, the camp money. Like the old days of a full scholarship.

“So, he’s fine, he’s just going to work his way into the NIL. It still means I’m going to play the best people, but we still have not started on those other 2-3 positions.”