John Calipari excited for new Arkansas basketball adventure with five familiar players

Whether it was on the set of the Paul Finebaum Show or in front of the gathered reporters during his main press conference at SEC Media Day, Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari stressed his enthusiasm about his new adventure with the Razorbacks.

After 15 seasons with Kentucky, Calipari is now just 10 days away from taking the floor inside Bud Walton Arena as the Hogs’ head coach when Arkansas hosts No. 1 Kansas for a preseason exhibition. The prospect of building another college program excites Calipari and his wife Ellen, even if it means starting over in a variety of ways.

But the new journey will begin with a big group of familiar players.

“When you take over a program and you ask to see the team before you do the presser, and there’s no team, you want guys that at least know the league,” Calipari said Tuesday.

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Calipari brought over three transfers from Kentucky — DJ Wagner, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivišić — for his first season in Fayetteville. He also managed to land All-SEC big man Jonas Aidoo, who won an SEC regular season title with Tennessee, out of the transfer portal and retain Trevon Brazile on the Razorbacks’ roster.

Add it up, and Calipari has five players who have SEC experience.

There’s another meaningful transfer on the roster. Johnell Davis led Florida Atlantic to a Final Four berth in 2023, and he could slide in as the Hogs’ top offensive weapon this season.

Calipari has also stressed this offseason that it normally takes him a couple years to get a new program’s culture up to his standards, but he acknowledged Tuesday it could take less time thanks to an older roster.

Still, there are three key freshmen who will play pivotal roles for Calipari this winter. Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond were all Kentucky commits who flipped to Arkansas to follow Calipari.

His program won’t be as heavily reliant on first-year talent this year, but he believes the three freshmen have the right mindset to make a winning impact in the new, transfer-portal climate of college basketball.

“Do you want to go fight and take what you want? Those are the guys that come. They come here, and others don’t, and that’s fine,” Calipari said.

The Hogs used the entire summer to develop their culture. The fall saw Calipari start to implement more team drills and trying to develop chemistry, and Arkansas will have a loaded non-conference slate to try and build confidence before the gauntlet of the SEC.

Arkansas was picked to finish fourth in the league in a media poll released Monday. If the Razorbacks exceed those expectations, the five players with experience in the conference will all play a huge role.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: John Calipari hopes SEC experience helps Arkansas basketball roster