Timeline Of Arkansas Commits Under John Calipari

It’s been 22 days since John Calipari was named head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and while the news was slow to start, it’s started to snowball and gain more speed with each passing day.

When Calipari was officially hired on April 10, there were zero scholarship players on Arkansas’ roster and zero coming in through the high school ranks.

“You can say rebuild, there may not be a roster,” Calipari said during his introductory press conference. “We’ve got work to do and the only thing that I want to tell you is I’m not that guy that has a magic wand. That’s not who I am. I’m the grinder that comes everyday.”

In relatively short order, Calipari has used the transfer portal and high school ranks to give fans a clearer picture of what the team will look like heading into the 2024-2025 season.

With the news constantly coming fast, it can be hard to keep up with it all. Here’s a timeline of when the newest Razorbacks made their commitments.

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The first domino to fall for Arkansas was also its tallest. Zvonimir Ivisic — also known as Big Z — played in the back half of the 2023-2024 season for Kentucky after being declared eligible by the NCAA on Jan. 20.

After Calipari left, Ivisic entered the transfer portal and committed to the Razorbacks on April 15.

Ivisic is a Croatian native and averaged 5.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks while shooting 57.7% from the field, 37.5% from beyond the arch and 77.3% from the charity stripe in just 15 games.

KenPom shows Ivisic had a 63.5 effective field goal percentage, a 66.5 true shooting percentage, a 10.5 offensive rebounding percentage, a 19.1 defensive rebounding, a 11.8 block percentage and an offensive rating of 116.9.

Seven days isn’t all that long, but it felt like an eternity for Arkansas fans champing at the bit for more players to fill out the roster. Thankfully they didn’t have to wait longer, as four-star forward Karter Knox announced he had committed to Arkansas on April 22.

Knox was the first high school prospect to commit to Arkansas under the Calipari regime, and was previously signed to Kentucky before reopening his recruitment following Cal’s departure.

During his senior campaign with the Overtime Elite, Knox averaged 23.1 points, 2.7 assists and 5.9 rebounds in 17 regular season games and he shot 43.9% from the field, 34.0% from beyond the arch and 63.2% from the charity stripe.

Calipari’s bond to the Knox family runs deep, as he coached Kevin Knox II — Karter’s older brother — during the 2017-18 season for Kentucky. That year, Kevin played in 37 games and was one of the top freshmen in the country before he was selected ninth overall in the 2018 NBA Draft.

The days between commitments for the Hogs grew shorter the longer Calipari was in Razorback red. Five-star guard Boogie Fland announced his decision to commit to the Razorbacks on April 25, just three days after Knox went public with his decision.

Another high school holdover for Calipari from Kentucky, Fland requested a release from his NLI and promptly took a visit to Arkansas on April 24, and sealed the deal less than 24 hours after.

As a senior for Archbishop Stepinac High School in New York, Fland averaged 19.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Fland also played in both the McDonald’s All-American Game and the Nike Hoops Summit. In the McDonald’s All-American Game on April 2, he scored 17 points and added five rebounds and three assists in 22:02 minutes.

At the Nike Hoops Summit in Portland, Oregon, Fland scored nine points on 50% shooting (4-of-8) in 17 minutes. He also had two rebounds and one assist.

Four-star wing Billy Richmond was the third and likely final high school prospect to commit to Arkansas after requesting release from his NLI at Kentucky, and was on a visit to Arkansas the same time as Fland.

Richmond announced his commitment a day after Fland did, on April 26. Richmond’s decision is arguably the least surprising of the bunch, as his father, also named Billy, played for Calipari while he was the head coach at Memphis in the early 2000s.

“The reason I picked Kentucky is because (there’s) a great coaching staff, (John) Calipari, he always keep it real with me,” Richmond said in an interview with The Athletic after his commitment to Kentucky. “That’s a big reason.”

Tennessee transfer big man Jonas Aidoo was the first commitment out of the transfer portal not to come from Kentucky. He called the Hogs on Monday after taking visits to both Arkansas and Baylor in recent days.

Last season for the Volunteers, Aidoo averaged 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while making 51.5% of his shots from the field. The AP First-Team All-SEC selection also averaged 1.8 blocks and 1.0 assists per game last season.

Aidoo is no stranger to Bud Walton Arena, as he was a part of the Tennessee team that blew out the Razorbacks last season. He went off in that game and finished with 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting and 12 rebounds, helping the Volunteers to a 92-63 win.

After taking a secret visit to Fayetteville over the weekend, the latest splash out of the transfer portal is Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis, who signed with Arkansas on Wednesday.

Davis was a part of the Florida Atlantic team that made a run to the Final Four in 2022-2023, and put himself on the national radar with four straight double-digit performances against Memphis (12 points), Fairleigh Dickinson (29 points, 12 rebounds), Tennessee (15 points) and Kansas State (13 points, eight rebounds, six assists).

During the 2023-2024 season, Davis averaged 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season for the Owls.

With another seven scholarships remaining on the basketball team, there will certainly be more news and it likely will come fast. Stay tuned to HawgBeat for the most up-to-date coverage of Arkansas basketball.

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