FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The making of John Calipari’s first roster as Razorbacks coach is shaping up to be a solid one. With commitments from two players in the top 15 of the transfer portal rankings alongside three 5-star freshman, Arkansas is set to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Using the transfer portal isn’t a foreign concept for Calipari. However, relying on it as a means to fill out a roster to this extent is definitely a different experience. That’s the nature of college basketball with rosters essentially turning over every year.
Kentucky fans are a loyal bunch, which is to be expected for a blue blood program. The team stumbled throughout the previous five seasons of the Calipari era in Lexington, but it wasn’t a total failure.
The championship or bust mantra every year was a lot to live up to. With the game of college basketball evolving minute-to-minute, some coaches couldn’t adapt fast enough or even refused to do so.
“I’m still going to bring in my freshman,” Calipari said during his introductory press conference with Arkansas.
He may not have fully embraced the transfer portal in previous seasons. However, to say he didn’t try is a clueless take. The Wildcats signed four 5-star freshman during the 2023 cycle along with Trey Mitchell, a Top 60 transfer from West Virginia.
Calipari’s 2020 and 2021 portal classes were the standard in Lexington. Over a two-year span, Calipari landed Oliver Sarr, Jacob Toppin and Davion Mintz. Although the team struggled during the 2020-21 season with a 9-16 record, the rebuild was one of the best in college basketball.
The 2021 transfer haul included Georgia’s Sahvir Wheeler, West Virginia’s Oscar Tschibwe, Davidson’s Kellen Grady and Iowa’s CJ Frederick who all ended up being major contributors for a team that finished 28-8, but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Cinderella Saint Peter’s.