John Calipari admits regret over controversial roster-building strategy

The 2024 college basketball offseason had no bigger storyline that head coach John Calipari making the jump from Kentucky to Arkansas. With that jump, he quickly had to build the Razorbacks roster back up in the image that he wanted it.

Now, as the calendar has turned to February, Calipari has seen his team struggle at times with its consistency and he recently admitted some regret over his controversial roster-building strategy.

“I’ve got to do the same stuff that I’ve done, build a culture,” John Calipari said. “We’re not there yet. Build that culture. Two of the guards that I, Darius and Malik have called me, saying, ‘Coach, can I come play for you?’ They want to come in. They could, they could play for us now.”

John Calipari made the decision to lean into the Transfer Portal ahead of his first season. That class saw eight players transfer out of the program with five players transfer into it. That included three players who transferred into the program from Kentucky. Beyond that, Arkansas had the second-ranked recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. That class included four incoming freshmen. That made for nine players at Arkansas this season who were in their first season at the program.

“Probably, if I had a do-over, the eight or nine guys [Calipari grimaced]…I had friends of mine in the profession, Mark Few, if you have eight or nine, and I said, ‘Fewy,’ and guess what? You have injuries. Now eight or nine might not be enough,” Calipari said. “So, maybe it’s 11, but you learn. That means maybe you take four transfers, some of them older, you still have your freshmen, a couple of kids staying. Alright, let’s go.”

John Calipari admits hilarious Kentucky-related mistake

Since SEC play began, the Razorbacks have struggled in John Calipari’s first season. They’re 2-6 to this point but did earn a win over Calipari’s former team, Kentucky, on Saturday. Despite that, Calipari did admit to a hilarious mistake during the game.

“It’s not easy to win here,” Calipari said. “I looked up a couple of times and I thought we were losing because I looked at Kentucky and not Arkansas. Adou [Thiero] did the same thing.”

It’s an easy enough mistake to make when you’re used to being the head coach at Kentucky. Still, John Calipari is focused on being the Arkansas head coach now and getting the Razorbacks ready for the future.