John Calipari emphatically defends how he builds his rosters despite criticism

During his time at Kentucky, John Calipari infamously embraced a roster-building approach that revolved around annually reloading with uber-talented one-and-done freshmen.

But in the day and age of the NCAA Transfer Portal and NIL, when most college basketball rosters nowadays are instead built around experienced transfers, even the first-year Arkansas head coach knows he has to evolve. Just don’t expect any sweeping changes from Calipari.

“I’m not changing how I do things. I won’t take as many freshmen, like I’m not going to take seven or eight, which I’ve done. I think it was 2015 when we started five freshmen in the national championship game — that’s done. That’ll never happen again,” Calipari said Saturday following the Razorbacks’ 75-66 win over second-seeded St. John’s in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

“But bringing guys in, developing young talent, letting them go through the wars, preparing them, and if they leave after a year, I’m good. They’re leaving anyway! Whether they’re a junior or a senior or a yeeee … but they have to be good enough, like these kids, to help us win.”

The Razorbacks’ rookies came up huge Saturday, with freshmen forwards Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III combining for 31 points and 15 rebounds against the Red Storm, while senior guard Johnell Davis added 13 points to the effort. Arkansas currently has the fourth-ranked 2025 recruiting class, according to On3’s Industry Rankings, after signing five-star guards Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas and four-star forward Isaiah Sealy in November. But with the NCAA Transfer Portal formally opening Monday, Calipari fully expects some difficult conversations in the coming days.

“We’ve got a couple of really good freshmen coming in, I’m hoping to get one more, and then we’re going to have to get in the transfer portal and grab a couple of guys,” Calipari explained. “I’m hoping we get a crew of these guys coming back, but we’ve got to sit down with them. I’ve got to have those talks. … When does the portal open? This Monday?! Welcome to my world.

“So Monday we’re really preparing for a game and we’re having individual meetings about ‘Are you coming back?'” Calipari concluded. “If they put their name in the portal, they probably don’t have an option to come back, but if you care about the kids, at the end of the year, it’s all about them. Whatever they choose. You want to go pro, you want to come back, you want to go somewhere else — it’s their choice. And I’ve always been that way. But it’s getting harder to be that way.”

John Calipari: Arkansas players ‘have a piano on their back’ with NIL pressure

When John Calipari took over at Arkansas this year, he was expected to have an increase in NIL funds. That came to fruition in a big way, as On3’s Pete Nakos reported, and the Razorbacks are heading to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s been an up-and-down season for Arkansas, which lost its first five SEC games. The Razorbacks wound up finishing 8-10 in league play to come in as No. 10 seed in Calipari’s first season at the helm. Freshman guard Boogie Fland also suffered what was initially feared to be a season-ending injury, but he was able to return for March Madness.

As he worked to stabilize things, Calipari said difficult conversations took place. They weren’t about the state of the program, though. Instead, he cited the pressure of NIL as a hurdle Arkansas players had to overcome.

“At one point, we were back and forth,” Calipari said following Saturday’s upset of St. John’s. “I said, guys, stop. We can’t trade anybody this is who we got. Now, how do we get each of these guys better? What do we do? And we just went to work. Spent time individually. I had a lot of meetings. Like, they were sitting on a couch. Let me just put it that way. There was a lot of stuff they overcame and I keep reminding them how much you’ve overcome. You guys think in winning and losing. You understand, these kids have a piano on their back. It’s never been this way in all my years of coaching, because NIL, if a kid got money, it’s just more weight. And now, the families are more involved than they’ve ever been, why? NIL.

“So now, all of a sudden, they’ve got the people around them, they’ve got the piano on their back. They miss a shot, now, social media tees off on you. Are you really looking at that stuff? For them to do what they did and then were still playing, like I said prior to the game, how about we give ourselves a chance to make some magic? Let’s just go fight like heck, play free and loose, whatever happens happens. But let’s go see if we can create magic. And that’s what I said before the game.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.