John Calipari vows to continue recruiting freshmen as Arkansas makes run in NCAA Tournament

John Calipari, who made a lot of his present-day name off of one-and-dones, hasn’t been able to do that as much in recent seasons. He’s still going to continue to do it to some extent, though, moving forward at Arkansas.

Calipari spoke about his roster construction from his first season with the program to his second while on the ‘Dan Patrick Show’. That included a focus still on the Razorbacks’ upcoming recruiting classes, including the upcoming one which currently ranks at No. 4 in On3’s 2025 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings with three commitments as they try for a fourth addition to close it out with SF Nate Ament.

“We already have three guys, freshmen, signed. And, I’m going to say this again and I said it after – I’m still recruiting freshmen. I’ll recruit the best freshmen and, as you saw last game, three of them played a lot of minutes,” said Calipari. “But I can’t recruit seven or eight freshmen. So we got one more freshmen we’re trying to get. We’ve got three. They’re all really good, okay, but we’re trying to get one more.”

As of now, Arkansas is bringing in a pair of five-stars in Darius Acuff (No. 9 – No. 2 PG) and Meleek Thomas (No. 11 – No. 3 SG) along with an in-state four-star in Isaiah Sealy (No. 73 – No. 18 SF). Ament, the top remaining uncommitted recruit in the class, could then make it four total as the highest-rated of them as a Five-Star+ prospect being the No. 2 SF and No. 4 overall player in On3’s 2025 Industry Rankings.

That class comes in a year after Arkansas brought what was previously Calipari’s incoming class at Kentucky in Lexington to Fayetteville instead at No. 2 in 2024. Boogie Fland (No. 1 PG), Karter Knox (No. 8 SF), and Billy Richmond (No. 9 SF) were all Top-30, four-star commitments to go with another three-star addition later on in Casmir Chavis. Fland (14.2 points, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals), Knox (8.0 points, 3.2 rebounds), and Richmond (5.8 points, 3.0 rebounds) have now all contributed to the team in their respective freshman seasons.

With that, Arkansas will be losing multiple pieces from their current roster. Johnell Davis and Jonas Aidoo are out of eligibility while others, as is usual for teams under Calipari, will have their chances to enter the 2025 NBA Draft. That said, several players will also have choices of whether or not to remain with the ‘Hogs.

“We have some guys that won’t be back because they’re graduated out or they’re going to, you know, put their name in the draft and all that. But there is another grouping of players who are really good that probably need more time,” noted Calipari.

From there, the final piece of the puzzle is the transfer portal with the latest cycle starting this week. Those additions will complement the returners and freshman class once the Razorbacks identify who they will be.

“If there’s a young man that we know is really, really good and he wants to do this and wants to talk to me? You won’t believe this – I’d probably get on the phone with them and say, hey, let’s do this,” said Calipari.

Arkansas had a team this year that has come along as the season went with it still going on this week into the Sweet 16. Next year, though, will be key in determining what the foundation of the team is moving forward in his tenure.

“Who comes back? And then, probably a couple transfers,” said Calipari. “That’ll be our team.”