By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach John Calipari is set to begin his second season with the Razorbacks.
The Razorbacks held an open practice on Wednesday allowing Calipari to showcase his team. Calipari admits this year has been much different than last year's team.
"Well, last year, you know how it started," Calipari said. "We had no team. I had no staff. I said, ‘Can I see the schedule?’ There was no schedule. I’m like, ‘What?’ Now you bring guys together that did not know each other and I had a couple from before, but the reality of it is it was a brand new team. Then we get hurt. So I didn’t get to do the scrimmaging and I knew we’d be behind. But at the end of the year, that was the most rewarding year I can remember in a long time because they stayed true and they stayed strong and we just kept tweaking and changing to try to make us good. Right now, you can tell I’m more comfortable. I had to walk in here and I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t know the campus."
The one returning player Calipari had last year in his first season was Trevon Brazile. After considering the NBA Draft or transfer portal, Brazile opted to remain with the Razorbacks. How is he looking in practice and is this the best he has played?
"You’d have to ask him," Calipari said. "I tell you, he’s playing the best ball since I’ve coached him, but I don’t know prior to. I will tell you that if he’s the guy I’m seeing, you’re talking about someone that, if we have one or two like that, if we have two like that then this thing is on. He’s that good. Now you’ve got to find out the other couple that can make differences in the game. Elevate themselves and just go get a basket. There were games last year, all we had to do was get a basket. We didn’t have those kind of guys. This team has a bunch of guys who can just go get one to stem the tide. You get up, all of a sudden they get up, all you need to do is make two baskets. You miss every one, and then you miss free throws. This team, you have guys that want to be that guy, and a couple of them are returning players."
The Hogs have two 5-star freshmen guards on the team in Darius Acuff and Maleek Thomas. Calipari feels both are progressing and also talked about 4-star Isaiah Sealy from Springdale.
"I would tell you, 10 days ago, we got a ways to go with some of the guys," Calipari said. "DJ is steady Eddie. He comes every day. But what you saw from Darius today, to get shots. To create for his teammates. Got to defend better. Got to play at a higher pace all the time. Meleek, you saw one of his shots that we’re like… I’m stopping every time he tries to take one because he’s going 1 for 5 and we can’t win like that. The other shots, he makes, so just take those, but they like to do their thing. So we’re teaching. Isaiah doesn’t play until he catches, so he’s behind the action instead of, ‘I’m seeing, so when I catch it I read and I see what’s there in front of me’. He catches and then tries to read, but that’s typical of someone his age. But there are things that Isaiah Sealy does that I can’t teach. He’s going to be good. He’s just going to catch up some of the other stuff"
Karter Knox entered the 2025 NBA Draft, but then withdrew and returned to Arkansas. He was one of Calipari's key players last season.
"Early on, he kind of felt like, ‘Well, I did this,’ and he was behind in conditioning," Calipari said. "Oh, and I let him know. Like, ‘You told me you were doing all that. You're behind everybody else conditioning.’ Well, he caught up. And the thing about him, he's going to work. Like, they live in the gym. We got guys, last year, we had two or three. That was it. Now you have six or seven that literally are always in that gym. If I come up, they're either in the training room, or they're in the gym, or they went from the gym to the training room. He's like, he leads the pack. He's not afraid to get in the gym and work. We just— guys like him and Meleek Thomas, they got to get more consistent, which means you got to live in the gym. You got to spend more time. And if they're more consistent, a lot of it is decision making, shot making. You're wide open, you miss badly, you shot an air ball — you can't be that guy. You're too good a player. So with him, I'm not worried, because he works."
