FAYETTEVILLE -- Trevon Brazile is the lone returning Razorback for John Calipari's first team at Arkansas.

Brazile is set to begin his third season with the Hogs. In 2023-24 Brazile was limited to 26 games due to injuries. He did top the team with 5.9 rebounds per game. He averaged 25.7 minutes per game scoring 8.6 points and blocking 1.2 shots each outing. He shot 48.8% from the field 35.3 from behind the 3-point line. He was asked Monday why he returned to the Hogs and play for John Calipari?

"After the season, I wanted to go (test out the NBA draft," Brazile said. "I kept in contact with coach Cal and the staff. What they do is… you already know what they do. So coming back, it was a no-brainer for me."

Calipari was asked if Brazile had to prove himself to return to the Hogs?

"No," Calipari said. "When I went in that room — that locker room — and there was no one in there, my thought was, ‘Well maybe, he didn't want to be here.’ And I wasn't going to beg anybody. I don't even beg recruits I'm recruiting. They’ve got to want this as bad as I want them. They’ve got to want me and our staff, and with a player that's been here, if they don't want to be here, would you want them here? No.

"So then I find out, ‘Coach, I think he wants to be here.’ Really? Well, get him on the phone with me because I knew he was good. And then we talked, talked to his dad, sat down and that's what he wanted to do. I said, ‘Well, let's go do this.’ I told him my plan for him, what we try to do. But he's going to be in [the media room for a news conference], so you can talk more about that with him. I'm excited for him because I talked to Cuonzo Martin about him, who loves him by the way. My hope is everybody comes out and says, ‘That's what I knew he could be.’ Then we've done our job as coaches. So you have an idea of the mindset for all these kids, he's never been better. I knew he could be that good. Those are the things I want to hear."

Calipari told an exchange he had with Brazile that impressed him.

"Trevon is better than I thought he was," Calipari said. "So I’ll just, a story: He’s in there laying on his back and I said, you’re better than I thought you were. He looks at me and says ‘I told you’. But that’s the confidence that I want him to feel, but he’s got to get into wars and be comfortable in those situations. My whole thing with what I do, I try to make guys uncomfortable and let them know you must be comfortable when you’re uncomfortable. You’ve got to learn. You’ve got to understand that’s all part of it."

Brazile talked about the practices and how they have gone to this point.

"I'm obviously not new to the SEC, so I played Coach Cal for three years but you never really know how hard the practices are and how much attention to detail a coach has until you're actually in practices when I'm in practice," Brazile said. "This summer has been a lot of good individual stuff and setting the culture for the year."

The next obvious question for Brazile was how does the Calipari practices compare to those of Eric Musselman?

"I would say they're different," Brazile said. "Like I said, it's more working on individual stuff throughout the summer, With Muss we were doing team practices and stuff. We just did a lot of individual work this summer and just setting the culture."

Calipari has told Brazile he doesn't want him shooting threes and instead play like a big man.

"I mean, his resume speaks for itself, so I just try to do what he says," Brazile said. "This summer I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress with not shooting threes. Just being what he calls an ‘attack dog.’ Just trying to be an attack dog.

"He would just rather see me take a mid-range shot because I’m going to make that more than I make a three, probably. … He just wants to see me make faster decisions with the ball in my hands. That’s what I’ve worked on a lot this summer."

Brazile also confirmed the story about the exchange with Calipari over how good he is.

"About halfway through the summer, he came up to me and said, ‘Man, you’re better than I thought you were,’" Brazile said. "I just told him, ‘I told you so.’"

Calipari is known for getting players prepared for the NBA and that is an area that caught Brazile's attention.

“Exactly," Brazile said. "Like I said, his resume speaks for itself. What he did at Kentucky with guys like Demarcus Cousins, Karl Anthony-Towns, Anthony Davis. It’s just undeniable. Just coming here and buying into everything he’s been saying and establishing things. It’s been good.”

Adou Thiero told about an interesting play this summer with Brazile and Boogie Fland.

“Boogie threw a lob from the elbow," Thiero said. "I was standing at the other elbow. Like outside the perimeter. He throws the lob and I’m like, ‘who’s grabbing that?’ I just see TB up there, hands at the top of the backboard. I’m like, ‘oh.’ The ball went through his fingertips. He caught a bit of it with his pinky and ring finger. Then he dunked the ball. We all just stopped and looked at each other. We didn’t know he could jump that high. After that, he just kept showing us how great of a player he is. He’s getting better every day.”

Fland, a point guard, chimed in on Brazile.

“He’s been great," Fland said. "He’s been improving each day. More and more in each practice, you see more TB. The thing that stood out to me is every time he goes up to dunk, his head is at the rim. I’m going to be honest. Him and Adou are probably the two guys I’ve given the most lobs to. I’m going to be honest.”

Photo Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action