FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — John Calipari will have his hands full rebuilding the Arkansas men's basketball roster, but it's nothing the four-time national coach of the year can't handle.
While the Razorbacks have zero scholarship players, Calipari has built a reputation as a "strong recruiter" over his 32-year college coaching career—signing 47 McDonald's All-Americans while producing 14 first-round picks and 28 total NBA players in his 15 seasons at Kentucky.
"I'm jacked about another opportunity," Calipari said in his first press conference on Wednesday. "I met with the team; there is no team... we've got to get a roster together."
Calipari, who put together the nation's No. 2 recruiting class this year for the Wildcats, acknowledged the importance of in-state recruiting, an area Arkansas can undoubtedly improve in.
This past season, the Razorbacks had only four players from Arkansas: Davonte Davis (Jacksonville), Joseph Pinion (Morrilton), Layden Blocker (Little Rock) and walk-on Blake Lawson (Fayetteville).
Only Lawson remains as the others entered the transfer portal after the Hogs' season-ending loss to South Carolina in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Pinion transferred to Arkansas State, which also had four in-state players on its roster last season.
"I can't wait to go around the state and meet people," Calipari said. "It's the first place you look... Are they good kids and are they good enough? If they are, we'll recruit them. I did the same thing at Kentucky [and] I'll do the same here."
According to 247Sports, Arkansas only recruited two of the state's top five players in the 2024 class: Little Rock Central's Annor Boateng and Little Rock Parkview's Dallas Thomas.
Boateng signed with SEC rival Missouri, while Thomas inked a national letter of intent with Clemson.
The other three players, Farmington's Lane Taylor, Lake Hamilton's Ty Robinson, and Little Rock Christian's Landren Blocker, were said not to have received offers from the Razorbacks.
"Whatever we do, we'll have good people who are driven and wired," Calipari said. "There will be enough kids who will want to play here for us... Whether I was at UMass, Memphis, or Kentucky, kids want to play for us."
The Hogs missed out on Rashaud Marshall of Blytheville, the state's top recruit in the 2023 class. Marshall signed with Ole Miss and played 19 games as a freshman last season.
Arkansas's 2022 signing class was slightly better with its in-state recruiting, bringing on the likes of Pinion, Nick Smith Jr. (North Little Rock) and Derrian Ford (Magnolia), who transferred to Arkansas State after one season.
Although Pinion and Ford didn't log many minutes for the Hogs, Smith joined the program as a consensus top-three player in the country. He averaged 12.5 points per game and was a first-round NBA draft selection after his freshman year.
The transfer portal and NIL have transformed college basketball, especially in how coaches approach recruiting. Calipari, no stranger to roster turnover, shared what qualities he'll look for when scouting talent.
"Physical toughness and physicality matter more now than ever before," Calipari said. "You can have freshmen, but they better be physically tough. You're getting some older players [with the transfer portal], but you have to understand that both Purdue and Connecticut had players who had been in their program for three years."
Calipari means business, and he's looking for players who share one similarity—a passion for basketball.
"If you're not into basketball, you won't come here," Calipari said. "If you're smoking, drinking, club chasing... this is about being at a place that has zeroed in on a culture that creates professional habits, and that includes academics. You can care about the kids and still win."
The NCAA Division I men's basketball dead period ended Wednesday at noon, so Calipari and his eventual staff can begin recruiting immediately.