Arkansas basketball's (22-14, 8-10 SEC) roller-coaster season came to an unfortunate end Thursday in the NCAA Tournament, but plenty of hope remains for the future of the program.
Why? For starters, the Razorbacks may return star freshman guard Karter Knox. The 6-foot-6 wing from Florida started SEC play slowly, but he scored double-digit points in 3-of-5 postseason matchups (SEC Tournament included) with 15 points and 20 points against St. John's and Texas Tech, respectively.
That's the kind of player you build a team around, and Knox's return should be a major priority for the coaching staff this offseason.
Along with Knox, players like Trevon Brazile, D.J. Wagner, Billy Richmond III and Zvonimir Ivisic all have solid enough chances to return (though it isn't a lock). Leading scorer Adou Thiero and freshman guard Boogie Fland can technically return, but are more than likely headed to the NBA after successful campaigns.
The transfer portal doesn't often afford teams many opportunities to retain a solid core, especially with the ravenous NIL market, but Arkansas has the pieces to be pretty special if it can bump that trend.
"You think about what TB did (late in the season) with the minutes he got...what Billy Richmond did with his minutes, what Karter Knox did with more minutes," Calipari said. "The next man up, they took advantage of it."
Add five-star freshmen like Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas to the roster, plus the inevitable quality transfer portal pieces, and Calipari's club should be rolling right along come next March.
"I need to sit down with these guys, but you really think tonight's the night or tomorrow morning? We're all kind of raw right now," Calipari said. "I mean, I think they had visions of us continuing to play and so did I. There's a point that we need to sit down and talk about, again, returning.
"We've got some freshmen and what do we do in the portal? We had names of guys out there, but I haven't done anything. Haven't made a call. And I won't until I speak to my guys. Who's coming back? I think a couple guys will put their names in the draft. I think a couple guys are done, their eligibility is done. So, you're talking four or five guys. Let me sit down with them and see what that is."
Be sure to tune in to HawgBeat.com for more coverage of the Arkansas basketball team as it takes on the offseason.
