Arkansas basketball is a mess. Pigs in slop, you could call it … and John Calipari likes it that way. Wait a minute. What’s going on? It’s not complicated or alarming when you stop and think about it. Best Of Arkansas Sports helps to explain why:
“Even though it was the ninth of 10 practices allowed by the NCAA before Arkansas heads to The Bahamas, several of the freshmen were still clearly struggling with when to make certain passes and where to position themselves on defense.
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“I’m hearing this a little bit and I’m so happy (about it): ‘I’m confused,'” Calipari said. “That means you’re learning. … You don’t know anything. We’re trying to teach you and you’re going to be confused.”
“Calipari stopped practice numerous times to coach up individual players – usually a freshman. Abdou Toure and JJ Andrews, for example, failed to defend a back-door cut on their first attempt in a defensive drill. Chin Coleman handled most of the coaching, but (Billy) Richmond was also actively giving them feedback while going through the same drill on the opposite side of the court.”
You can easily see that the profound confusion felt by the many freshmen on this very young Arkansas roster is a good thing. Now, late July, is exactly the time for freshmen to feel this way. They should! Calipari knows it, everyone does. A ton of freshmen – teenagers – will not instantly figure out how to play college basketball, and in fact, it’s great that they’re confused partly because they aren’t being arrogant. They can’t act like spoiled know-it-alls if they don’t actually know everything. This is how John Calipari can earn the respect and trust of his players.
Egos are not dominating the room. It’s the exact opposite. Talented, youthful players are admitting they need to learn. It actually should be music to Calipari’s ears. This is why confusion – in July – is a great thing. The Bahamas series of games will give these freshmen so many lessons to learn and take back to the gym in late summer and the fall, heading into November. This is the process of building the very young 2026-2027 Razorbacks into a mature team whose first-year players will be ready to handle the heat in the SEC schedule starting next January.
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John Calipari loves recruiting high schoolers instead of going to the portal. The tradeoff for that is getting younger players instead of more experienced ones. That education process will take time. The fact that it is already starting in late July – with players admitting what they don’t yet know – is indeed a positive sign for Arkansas basketball.
