John Calipari could be going to Arkansas. What does this mean for UK basketball’s recruits?
John Calipari may have coached his final basketball game at Kentucky.
Late Sunday night, news broke that Calipari — who has spent 15 seasons as the men’s basketball coach in Lexington — has been in talks with Arkansas to become that school’s next men’s basketball coach.
Reports Sunday night indicated Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to coach the Razorbacks.
Calipari — still famed in college basketball circles for his recruiting prowess, even as on-court results declined — had six incoming freshmen lined up to play next season at Kentucky.
Those players are guards Boogie Fland and Travis Perry, wing Billy Richmond, small forward Karter Knox and centers Somto Cyril and Jayden Quaintance.
Those six players (a group that includes three McDonald’s All-Americans) currently comprise the second-best recruiting class in the country, per the 247Sports team rankings.
Here’s a breakdown of where those six recruits stand with Kentucky, including the paperwork that’s been signed and comments made about their recruitments to UK.
Note: Knox, a small forward who committed to Kentucky in March and is ranked as the No. 19 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class per the 247Sports Composite, has reopened his recruitment.
What about Kentucky basketball’s four signees for next season?
Of those six aforementioned recruits, four have signed their national letters of intent to play at Kentucky.
Those players are Fland, Perry, Cyril and Quaintance. All four players signed the paperwork tying them to play at Kentucky in November during the early signing period for Division I basketball players.
It is common practice for programs to release players from their national letters of intent when a player requests.
For example, in March small forward Liam McNeeley — a player who has been linked to Kentucky in recent weeks — requested a release from his national letter of intent with Indiana.
This also often happens when programs experience a coaching change.
After Andy Enfield left Southern Cal to become the head coach at SMU, the Trojans had two players — point guard Trent Perry and shooting guard Liam Campbell — request releases from their national letters of intent as they reopened their recruitments.
This practice makes sense on several fronts: Top prospects often commit to a school because of the coach currently in place. New head coaches have their own recruits in mind that they’d like to bring to their new school.
This has been on display recently in Lexington as the UK women’s basketball program shifted from former coach Kyra Elzy to new coach Kenny Brooks.
WIth regard to Kentucky’s four men’s signees in the 2024 recruiting class, several have spoken about the impact Calipari had in their decisions to join Kentucky.
“(Calipari) said, ‘You come in, and be you.’ ... He basically said I could come in there and be myself,” Fland told the Herald-Leader in January. “Why not go to that program, go to that coach or where the coaches are believing in me to do what I do?”
Before Arkansas came calling for Calipari, it was fed-up Kentucky fans who were clamoring for his ousting after UK’s NCAA Tournament opening round upset loss to Oakland last month.
As that persisted, Ryan Perry — Travis Perry’s father and coach at Lyon County High School, which won the Boys’ Sweet 16 this year — spoke to the Herald-Leader about what Calipari meant to his family.
“Coach Cal has been great to Travis and our family. He’s been texting me ‘Good luck’ and ‘Finish this thing’ and all that kind of stuff,” Ryan Perry told the Herald-Leader following Lyon County’s state championship win.
“Coach Cal, he’s a great coach, he’s a great guy. He loves his players. He loves the recruits that are coming in. ... He’s a great dude. Our family loves Coach Cal and Travis loves Coach Cal, so we really appreciate the support that he’s given us and how good he’s been to Travis and our family. We love him.”
Additionally, the three McDonald’s All-Americans who were set to come to Kentucky for next season — Fland, Knox and Quaintance — all spoke at last week’s McDonald’s All-American Game like players who were planning on being in Lexington.
“I don’t feel like there’s any pressure,” Fland said when asked about going to Kentucky with Calipari under pressure as the head coach. “I feel like we chose Kentucky because we knew what it came with, and you’ve just got to go there and do what you’ve got to do.”
In his media appearances following that NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland, Calipari repeatedly referenced this year’s group of high school recruits.
“We have an unbelievable group coming in that I feel really good about,” Calipari said last month after the Oakland loss.
Once Calipari’s departure is finalized, expect several Kentucky signees to ask out of their national letters of intent and reopen their recruitments, which would leave open to chance to follow Calipari to Arkansas or to still eventually enroll at UK.
For what it’s worth, Arkansas had two signees in its 2024 recruiting class under former head coach Eric Musselman, who is now at Southern Cal: Both forward Jalen Shelley and small forward Isaiah Elohim have requested out of their national letters of intent with the Hogs.
What about UK basketball’s two commits for next season?
The other two players in Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond, both committed to UK after the early signing period ended.
Richmond committed to UK in late December, just hours before Kentucky won a road game at rival Louisville. Knox committed to UK in early March, just hours after Kentucky won its regular season finale at Tennessee.
The signing period for Division I basketball opens again April 17 and extends until May 15. Both Knox and Richmond were expected to sign their national letters of intent with UK during this time frame. Obviously, that probably won’t happen, at least until a new coach is in Lexington to possibly re-recruit them.
Both Knox and Richmond hold strong family connections to Calipari that would make them prime candidates to follow the former UK coach to Fayetteville.
Knox is a younger brother of Kevin Knox, a former UK one-and-done star who became an NBA draft lottery pick under Calipari’s guidance in 2018. The Knox family also holds close ties with former UK assistant coach and recently fired Louisville head coach Kenny Payne.
On Monday, it was reported Knox reopened his recruitment.
“Coach Calipari, he’s sent a lot of people to the league, and I want to be a pro. He told me he’s gonna make me a pro,” Knox said when he committed to UK. “So I’m ready to hoop and win a national championship.”
Knox was teammates at Overtime Elite this past season with Cyril. Knox chose UK last month from a list of finalists that also included Louisville, another season at Overtime Elite and South Florida. Another Knox brother, Kobe, plays for the Bulls.
Richmond represents what had become the latest recruiting trend for Calipari: Players whose fathers played for him at Memphis. Along with Adou Thiero (2022) and D.J. Wagner (2023), Richmond’s father played for Calipari with the Tigers.
If Calipari leaves, things will change with Kentucky basketball recruiting
The primary concern with Calipari leaving town is what becomes of the 2024-25 Kentucky basketball roster.
In addition to the six incoming freshmen that were lined up, a plethora of Wildcats from last season’s team have been yet to issue decisions regarding their stay-or-go status.
Sophomore forward Adou Thiero has entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal, and has also entered his name into the 2024 NBA draft. Freshman guard Justin Edwards announced he was entering the NBA draft and is expected to keep his name in the draft pool.
On Monday, freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw entered the transfer portal.
There’s also plenty of down-the-line recruiting impact from Calipari’s move.
In the 2025 recruiting class, Kentucky currently has 10 scholarship offers out, including to the top-ranked player, small forward AJ Dybantsa. Also among this group is combo guard and Central Kentucky native Jasper Johnson.
In the 2026 recruiting class, Kentucky has a scholarship offer out to power forward Tyran Stokes, a Louisville native and the No. 2 overall player in the class.
Throughout his 15 seasons in Lexington, Calipari consistently brought in top freshman talent.
Since Calipari took over the UK men’s basketball program in 2009, Kentucky has landed 47 McDonald’s All-Americans out of high school. This is the most of any school during this period.
The high points of Calipari’s tenure as UK head coach were shaped by players named Burger Boys. Kentucky’s 2012 national title team featured six players who were named McDonald’s All-Americans as high schoolers: Freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Kyle Wiltjer, and sophomores Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb.
Kentucky finished with the top-ranked recruiting class, according to the annual 247Sports team recruiting rankings, on six occasions since 2011: This occurred in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2020 and 2023.
That translated to success on the court, for a period of time. Since 2012, UK has amassed one national championship, two national championship game appearances, three trips to the Final Four, five trips to the Elite Eight and six trips to the Sweet 16.
Of course, the Cats haven’t made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and it’s been nine years since the Wildcats last made the Final Four.
“I’m going to recruit the best freshman player that I can get,” Calipari said at UK’s preseason media day last year. “We are going to help them do what we are supposed to do to prepare them to create habits, prepare them for the rest of their lives. We are going to bring them together, care about them, if we have to bring in some veteran guys, we’ve done it before.”
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