Aidoo's Decision Gives Calipari Big Piece for Razorbacks' Offense

Scoring forward officially takes his name out of NBA Draft, will bring Hogs needed experience

Tennessee Volunteers forward Jonas Aidoo (0) plays the ball in the lane against the Purdue Boilermakers in March in the NCAA Tournament. | Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jonas Aidoo lit up Arkansas last season for 23 points and 12 rebounds when the Tennessee Vols left town with a big win. It ruined any big Valentine's Day celebrations planned after what Hogs' fans hoped might be a win over a ranked opponent.

Razorbacks coach John Calipari is probably glad to add the player ranked No. 11 in the current transfer portal and the No. 2 small forward. Aidoo averaged 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.8 blocks per game while shooting 51.5% from the field.

Aidoo got AP First Team All-SEC honors and a spot on the SEC All-Defensive team with the Volunteers last year. He can play defense down low, too, which is another part of his game that will add a big piece.

Earlier in the year, he scored a career-best 29 points against Georgia Southern and a career-high 15 rebounds against Georgia.

Aidoo was one of two current Arkansas transfer signees going through the draft process. Johnell Davis has yet to officially announce his decision and is currently still in the NBA Draft. The NCAA deadline to withdraw and return to school is May 29, which means fans will have to wait up to two weeks to find out where this Razorbacks roster actually is.

The deadline may be why there has been a lull lately in recruiting for Calipari putting together a roster, but he has also offered some insights. Instead, he's got a different plan and doesn't want to have a rotation of more than eight players. He's looking for back-ups who have played somewhere else to challenge his team in practices.

Calipari is close to having enough for that rotation. He's not going to stop there because he wants a quality back-up to help them in practices. From the way he's talked previously, that's almost as important as the highly-rated players he's been getting.

Stress on "almost." Cal wants talented players who can compete for championships and not just the SEC title. He has bigger goals in mind, like most Razorback fans.

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