Calipari Knows What He Needs to Go Get, There's Just One Major Problem

SAN JOSE, Calif. — There's a famous story from back in the early 1990s where a scrappy, high octane No. 2 Arkansas Razorbacks team led by an unstoppable but extremely light Todd Day, tangled with No. 1 UNLV in Bud Walton Arena.

At one point after making a tough shot, the Rebels Larry Johnson, a 6-foot-6, 250 pound forward with an extreme fierceness to his game, ran by the Arkansas bench and shouted to head coach Nolan Richardson "You better go get you some men." The Hogs ended up losing what may have been the school's only regular season game played on a Sunday, 112-105, in a battle that never felt remotely that close.

Richardson went and got him some men in 7-footers Darnell Robinson and Lee Wilson along with a 6-foot-7, 245 pound forward from Russellville named Corliss Williamson whose "Big Nasty" nickname summed up all that needed to be told. He surrounded them with a fearless bulldog of a team leader in Corey Beck who was physically built to handle the next UNLV front court as a guard and an ice cold shooter in Scotty Thurman.

Nolan got his men. Arkansas got its national championship.

Razorbacks coach John Calipari had his own Larry Johnsons chirping in his ear all season with the same message. Florida practically screamed it with a 111-77 obliteration of the Hogs in what was the de facto SEC regular season championship game.

On rebounding alone that day it was obvious as the Hogs gave up 51 rebounds, 20 more than they came away with. Arkansas didn't have the edge or power needed inside to slow down teams with powerful front courts, much less stop them.

If Florida was the stake through the heart, the Hogs 109-88 blowout loss to Arizona Thursday night in the Sweet 16 was the nail in the coffin. Calipari was forced to watch helplessly from the sideline, and now, with the season done, it's time to put in the work as a coach to make sure he never feels that again.

However, there is apparently a problem. There was plenty of chicken money flying around to make make a strong roster this time last season.

Now, with decals having been purchased for jerseys in an effort to bring the football team up to average, there isn't as much money for Calipari to shop around in the portal looking for men.

"A lot of people have no idea," Calipari said in reference to a possible NIL financial concern regarding the next Razorbacks basketball team. "How about this? You have no recruits. You have no idea who's coming back. You don't have the money you had a year ago. You do not.

"And now all of a sudden, you're trying to keep guys, figure out who else out there wants to come and who wants to put, like a bidding war, which we wouldn't be involved in, so but that's all there that we all have to deal with. And then guys going pro. Okay. Do you think they may come back or not? You're guessing. So it's a little bit harder than it's been."

One resource that tends to come slightly cheaper than proven transfer portal players is freshmen. Calipari has already landed three five-star freshmen with the possibility of adding Tyran Stokes to the 2026 class who had narrowed his choices down to Arkansas and Kansas prior to retirement rumors surrounding Bill Self.

"I made sure the guys that we were bringing in all three are five-star players, but they're physical," Calipari said. "They got a beast to them, which you have to have if you're going to play against 25 year olds. And so those three do and, bringing some guys back, getting a couple other guys that want to be a part of this, you know, seeing how we play and how kids improve. We'll see."

Of the incoming freshmen, all three are guards, although JJ Andrews goes 6-foot-6, 220, so he could evolve into a small forward as he fills out. Should the Hogs land Stokes, they at least get someone who has played forward at 6-foot-7, 230 pounds.

He could potentially grow into a Corliss Williamson type body after a couple of years, but there's more than height and weight to having that kind of impact. There's an attitude and it's not clear whether he has that natural on-court mean streak that will worry the adults he will be facing.

Still that leaves Calipari with an extreme issue. He doesn't have the monsters he needs in the front court to dominate. That's one of the most expensive positions to fill.

Elite guards are a dime a dozen and can often be freshmen, but monsters are in their third or fourth year usually and can only be found in story books and the Elite 8 for a massive price. If Calipari finds himself pinching pennies, and let's just say that's relative because Arkansas pinching pennies isn't like Mississippi State pinching pennies, he is going to out of the running immediately.

Without massive financial support, which is becoming more and more unreasonable to expect in the world's economic climate, the big men aren't coming and the Hogs' ceiling with Calipari at the helm stays the Sweet 16.

So, with Arkansas looking like it's going to be guard heavy and front court light once again, odds are high Calipari is going to know like a lot of the people who cover this for a living that Arkansas is in for another No. 4 or 5 seed with a solid wall waiting to shut them out once again in the Sweet 16.

"I told my staff, this a bad match-up," Calipari said in regard to facing No. 1 seed Arizona. "Let's figure out how we keep this thing in check, and then maybe, if we're close, if the pressure flips to them. We never made it where we could get it to 8,9,7, and flip the switch. But they're, they're good.

"Let me just say this, Arizona was way better than us today, and I didn't think they'd be way better. I thought we could hang around. I knew it was a bad match-up because of their size, but they're good. They're a very well coached."

If he can't find a way to stretch the budget and get quality big men on campus at Arkansas, then Calipari can just hang onto that quote and be ready to use it in regard to the next NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 opponent.

Guards win the opening weekend and big men win championships. There won't be any deep runs at Arkansas without them.

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