Hogs Hiding Giants, Possible Future Back Court, in Plain Sight

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas fans dream of the day when they have big men hanging out on the bench waiting for their chance to go into the line-up for the Razorbacks basketball team and dominate.

Just a pair of seven-footers. The kind that often dominate the Big Ten.

Everyoe knows the type. The name is hard to say and they're from somewhere in Europe or Africa where monsters are grown and one somehow stumbles upon basketball and falls in love with the game.

In this dream, Calipari brings them in as projected elites and develops them even further. It would be just what Hogs fans want for next season.

Fortunately, that is the case. Provided they don't leave, he's had a pair of giant athletes tucked away at the end of the bench going through development.

Hogs fans just didn't notice because they didn't arrive until the latter part of August, putting them behind schedule. As a result, they weren't able to catch up to their peers who had a huge head start.

Elmir Džafić, a 7-foot, 285 pound center from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of those European pros every loved to complain about this past season.

Meanwhile, Paulo Semedo, a listed forward from Angola who tops Džafić in height a full inch at 7-foot-1, but is dwarfed by his massive counterpart by 60 pounds, joined Calipari's class last season as an ESPN Top 50 prospect and the No. 6 center in the country as a member of West Oaks Academy in Florida.

“This is a winning team” 😤

🎥 Meet Elmir Džafic in today’s In Studio with Tera! pic.twitter.com/uNINyPTvyX
— Hogs Plus (@HogsPlus) October 22, 2025

With the exception of brief appearances by Džafić early in the years where he totaled three points, a rebound, a block and a steal over 16 minutes cumulative, fans had no idea either existed and were probably confused by the sudden appearance and disappearance of the massive Euro.

Their progress was a mysterious for the entire season. That is until Arkansas basketball radio co-host Matt Zimmerman pulled the curtain back a little in an interview with Wess Moore to review the season.

"Well, I think Paulo was getting better," Zimmerman said. "You know, he got here later in the summer. Džafić didn't get here until August, like when school started. He missed all the summer. Paulo was here for a portion of the summer, and I think that coming in, they felt like, this is a guy that, with what we have coming back, we're probably going to red-shirt and we're going to develop him.

"He was a young guy. He had reclassified. He's a young dude. And so they felt like a year here, he can get bigger, he can he can eat better, he can get all the attention with our strength coach, Dave Richardson, and he can practice against Trevor and Nick and Malik Hewitt every day, and he can get better."

It was a plan that seemed to show promise, but then the injury bug came along and threw everything out of whack.

"I don't know when it was, but then he got hurt, you know, and he had, he had the injury," Zimmerman said. "And so when he got injured to his arm, he was out. And so he missed two months, and then by the time he came back from that, we were too deep in the season. He wasn't going to play, but he wasn't a factor in practice anymore. You know what I mean? We weren't scrimmaging very much."

Ironically, it was injuries to the very players Semedo was supposed to be backing up that hindered his development, keeping him from being able to sub in for them in a time of need. Calipari chose to do away with almost all scrimmage time in practice because overall his team was too banged up to do so.

Instead of sharpening his skills against elite opponents in practice, Semedo was limited to individual workouts with assistant coaches outside of practice.

"He could do some drills," Zimmerman said. "He could do some things, but really, toward the end of the season, his development became individual workout sessions with the assistant coaches, more so after practice, before practice, getting extra work, whether it was at night time. It wasn't as much in practice anymore because we were moving on down the road with trying to win this championship."

Still what Semedo was able to show appears to have been enough to keep the Hogs' attention and further his path at Arkansas.

"Paulo is a guy that's got a lot of talent," Zimmerman said. "He's 7-foot. He's super long arms. He jumps pretty well, he runs pretty good, and he's he's got potential. He was in Orlando for three years.

"You know, he's an international kid, but he's been in America for three years now. He's been in Fayetteville since like, last July, and I think he'll be here, and I think he's a beast that they're hoping that they can see develop into this long, athletic — another guy we can just come off a ball screen or attack, get the defense [out of position], lob it to him and let Paulo go dunk it."

That's the vision. It's just not quite reality just yet, although, if he chooses, Semedo has over seven months to develop the skills the Razorbacks need him to have to compete in the SEC.

"You're not gonna throw it to Paulo much [right now]," Zimmerman said. "He's not gonna face up and jab step and go around you and make all these moves. He's not at that point yet against an SEC defense, but he can, he can jump, and he's long."

As for Džafić, who goes by EJ, he is in the weight room adding to what is already a massive frame and insane strength at 285 pounds of muscle.

"He got here he was like 286 pounds," Zimmerman said. "That's a big man, and he's still so strong and thick, he just destroys the weight room when he's in there. He is a he's a physical beast.

"They have to now that he got here in August, late August, and so I've not talked to the coaches in regards to what they think, but he's a guy that has some potential. He's very strong. He's only going to get better. His skill, though, is behind as an SEC player."

Much like Semedo, Calipari wants him to catch a lob and dunk it rather than take a pass on the post and back a player in similar to what is commonly seen by Big Ten and old school centers. To compete in the SEC, the thought is athleticism tops all else.

"He doesn't have great jump hooks right now," Zimmerman said. "He he's not a catch a lob guy and we know Coach Cal wants guys catching a lob and dunk it or we're going to drive it, dump that, you just go dunk it. And he's still trying to get to be able to catch those lobs and to be a finished dunker that he needs to be at this level."

There seems to be enough interest in continuing to develop Semedo and Džafić to keep them around. However, that is a decision that goes two ways.

It's possible neither wants to change their game to the more above the rim style of athletic play the SEC often demands. They may not want to sit around another season trying to be something they may think they are not.

"We'll see what happens with [Džafić]," Zimmerman said. "Hopefully he's liked it. That's another thing. How much does Paulo like being here? How much does Elmir or like being here? That's a factor."

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