2025-2026 Razorback Basketball

[Show-Me Hog]

Cal's coaching analogue: Phil Jackson.

Neither are hard core Xs and Os guys. Phil hired Tex whatever to install the triangle offense.

Both are best when they have great players.  Hell, what coach isn't, but Jordan, Kobe, and Acuff, and managing them, is better than the alternative.

Most of all, both are/were coaches as psychologists.. How do you get the best out of your guys, and get them to want to be their best, without being Bobby Knight or a diagram guru.

They just remind me of each other. Listening to Cal talk at press conferences is 100% different than listening to Muss at press conferences (high technical expertise) or listening to Mike Anderson at press conferences (we gotta get after em).

[vegashog]

hogs #14 in ap, #15 in coaches final regular season poll.

[bigpig]

First time we finished ranked since 2021 I believe.

[vegashog]

jordan smith named naismith high school player of the year.

[Hogfan58]

jordan smith named naismith high school player of the year.

I told my wife that the player of the year was coming to Arkansas. She said football player of the year? I just started laughing.

[Corn Pop]

Karter Knox travels with Arkansas basketball for NCAA Tournament, talks injury recovery timelineEthan Westerman

NWA Online


PORTLAND, Ore. — After staying home during Arkansas men's basketball's trip to the SEC Tournament last week, forward Karter Knox made the trip for this week's NCAA Tournament opening rounds at Moda Center.

Knox has been rehabbing his knee since a surgery on his left meniscus in mid-February. He has not played since an 88-75 victory over Auburn on Feb. 14, when he was limited to 6 minutes.

Earlier this month, Arkansas coach John Calipari said Knox would likely only be available to play again this season if the team makes it to the Final Four. That round is April 4-6 in Indianapolis.

Knox echoed that timeline Wednesday but said his recovery has been quicker than anticipated.

"I'm moving pretty fast healing," Knox said. "I'm taking it day by day, but I might be ready anytime soon."

Knox wore crutches for the first few weeks after surgery, but was able to begin walking under his own power again sooner than he thought. He credits his recovery to genetics.

MORE FROM WHOLEHOGSPORTS | Sights and sounds from Arkansas basketball's practice ahead of NCAA Tournament game vs. Hawaii

Knox's father, Kevin, was a professional football receiver. His eldest brother, Kevin II, plays for the NBA G League's Windy City Bulls. His other brother, Kobe, plays basketball at South Carolina, and younger sister Ashley is committed to play for Auburn women's basketball.

"It hasn't really surprised me, because with our family, we're blessed to have some DNA with the Knoxes just to heal fast," Knox said "I was supposed to be in a brace and crutches [for much longer], but I'm so glad that we heal fast as a family. I've been working with the trainers every day getting rehab — sometimes three times a day — so I've been really trying to get the knee back right."

Knox said the first days post-surgery were painful, and it was around the time he lost the crutches that the pain subsided.

"Gosh, it was hurting," Knox said. "It was so bad. I think it was after the procedure, I had forgotten I had surgery. I woke up and I tried to get out of bed, and I couldn't even do it. It was bad."

After the Razorbacks (26-8) defeated Vanderbilt 86-75 in the SEC Tournament Championship Game on Sunday, they video called Knox so he could be part of the locker room celebration. It's what Arkansas did postgame during the 2024-25 season when former players Boogie Fland and Adou Thiero missed trips.

Knox was full of smiles Wednesday being back in a locker room with teammates in-person.

"It's really great being back with the team," Knox said. "I haven't traveled with them in over month, so it's really great going back on the road with my guys."

POLL | How far will Arkansas make it in the NCAA Tournament?

While he remains hopeful for a return to the court this season, Knox said he is ready to play a different role during the early stages of the NCAA Tournament. Up first in the Big Dance is a game against No. 13 seed Hawaii (24-8) on Thursday at 3:25 p.m. Central.

"Just being an energy guy on that bench," Know said of his role. "I want to be just feeding them energy and just telling them to go out there and play hard. That's what we did [last year] and that's how we made our run, so it'll be the same thing for them."

[DirkPiggler]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7129844/2026/03/18/john-calipari-arkansas-march-madness-ncaa-tournament-rebirth/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=15514385&source=dailyemail

PORTLAND — John Calipari is at peace, and who knew tranquility could be so loud? He's talking, and people are listening. He's still talking, and people are still listening. He's joking, and people are laughing.

The man probably narrated his own birth. His coaching career has been a noisy, zany, messy success, and he has the personality to handle it all. You had reason to question that two years ago, when he fled from Kentucky after 15 years of pressure too intense for a national title, 410 victories and a .769 winning percentage to alleviate. But at Arkansas, he's Coach Cal again: a brilliant oddball challenging for the throne rather than trying to look comfortable occupying it.

He's not different, but he seems fresh. He had grown stale at Kentucky, a high-maintenance basketball paradise. It wasn't like he forgot how to coach. He just couldn't feed that beast anymore. And it's not like he has reached unprecedented heights with the Razorbacks so far. But he's building something special again, not maintaining something precious.

His player-first sermons sound like a refreshing cultural disruption again, not just a sales pitch from a slick recruiter.

"You want to win, but it's the name on the back that I'm in the business for," Calipari said after Arkansas won its first SEC tournament title since 2000 last week. "Now, I've kind of been that way and done all right at every school I've been at. So you could say it's wrong, or you can live with it. You can be P'd off or P'd on. I really don't care."

Oh, he cares. He cares too much. But let Calipari flex a little. In his first season, the Razorbacks made the Sweet 16 as a No. 10 seed a year ago, with Calipari winning coaching duels against Bill Self and Rick Pitino to advance that far. Arkansas enters this NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed playing a stylistically gorgeous brand of basketball. The Razorbacks average 89.9 points per game. They break defenses with their efficiency. Freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. is an attacking lead guard who flows effortlessly with the game.

Acuff, who averages 22.9 points and 6.5 assists, is both a projected 2026 NBA draft lottery pick and the most productive guard of Calipari's 903-win collegiate career. But the coach is more effusive about his grit. Between games, he has worn a boot because of a nagging ankle injury. In February, he scored 49 points in a double-overtime loss to Alabama, and despite playing 50 minutes in that game, he refused to rest.

"I said, 'Why don't you sit out the next game?'" Calipari recalled. "He looked at me and said, 'We lost. I'm not sitting out.'"

Calipari was prepping the audience for a longer story. In a 15-minute interview Wednesday, he had several tales. About former NBA star Rod Strickland, now a coach who just led Long Island University to the tournament. About Terrence Jones out of Portland, and having to wear a wool hat during an indoor practice because "I could see my breath in the gym. In the gym!" About Chris Douglas-Roberts, a former Memphis All-American, texting him recently, "Thanks for letting me rock out."

But to praise Acuff, Calipari added an NBA dig. He talked about making Acuff sit out of the team's regular-season finale against Missouri. The rest may have contributed to a record-setting SEC tournament for Acuff, who averaged 30.3 points over three games.

"I took a chance," Calipari said. "We did the NBA load management: 'Sit back, let us try to win a game without you.' But if he's hurt, you won't know because he doesn't do that. I looked at him. He said, 'Don't look over here. I'm fine.'"

Calipari probably held a media availability after his baptism.

He's most comfortable when he can play the crazy uncle who somehow makes fun of himself and acts like he gets no respect. It's a bit of an underdog shtick. The character didn't work near the end at Kentucky, where his final four seasons included a losing campaign followed by three straight early Big Dance exits.

It was the roughest patch of his 34 seasons in college, a stretch in which expectation finally swallowed his performance. When the Wildcats finished 9-16 in 2020-21, it was Calipari's first losing record since his first year at Massachusetts. Even though it was an aberration, Calipari didn't redeem himself because of the ensuing March letdowns.

"We lost a couple of tough NCAA Tournament games, and people started acting like he never won anything," said Bruiser Flint, the Arkansas special assistant to the head coach who has worked with Calipari at three schools. "Everybody goes through it when they start talking about, 'Did he lose it? Is he not as good as he used to be?' But sometimes you lose a couple of tough games and you move on. It just didn't happen there."

It's mostly a matter of perception. Calipari is 48-22 at Arkansas, a .685 winning percentage. It's a small sample, but he won at a higher rate at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky. But when he replaced Eric Musselman at Arkansas, he rebuilt a roster that featured just one holdover scholarship player. Then he dropped his first five SEC games last year.

He seemed washed. Now, people are saying he's back.

Actually, he's just Cal.

Moving to Arkansas didn't change Calipari. It just changed the way he's heard.

"He has stayed the course, in terms of how he coaches, how he teaches," Flint said. "It was just a tough time at Kentucky at the end, but in terms of what he's doing differently now, I don't think he changed at all."

There have been subtle adaptations. More than forcing a strategy, Calipari has always adjusted to the talent he recruits. His best teams grasp his defensive schemes, but his offensive system is tailored to the personnel. He has been criticized for being everything from too loose to too outdated. As this Acuff-led squad is showing, the 67-year-old coach still has some tricks.

Asked about how he's evolved, Calipari joked of his former players: "They say I got soft. They look at me and say, 'You. Are. SOFT."

He probably brushes his teeth with a microphone.

Calipari is at peace. And somehow, it's louder than ever.

[Lurk]

I had forgotten this. Brazile best dunk ever.

[Barton Fink]

https://x.com/i/status/2037279919365816342

[vegashog]

https://x.com/yahoosports/status/2037277453669064767?s=46&t=6xK70PJZbrPwBVCAdg-EzQ

[bigpig]

We won the SEC Championship. We made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

So we get a trophy, a little banner, and had one of the most talked-about players in the country (which certainly helps in recruiting). Hard to call the season a failure. I'd say it was our most successful season, in those terms, in thirty years.

[Lurk]

Good year.

[Barton Fink]

https://x.com/i/status/2037650831932314096

[Piggielicious]

It was a fun yet frustrating year at the same time. Soft post play and inconsistent or very little production from some key returning and transfer players held this team back. Acuff exceeded the hype, and Richmond/Thomas were very good too.

All in all, I can't complain too much about a tournament championship and sweet sixteen appearance.

Glad Cal is here.

[red death]

Good to see this team cut the nets in Nashville.  No matter what, that will cement them as part of Razorback history.

It was a joy to watch them. Acuff was legendary here.

We are now point guard U. 

[Show-Me Hog]

Probably this has been said before, but for those of us who started with The Triplets, isn't the best prior comparison for Maleek Thomas, Marvin Delph?

It's been a minute, but I tend to remember the size, shooting form, and shooting ability being similar. Maybe even the fro.

[mde114]

Probably this has been said before, but for those of us who started with The Triplets, isn't the best prior comparison for Maleek Thomas, Marvin Delph?

It's been a minute, but I tend to remember the size, shooting form, and shooting ability being similar. Maybe even the fro.

Good comparison.

I don't think he's quite the shooter that Delph was, but Thomas was good.

[Gambler]

Probably this has been said before, but for those of us who started with The Triplets, isn't the best prior comparison for Maleek Thomas, Marvin Delph?

It's been a minute, but I tend to remember the size, shooting form, and shooting ability being similar. Maybe even the fro.

I was a year behind Marvin at Conway. Really nice dude. He had a higher arching shot than Thomas. Thomas had a quicker release.

[Thin Red Swine]

Probably this has been said before, but for those of us who started with The Triplets, isn't the best prior comparison for Maleek Thomas, Marvin Delph?

It's been a minute, but I tend to remember the size, shooting form, and shooting ability being similar. Maybe even the fro.

I said it somewhere earlier, Thomas just looks like he's straight out of the 70s. So Delph is a good comparison for looks. Delph was such a pure shooter who unfortunately never got to try a three pointer.

[buff2.0]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48358749/nba-draft-2026-dybantsa-peterson-boozer-wagler-scouts-execs-top-5

They're talking Acuff as possible #5 overall.  That means at least 4 teams are going to seriously fuck up in the draft.

Let's start with Acuff, an explosive scoring guard with concerns about his size and defense at the next level. His final two months of the season, which included an SEC tournament title run, won over a lot of people around the NBA, but those shortcomings will make team construction and fit a pivotal factor.

"Just the shotmaking, killer instinct he has shown, his ability to score at all three levels," an East executive said. "His defense does worry me some, but he has had to carry a pretty large load."

"I think there's never been a worse time to build around bad defensive guards," a West executive said. "We see this time and time again -- the flashiest offensive impact in the draft doesn't necessarily end up winning the most.