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Hoops Arkansas basketball's remaining needs with transfer portal closed
- By DanielFair
- The Trough
- 0 Replies
The college basketball transfer portal closed at midnight Tuesday, and while the Arkansas Razorbacks have a good bit of their roster in place, there are still some remaining needs.
There are 12 total players on Arkansas' projected 2025-26 roster, which includes Jaden Karuletwa and Ayden Kelley, two end-of-the-bench guys who rarely played last season. That leaves 10 significant contributors for next season.
Head coach John Calipari announced the return of D.J. Wagner, Trevon Brazile and Billy Richmond III from last year's roster, and there are three freshmen — five-stars Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas and four-star Isaiah Sealy — who will join the team soon. Not to be forgotten, Lithuanian forward Karim Rtail has signed on to be a Razorback next season.
There are also two transfer portal additions that were announced last week. Florida State big man Malique Ewin and South Carolina big Nick Pringle signed with the Hogs, which rounds out the front court.
Last season, Calipari opted to only take nine rotational players, a decision that came back to haunt him and the team. Injuries to key pieces caused depth issues at numerous points last year, and the Head Hog admitted multiple times that it was likely a mistake.
That said, 10 is not much better than nine in terms of playable athletes, so the Hogs still have some work to do. Here are some of the key areas Arkansas will need to focus on ahead of next season...
Perimeter Shooting:
Be it a lack of three-point threats on Arkansas' roster last season or Calipari harping on getting to the rim, the Hogs were not a good three-point shooting team this year.Arkansas finished ranked No. 225 in three-point attempts per game at 21.5 and No. 24 in the country in three-point percentage at 32.7%. Those numbers don't really cut it in terms of the Razorbacks being a Final Four contender, and because that is the goal, they're going to need to find some more perimeter threats.
The Hogs rode their defense for most of the year, and while that is a good thing that Calipari won't want to shy away from, they need to find more offensive firepower. The four teams who played in this year's Final Four all ranked No. 86 or higher in three-point percentage, with Houston sitting at No. 4 and Florida tied for 80th.
That said, there are some three-point threats on the roster right now, but not enough. Brazile has the highest three-point percentage of the returners but did so on less volume than the rest of the team. Wagner had streaks of hot three-point shooting at times, but wasn't consistent enough in that area.
Another Big:
This will be a tough one to find in the transfer portal because of the additions of Ewin and Pringle. Arkansas' front court is solid at the top but there's still room for one more piece of the puzzle. After all, the Hogs are just one injury away from another thin room, and given last year's debacle, it's safe to say they don't want that to happen again.
We'll touch on this a little more below, but Arkansas really needs another strong rebounding presence inside next season. That department caused several losses and effectively ended its season.
The Razorbacks finished ranked No. 154 nationally in total rebounds per game at 35.6, and No. 213 in rebounding margin, as they gave up 35.5 (0.1 margin) to their opponents.
The Southeastern Conference was a behemoth last season, and there are questions if that can be replicated again, but those numbers were good for 11th and 12th in the league.
More Depth:
Despite the nine-man rotation Calipari rolled with, there were still 14 players on the roster. The last five guys from the end of the bench played a total of 23 minutes across the entire season and only accounted for a total of four points.
Next season, the NCAA will allow for 15 roster spots, which means that Arkansas has at least five and possibly six (depending on Knox's decision) spots to fill. It's nearly impossible for all of those spots to have the same impact, but Calipari has the end of the bench, so he might as well use it.
The most important role players he can go out and get will be rebounders. Arkansas struggled in that department in a mighty way, and it ended up being the death of its season against Texas Tech in the Sweet 16. The Hogs gave up 22 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points — 16, of course, was the size of the lead they blew in the second half.
The frontcourt is also where the Hogs seemed to get in most of their foul trouble, so having more players available in that regard will both keep their legs fresh and, hopefully, keep them out of foul trouble.
