This year’s Arkansas men's basketball roster is full of new faces, as first-year head coach John Calipari has assembled a team with seven transfers and five high school signees who will look to get the Hoop Hogs back in the NCAA Tournament. There is just one returner from last year’s squad — junior forward Trevon Brazile.
HawgBeat will profile each of the key parts of the Arkansas roster ahead of the season, and we're taking a closer look at Brazile and what he can bring to the table for the Hogs this season.
Brazile's career has been a bit of a roller coaster ride since he transferred to Arkansas from Missouri ahead of the 2022-2023 season. He got off to a strong start that season before an ACL injury against UNC-Greensboro sidelined him for the rest of the year just nine games into the season.
Named Preseason First Team All-SEC last fall, Brazile had been hyped as a first-round pick by some for the 2024 NBA Draft, but his season didn't go as expected. He missed several games due to injury and struggled to play at a consistently high level.
After last season, he entered his name into the draft, but after talking with Calipari, Brazile withdrew his name and announced his return to Arkansas.
"I wanted to go (test out the NBA draft)," Brazile said July 29. "I kept in contact with coach Cal and the staff. What they do is, you already know what they do. So coming back, it was a no-brainer for me.”
Calipari said over the summer he was surprised by how good Brazile is.
"Trevon is better than I thought he was," Calipari said July 29. "So I’ll just, a story: He’s in there laying on his back and I said, you’re better than I thought you were. He looks at me and says ‘I told you’. But that’s the confidence that I want him to feel, but he’s got to get into wars and be comfortable in those situations."
Bio:
Position: ForwardHeight/Weight: 6-foot-10, 230 pounds
Class: Junior
Jersey: No. 4
Hometown: Springfield, Missouri
High School: Kickapoo High School
Prev. School: Missouri
Highlights
What Brazile brings to the table
Full of high-flying dunks and a crazy amount of athleticism, Brazile is a threat to create a highlight play at any point in a game. He’s got great bounce and can get above the rim for alley-oops on the offensive end and blocks on the defensive end.
The Springfield, Missouri, native averaged 8.6 points per game last year, but showed he could do more. Against Duke, he scored 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting and throughout the season scored in double digits 11 different times.
Brazile has great length, which helps him in the rebounding department. Last season he averaged 5.9 rebounds per game — 1.7 of those offensive and 4.2 defensive — and had a 13.1% rebound percentage, according to Sports Reference, which was good for ninth in the SEC.
That length also helps in protecting the rim. Brazile has averaged 1.2 blocks per game in each of the two seasons he’s been at Arkansas. His block percentage was 4.8% last year, accoring to Sports Reference, which was good for eighth in the SEC.
Brazile can be lethal in the pick-and-roll game, and he can also step out and shoot the three, which makes him a problem for opposing defenses trying to defend screens. He shot 35.3% from beyond the arc last season on 68 attempts, which accounted for 42% of his shots.
Where Brazile needs to improve
Calipari mentioned on July 29 that he wants Brazile to have an “attack dog” mentality this season, which effectively means he wants Brazile to become more of a rim-runner and get to the rim more.
That’s where Brazile can stand to improve the most. Though he’s got the ability to connect from deep, his length and athleticism can cause problems for defenses if he becomes stronger inside, something he said was a focus for him over the summer.
“His resume speaks for itself, so I just try to do what he says,” Brazile said July 29. “This summer I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress with not shooting threes and just being what he calls an ‘attack dog.’”
It seemed as though Brazile played out of position last year. He fits the mold of a stretch forward whose ability to hit from deep will help with floor spacing and creating opportunities for his teammates.
Where Brazile can improve the most is mentally, which fits the "attack dog" mentality he talked about. He has the size and athleticism to be able to compete at a high level in the SEC, but if he can learn to be more aggressive — both offensively and defensively — it will unlock his game even more.
Where Brazile fits into the rotation
Calipari is still working on setting his starting five in stone, but at this point, it doesn’t appear Brazile will be among the first team on the floor, which is the role he was in for most of last year.
Last season, Brazile averaged 21.5 minutes per game as the sixth man. That feels like a pretty good starting point for a player who has the potential to be an All-SEC level athlete but still has a lot to prove.
Still, Brazile could be a valuable piece to come in off the bench and provide some flexibility in how the Razorbacks run their offense. If he makes the most of the opportunities he’s given, the amount of minutes he plays will probably increase.
Look for Brazile to be one of the first options off the bench to play the four and potentially the five, depending on how things shake out at center.
