HawgBeat - Return to Arkansas a 'no-brainer' for Trevon Brazile
Arkansas' lone returner from last year's team is turning heads in summer workouts.
arkansas.rivals.com
It's been just a few short months since Arkansas announced John Calipari as its newest head coach, and in that time he's assembled a roster that rivals most teams in the SEC.
Most of the bunch is made up of transfers and freshmen, as former head coach Eric Musselman left the cupboard bare after bolting for USC. Senior forward Trevon Brazile is the lone returner from last year's team, and as the saying goes, sometimes the best transfer you can get is the one you already have.
"Trevon is better than I thought he was," Calipari said on Monday. "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."
At the end of the 2023-24 season, Brazile declared for the NBA Draft and also entered the transfer portal. That left most fans and analysts believing there was little chance the Razorbacks would get him back in 2024-25.
That changed, however, with Calipari entering the picture. Brazile told reporters Monday that the Head Hog's resume of putting players into the NBA drew him back to the program.
"After the season, I wanted to go (test out the NBA draft)," Brazile said. "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."
Brazile had several suitors around the country reach out to him after he entered the portal as forwards with his skillset are incredibly rare, but Brazile chose to stay with Arkansas because he believes Calipari can take him to another level.
"Like I said, his resume speaks for itself," Brazile said. "What he did at Kentucky with guys like Karl Anthony-Towns, Anthony Davis, it's undeniable. So, just coming here and buying into everything he's saying and everything he's establishing, it's been good."
Calipari spent the summer focusing on individual development for his players rather than installing offensive and defensive sets. That means, at least for the summer, Brazile isn't shooting threes and is instead focusing on practicing his midrange game and making faster decisions with the ball in his hands.
"I just try to do what he says," Brazile said. "This summer I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress with not shooting threes. Just being what he calls an ‘attack dog.’"
Brazile had an up-and-down campaign last year but showed flashes of what everyone knows he's capable of. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and had a double-double with 19 points and 11 boards against Duke on Nov. 29. He also had 13 points and 12 rebounds in the opening round of the SEC Tournament against Vanderbilt.
Arkansas fans have already seen what Brazile can do from the short glimpse they got during the 2022-23 season before an ACL injury against UNC-Greensboro sidelined him for the year.
Despite everything he's shown in game so far, Brazile is still surprising some of his new teammates — including freshman point guard Boogie Fland.
"Every time he goes up to dunk, his head is at the rim," Fland said. "Him and Adou (Thiero) are probably the two guys I throw the most lobs to."
Former Kentucky forward Thiero remembered one play in particular from practice when Brazile showed off his vertical leap.
"It was during a three-on-three drill, Boogie threw a lob from the elbow, I'm standing at the other elbow but outside the perimeter," Thiero said. "And he throws a lob and I'm like 'who's grabbing that?' and I just see Brazile up there, hands at the top of the backboard. The ball went through his fingertips, he caught it with his pinky and his ring finger and dunked the ball.
"We all just stopped and looked at each other. We didn't know he could jump that high. After that, he just kept showing us how great of a player he is. He's getting better every day."
The Arkansas basketball team will have a few weeks off before they return in late August to start preparation for the 2024-2025 season. Stay tuned to HawgBeat for the latest in Hoop Hogs coverage.
