Arkansas basketball’s John Calipari not budging on recruiting strategy despite transfer portal

Old habits never die for Arkansas basketball head coach John Calipari. After Arkansas basketball’s upset over St John’s on Saturday, Calipari was invited onto the Dan Patrick Show.

They went over a variety of topics, including the transfer portal and signing recruits. Calipari has been known as an expert recruiter and one of the best the sport has ever seen.

However, he has a grassroots approach to his recruiting. Even with some of the transfer portal and recruiting rules. Calipari has found a way around it.

“We already have three freshmen signed and I’m going to say this again, I’m still recruiting freshmen,” Calipari said. “I’ll recruit the best freshman and as you saw last game, three of them played a lot of minutes. But I can’t recruit seven or eight freshmen.

“So we’ve got one more freshman that we’re trying to get. We’ve got three; they’re all good, but we’re trying to get one more. Then who comes back and probably a couple of transfers, and that will be our team.

John Calipari is fighting rules for Arkansas basketball

After Calipari talked about the dark side of NIL for Arkansas basketball, it has only heightened. As an elite recruiter, there are still parameters put in place by the NCAA.

Although coaches can recruit, they can’t make official pitches to players while in high school, especially as freshmen. However, plenty of coaches across the country do it.

For instance, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley has preached the same philosophy. For instance, he has targeted the No. 8 recruit in the country, Koa Peat, since he was a freshman.

While the latter played high school ball in Arizona, the same sentiment applies. The opportunity to land a five-star recruit is not for the faint of heart. It takes patience, resilience, and a heck of a lot of convincing.

It’s something that Calipari understands fully. He explained more of his process.

“If there’s a young man that we know is really, really good and he wants to do this and wants to talk to me,” Calipari said. “You won’t believe this but I’d probably get on the phone with him and say hey, let’s do this. But short of that it’s probably mostly staff.”

Either way, Arkansas basketball will continue to dance in the Sweet 16. It might catch the attention of high school players around the league. As a result, Calipari’s phone might ring and he might take some calls with future elite prospects.