Calipari adds another international prospect to Arkansas roster

Džafić has both professional experience and national team experience, despite not turning 20 until September.

Originally born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džafić played in Division B of the FIBA U18 European Championship for his national team and averaged a double-double.

In eight games, he averaged 13.1 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 1.5 assists.

He also played professionally with KK Bosna, a team in the Adriatic League this season. According to RealGM.com, he appeared in five games and averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in 5.4 minutes.

Arkansas' roster now stands at 13 players with Džafić being the sixth first-year player being added to Calipari's new-look roster, joining Isaiah Sealy, Darius Acuff, Meleek Thomas and Amere Brown.

The Razorbacks have also landed two commitments from the transfer portal with Nick Pringle of South Carolina and Malique Ewin from Florida State.

He is also the second international frontcourt player that Calipari's brought in the offseason after forward Karim Rtail joined the Razorbacks early in the offseason from Lebanon.

Džafić marks the second straight season that the Hogs will have a European player at the five-spot after Zvonimir Ivisic transferred to Illinois to go play with his brother Tomislav Ivisic after two seasons under the Calipari system (one at Kentucky, one at Arkansas).

This demonstrates a change in roster philosophy from last year in which Calipari opted to fill his roster with just nine rotational players and fill the rest with players who would never see the floor except in garbage time when the result of the game was no longer in question.

Outside of the players in rotation, the other players on the bench Jaden Karletuwa, Melo Sanchez, Ayden Kelley, Casmir Chavis and Kareem Watkins combined for just 23 total minutes across 36 games. Most of those minutes came in Arkansas' 109-35 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

Karletuwa is the only one who remains from that group on the new roster.

Injuries forced the Razorbacks to play with just seven players at times and Calipari admitted after an ugly game against South Carolina in March that the shorter rotation was a mistake.

"We needed to have more" Calipari said after the game. "You don’t plan on what happened, but we needed more guys. But, you when we had the guys, we played better as we got shorter. Less guys. But now, I’m going to say it again, it’s not only being injured, you can’t have three or four of your seven play poorly and you expect to win."

The addition of depth pieces like Brown, Rtail and now Dzafic seems to be a clear shift away from that mindset, despite eventually making to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks look to put the finishing touches on the roster before the new season begins in November.

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