It was Arkansas basketball‘s time in the spotlight at SEC Media Days.
John Calipari, Billy Richmond III and Cooper Bowser represented the Razorbacks at the league’s kickoff event in Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The trio fielded questions from the main interview room and made appearances on SEC Network as hype builds for Calipari’s third season in Fayetteville. Arkansas was picked to finish third by the league’s media.
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Here are four key takeaways from the Hall of Fame coach’s time at the microphone, starting with a couple of hints on rotation and playing style.
Hogs will go deeper down the bench, but not by much
Calipari said multiple times he expects to use nine or 10 players in his rotation. This would be an improvement on each of his first two seasons in Fayetteville when Arkansas typically went with an eight-man core, that sometimes got smaller with injuries.
Jordan Smith Jr., Jeremiah Wilkinson, Richmond, Miikka Muurinen and Bowser are the projected starters. Abdou Toure and JJ Andrews are potential lottery picks who could easily crack the opening lineup later this year. Caleb Ourigou and Davion Thompson are key reclassification recruits who should grow into more minutes as the season progresses.
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That is already a nine-man rotation, leaving the likes of Maper Maker, Ilia Frolov and Paulo Semedo to compete for the 10th spot, if Calipari goes that deep.
Semedo is likely on the outside looking in, and Calipari noticeably did not mention the sophomore at SEC Media Days. Maker is the favorite for playing time over Frolov thanks to his positional versatility in the frontcourt.
Added depth leads to new style
Calipari asked one of his trademark rhetorical questions to the media in attendance.
What should he do if he’s trying to play a nine or 10-man rotation?
“Probably press, you would say, then play really fast so they can only play three or four minutes at a time,” Calipari said.
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Arkansas hardly pressed in the past two seasons. D.J. Wagner and Richmond would occasionally offer a light-hearted press on their own meant to spill time off the shot clock. Darius Acuff Jr. wasn’t a good enough defender to press, and the Hogs had to save his legs for the other end of the floor.
With Smith representing the head of the snake, the Razorbacks aim to be a much better defensive team this winter and put immense amount of pressure on opposing backcourts. The goal is for defense to lead into their offense.
Recent changes to half-court offense
Calipari shared with the entire nation that he’s overhauling his half-court offense with nine days remaining until the Hogs’ first preseason exhibition against Gonzaga.
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“Yesterday, I changed half the stuff we’d worked on all summer in the first 13 days, because I wasn’t comfortablewith it with this team,” Calipari said. “So I changed, which I told them, ‘Get used to it. That’s what I do.'”
Bowser, one of the two experienced transfers on this year’s roster, explained that even if the offense changes, there are some core principles everyone understands.
“Our offense is about creating space and making it so that guys have options,” he said. “There is space on the court for guys to get to spots. Guys like Jordan Smith to have driving areas and guys like Mikka (Muurinen) to operate.”
Injury update on potential starter at center
Speaking of Bowser, Calipari said the Furman transfer recently missed roughly four weeks of practice. He has since returned to non-contact drills, and Arkansas expects the 6-foot-11 senior to start joining the team as a full participant later this week.
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Bowser started the first two exhibitions at The Bahamas, but Ourigou replaced him for the final two scrimmages. Ourigou might have the higher ceiling as a highly-ranked recruit who should still be a senior in high school, but that youth is giving Bowser the upper hand in the frontcourt pecking order, for now.
“(Ourigou’s) not ready yet. Now, if he’s ready to play 20 minutes by January, we’ll probablybe really good,” Calipari said.
“I told him, I want you to be the best screener so these guys are begging. We have guys hitting the floor right now. Caleb is knocking them down, but he’s not ready like Cooper Bowser.”
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: John Calipari plans deeper rotation for Arkansas basketball
