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John Calipari hasn't even been in Fayetteville, Arkansas for 48 hours, but he's already busy at work. As Calipari noted in his opening address as the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, roster construction is his number one concern. The Razorbacks currently have just three players on their roster and as Calipari noted, all three are currently in the transfer portal. No, Coach Cal doesn't have a magic wand, but we've seen him turn programs into high-level winners in a hurry in the past, and the transfer portal could be his ticket to success in his first season with Arkansas. Calipari's first transfer portal target is an established star from a power conference, which is a good place for any program to start as they attempt to build a championship-caliber roster.
Arkansas has contacted Seton Hall transfer Dre Davis, per @AdamZagoria,” according to a tweet from Jackson Collier of Rivals.com. “6’5”, 220. Averaged 15.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks on 49.2 fg%, 35.0 3fg%, and 84.0 FT%. First contact of the Calipari era.”
Dre Davis is just a week removed from finishing his career at Seton Hall with an NIT Championship Game victory that was capped by a game-winning lay-in from Davis himself with under 20 seconds to go. The senior, who has one year of eligibility remaining, began his career at Louisville, and spent the previous two seasons at Seton Hall, where he finished in the top twenty in both points and rebounds per game in the Big East last season. He was also a finalist for the Big East's Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.
Coach Cal isn't alone in pursuing the dynamic and experienced wing. According to Adam Zagoria, a number of other teams have reached out to Davis in the past two days, including Notre Dame, Auburn, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Iowa, Villanova, NC State, Marquette and Ohio State, among others. Davis is also considering using his final year of eligibility to return to Seton Hall.
If John Calipari and the Razorbacks were able to get the leg up on the rest of the competition and land Davis, it would serve as one hell of an opening statement for the 65-year-old veteran coach who many seem to believe has lost his fastball over the last few years. Coach Cal can recruit, that's not up for debate. But Calipari's chops as an in-game head coach and a transfer portal presence have been questioned.
At the moment, Dre Davis is ranked as the 39th-best available player in the college basketball transfer portal, according to 247 Sports.
