John Calipari’s been in college basketball long enough to have seen just about everything.
But heading into his third season in Fayetteville, he’s staring at a problem that doesn’t have an easy fix.
The calendar isn’t doing him any favors, either.
The Razorbacks still don’t have a proven starting center. Not one.
While the offseason isn’t technically over, the window for finding a quality answer in the middle is closing faster than anyone in Hog country would like to admit.
This isn’t a minor roster tweak. It’s a significant structural problem for a program trying to build on last season’s Sweet 16 finish.
A frontcourt held together with hope
What Arkansas has at the five spot right now is a collection of developmental players and question marks.
Cooper Bowser, added earlier this offseason from Furman, was never the intended solution at center. He was meant to be part of a bigger frontcourt picture that still hasn’t come together.
The rest of the big men on the roster are either freshmen, injury-impacted redshirts or raw projects who need time to develop.
Asking any of them to step in as a reliable starter against SEC competition would be a huge gamble. The SEC doesn’t hand out participation trophies, and teams like Alabama, Tennessee and Auburn will expose a weak interior in a hurry.
Calipari more or less acknowledged as much — indirectly — when he danced around about making another addition at SEC meetings in Florida last week.
According to Connor Goodson at HawgSports.com, the messaging from the program has been consistent all offseason that the Razorbacks are still actively looking for a starting center.
Dancing in late spring is one thing. Still searching in the heat of summer is another thing entirely.
The portal isn’t what it used to be
The transfer portal’s best options moved fast and moved early. The elite big men who were available in the spring are long gone, tucked away in practice facilities across the country.
What’s left this late in the cycle is a much thinner menu.
That’s not unique to Arkansas because every program scrambling for frontcourt help right now is dealing with the same shrinking pool.
It does make Calipari’s task considerably harder. He’s working with a shorter list of options that includes players with eligibility questions, developmental prospects and international targets.
All of them carry a lot of major baggage with them, as Goodson details in his full breakdown of the Hogs’ current center candidates.
None of those paths offer the clean, comfortable solution Arkansas needs.
Time isn’t standing still
Fall practice arrives whether a team’s ready or not. The SEC schedule doesn’t move for anybody.
Right now, the Razorbacks are heading toward both without a definitive answer to the most important roster question of Calipari’s second season in Fayetteville.
It’s not panic time yet. Calipari has pulled rabbits out of hats before and the offseason isn’t done.
But it’s nothing like a confidence boost for fans that are getting used to going fairly deep in the NCAA Tournament.
After two straight Sweet 16 trips, Calipari may have reset the bottom line. Having an unresolved center situation this late in the summer isn’t exactly a confidence booster.
The Hogs need a center. They know it. The league knows it.
In this game of musical chairs, folks are just waiting to see if Calipari finds something before the music ends.
