Caleb Holt has been identified as Arkansas’ biggest target, but other top programs have him on the radar, too. Holt, a 6-foot-5 guard from Huntsville, Alabama, is a five-star prospect at Prolific Prep.

Despite visiting campus at the end of August, the Razorbacks might be bracing for bad news regarding Holt.

Razorbacks can lose Caleb Holt to hometown programs

After all their attempts to land Holt, the Razorbacks aren’t in pole position to land the guard. Instead, On3 reporter Joe Tipton broke down that Holt reportedly prefers to play for Alabama or Auburn.

“Most sources I speak with believe it will be difficult to pull Holt away from his home state of Alabama. Both the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers have made him a top priority,” he explained. “If Holt decides to remain in state, the sources I’ve spoken to would give Nate Oats the slight edge as of today, but in the same breath mention not counting out Bruce Pearl. He has official visits to both home state schools scheduled for the month of October.”

Holt is ranked as the No. 2 player in his class, which is why many top programs are after him.

This game will mark Calipari’s first game in Memphis since he left the program in 2009 to coach the Kentucky Wildcats. The Oct. 27 game is scheduled for 8 p.m., right after a women’s exhibition game between Memphis and Vanderbilt.

Calipari coached the Tigers from 2000 through 2009, posting a 252-69 record that included a national championship game appearance while he coached future No. 1 pick Derrick Rose. Ahead of the special event, the former UNC Wilmington player shared his thoughts on it, sharing his excitement to return to Memphis to support a positive cause.

John Calipari speaks on return to Memphis

Calipari explained how meaningful this game was for him, insisting that he is all-in on helping St. Jude and the University of Memphis, however.

“This is bigger than that game. This is about what we all can do for St. Jude, but this is also about what we can do for the University of Memphis and what we can do for this great city,” Calipari said.

Calipari had a solid debut season with the Razorbacks, leading them to a 22-14 (8-10 in the conference) record and a Sweet 16 appearance, something Calipari hasn’t achieved since the 2018-19 NCAA season.

He created meaningful memories in Memphis, but after 16 years and a ton of games, Calipari will be back as an opponent to take on Penny Hardaway’s team.

The transfer portal has changed the landscape of college basketball, prompting many teams to stop recruiting high school prospects and instead focus on players already on college basketball teams’ rosters.

Calipari doesn’t like the current state of recruiting in the NCAA and wants the competition to regulate it better.

John Calipari proposes big change to NCAA eligibility rule

During a conversation with David Samson on the “Nothing Personal Podcast,” Calipari expressed his frustration with the lack of high school recruitment, blaming it on the ease with which players can choose their teams and coaches’ reluctance to evaluate high school prospects.

“How about freshmen recruiting? No one’s recruiting freshmen! You know why? Two reasons. Because kids will transfer and they can cherry-pick. There were coaches, this summer, not out one time evaluating freshmen,” Calipari said.

He noted that he had 18 and 19-year-old players on his roster going against 26 and 27-year-old players last season. Calipari said the NCAA should give players five years to stay in college and nothing else.

“You could do five to play five. In other words, we’ll give you one more year. You have five, but there are no waivers. If you’re hurt, you gotta leave in five years. If you’re hurt twice, you got to leave,” he said. “Now, here’s the other way you could do it. The old way. Five years, to play four. You have five years. That means you can transfer, you can transfer again and sit out. You get your five years. You could redshirt and play four. You could play, get hurt, play three. You could do it that way. But it’s still five years.”

This might be a controversial take, but Calipari is sold on it, and given his authority in the industry, the committee should at least give this proposition some thought.

Calipari has seen, coached, and faced a lot of talented players over the years, but when it comes to the best point guard he has ever coached, the answer is clear for the 66-year-old.

On Wednesday, the Arkansas coach caused a stir among college basketball fans when he named the two best PGs he had under his wing. With huge names such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Maxey, or De’Aaron Fox, many would expect him to pick an active NBA player.

John Calipari gushes about Derrick Rose and John Wall

Calipari took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his opinion on this matter, going with Derrick Rose and John Wall as the two best PGs he ever coached.

“Two of the best point guards and best teammates that I have ever coached. What I am most proud of is the men they have become. I can’t wait to see the impact they have with the rest of their lives!” Calipari tweeted.

Calipari coached Memphis from 2000 through 2009, taking a young but dominant Derrick Rose under his guidance. Rose led the Tigers to the 2008 national championship game before becoming the No. 1 selection in that year’s draft.

John Wall only spent a season with Kentucky in 2010, putting on remarkable numbers, becoming a consensus All-American, making it to the SEC All-Freshman team, and becoming the SEC tournament MVP on his way to the NBA.

With an NBA Finals appearance in 2021, Booker has yet to return to the big stage. The Suns have gone through major changes since that season, losing Cam Payne, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, among others.

Booker has stayed with the team through thick and thin, as he continues to strive for a championship. The Suns could have selected a different player with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft if it weren’t for John Calipari.

The 66-year-old coach took Booker under his wing when he played for the Kentucky Wildcats, but his usage apparently “ruined” Booker’s draft stock.

John Calipari credited for Suns drafting Devin Booker

Luke Duffey of Valley of the Suns notes that Devin Booker, a potential franchise GOAT over Charles Barkley or Steve Nash, continues to build his legacy. Duffey notes that Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon recently redrafted the 2015 draft class, which led to a major revelation about Calipari’s role in Booker’s selection.

Vecenie explained that Booker “didn’t play a lot” after Calipari decided to limit his minutes to 21.5 per game. He played 38 contests, but didn’t start in a single one of them.

Booker averaged 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, shooting 47% from the field, 41.1% from deep and 82.8% from the free-throw line.

Players such as Jahlil Okafor, Mario Hezonja, Willie Cauley-Stein and Stanley Johnson were selected ahead of Booker, but the Suns are grateful that things transpired that way.

Coach Calipari isn’t there anymore, as he chose to take his talents to Arkansas to coach the Razorbacks in one of the most talked-about moves in recent college hoops history.

However, he will always be tied to his former program. And, according to ESPN analyst Myron Medcalf, he might get a chance to take them down in the Final Four next season.

Analyst predicts Arkansas-Kentucky Final Four matchup

“John Calipari will face Kentucky in the Final Four,” Medcalf wrote. “Darius Acuff is a top newcomer for an Arkansas squad that made a run to the Sweet 16 in March, giving the Razorbacks depth and experience that last season’s group lacked. And while Kentucky might need some time to get off the runway, it could have one of the nation’s most talented rosters as March approaches if Jayden Quaintance is healthy.”

Of course, this is just a prediction, and we’ve seen how meaningless all projections are when it’s actually time to take the court, but he makes some valid points.

It’ll be interesting to see how this season unfolds for both programs, and it would certainly be a treat for college basketball fans to watch this matchup in a high-stakes situation.

Now, the players can transfer multiple times after every season, and they will still be eligible to suit up and play the very next year. That has drawn some criticism among purists.

With that in mind, Arkansas Razorbacks coach and college basketball legend John Calipari had an interesting idea. The players should only be eligible to play right away if they transfer under certain circumstances.

John Calipari proposes conditional transfers

“I think kids should be able to transfer, I don’t have any issue with that,” Calipari said, per 247 Sports. “Once, without penalty. Whatever happens, a coach said something, he lied to you? Good, leave. You picked the wrong school? He picked the wrong guy? Leave. If the coach leaves and goes to another school, you should be able to leave … Other than that, sit out a year.”

Of course, that makes perfect sense. Some people complain about how all the transfers hurt the players’ academic chances, and they also fail to develop the character to thrive in adversity.

Then again, there has never been any sort of transparency in college sports, and there are countless ways to get around the rules, so perhaps this might only complicate things.

However, with all the never-ending rumors about his future with any program or even in college hoops as a whole, some have wondered what his next step will be once he’s done coaching.

For those who were wondering, he has no interest whatsoever in being a broadcaster. In a sitdown with CBS Sports, he shut down that rumor once and for all.

John Calipari won’t get into broadcasting

“No, I never thought I’d coach this long, and mainly because I’ve been under the gun for how long?” Calipari said, per On3. “I said, ‘If I get to 60, that’ll be it.’ And then they did the biological age. My biological age is like 58, so maybe I’m young enough to keep going.”

So, for those who wanted to know what the sharpshooting Coach Calipari had to say about anything and everything, that’s terrible news. For those who enjoy watching his teams, they might feel otherwise.

At the end of the day, Calipari might not even be thinking about retirement right now. He’s made it loud and clear that he’s not going anywhere, so that’s a bridge he’ll have to cross when he gets there.

That’s why schedulemakers and both basketball programs will make the most of that pull. The Arkansas Razorbacks will meet with the Blue Devils in a highly anticipated Thanksgiving matchup.

With that in mind, coach Calipari fired a rather bold prediction about this game. Talking to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, he said it will be the highest-rated game of the decade.

John Calipari predicts record-breaking ratings vs. Duke

“Our game last year with Illinois was the highest-rated regular season game,” the coach said. “This game with Duke, my guess is it might be the highest regular season game in the last decade. When it’s played, where it is, who we’re playing. So I’m excited.”

Needless to say, that’s quite a bold prediction. Nevertheless, given all the factors he just mentioned, it seems like he might be right about the unmatched frenzy surrounding this game.

Both the Blue Devils and the Razorbacks enter this season with championship aspirations, but they’ve already learned the hard way that projections are meaningless unless they take care of business on the court.

Wall struggled with injuries and missed plenty of time in the final stretch of his career. Cousins, on the other hand, drew a bad reputation for his strong character, and injuries also pushed him away.

Cousins’ personality was always a talking point. Even so, John Calipari, his coach, knew that he was also more than worth the risk. That’s what he told NBA teams before the Sacramento Kings eventually took him at No. 5.

John Calipari had strong words for DeMarcus Cousins

“If you want something easier, then take somebody else,” he said, according to ESPN. “If you want to take on this challenge and make him one of the best players in the NBA, then he has it all. He’s got the size, the mind, and he’s smart enough to remember plays and make adjustments. He’s one of the most intelligent players I’ve ever coached.”

DeMarcus Cousins is still active and looks like someone who could contribute to any NBA team, even if it were for limited stretches and coming off the bench in certain matchups.

He will go down as one of the most talented big men in recent history, and it’s sad to see how his reputation may have pushed him away from the game when he still had so much more to give.

The team was initially slated to meet with the Baylor Bears as a part of their non-conference schedule. Unfortunately, it seems like that will no longer be the case, according to coach John Calipari.

The Razorbacks and their fans were looking forward to getting back at the Bears’ 72-67 win from last season. The game took place in a neutral site in Dallas, and they were supposed to meet again in Fayetteville this season.

Arkansas won’t face Baylor this season

“I don’t think it will happen this year,” Calipari said, per 247 Sports. “When we filled out the schedule, we kind of moved on from that.”

Multiple reports state that this highly anticipated matchup will most likely have to be pushed to next season. Instead, the Razorbacks will square off with the likes of Louisville, Memphis, and Washington.

Even so, Razorbacks fans can still rest assured that they will have an absolutely bomb of a schedule with countless marquee matchups, and that should get them more than ready for when it counts.