SEC Basketball

The ACC/SEC Challenge is one of the most fun early-season series in college basketball, and the matchups for the 2024 iteration were revealed on Wednesday.

This year's event is headlined by matchups between UNC and Alabama, Duke and Auburn, and Kentucky and Clemson, among others:

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports first reported the matchups.

The ACC/SEC Challenge was established last season to replace the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and the Big Ten/SEC Challenge, both of which ended after the 2022 season.

Last year, neither conference established supremacy as both the ACC and SEC earned seven wins apiece in the men's series, and the result was the same on the women's side as well.

Last season, Alabama and NC State had the most success of any of the teams involved in this year's series, reaching the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.

After losing to the eventual national champion UConn Huskies, the Crimson Tide are motivated to bounce back in a big way next season, so their matchup against the Tar Heels is sure to excite college basketball fans.

NC State, which lost to Purdue in the Final Four, will be facing Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Wolfpack will be looking to put on a show against the Longhorns to prove last season's run was no fluke.

Duke is welcoming a star-studded recruiting class that includes No. 1 overall prospect Cooper Flagg and fellow 5-star prospects Khaman Maluach, Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel. The Blue Devils are among the favorites to compete for a national title next season, so they will welcome an early test against the Tigers.

The ACC/SEC Challenge is sure to bring some early excitement for college basketball fans near the start of the 2024-25 season.

Josh Maravich, the son of LSU legend Pistol Pete Maravich, died Friday.

He was 42.

LSU noted Maravich died in his family home in Covington but did not announce his cause of death. Maravich followed in his father's footsteps at LSU, playing for the Tigers from 2001 to 2005.

"I wanted to come here for my dad to make him proud," Josh told The Daily Reveille in 2005. "I knew I wasn't going to be a star player, but for me being a walk-on was what I always wanted to do."

Pete Maravich died of a congenital heart defect in 1988. He was just 40 years old. A legend at LSU and one of the most innovative offensive players in NBA history before injuries cut his career short, Pete Marvich was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987.

Josh was just five years old at the time of his father's death. Josh Maravich is survived by is mother, Jackie Maravich McLachlan, and her husband James and his brother Jaeson.

Arkansas men's basketball head coach John Calipari routinely brought in the top freshmen classes in the country during his time at Kentucky (2009-2024), but he admitted that a new "formula" is needed to win today.

"We're not going to take six, seven freshmen now," Calipari said Wednesday at the SEC meetings in Destin, Florida, per ESPN's Pete Thamel. "It'll be three or four. Hopefully retain a few, get a couple transfers, and that is the formula."

Calipari then said with a smirk: "Now that may not work. And then you'll say, 'Well, you said ... ' Well, I changed my mind. I didn't like how it looked."

Calipari found a lot of success at Kentucky, winning six SEC tournaments, making four Final Fours and winning one national title. However, Calipari's teams won just one NCAA tournament game combined over his last four seasons. Kentucky also notably lost to No. 15 Saint Peter's in 2022 and No. 14 Oakland in 2024 in the first round.

Now Calipari says that he's learned a lesson that he'll take with him to Arkansas:

"The lesson was you can't do this now with seven freshmen. You just can't. You're going to hit a team that's 25 years old on average, one was 26, and that team is physically going to get you, and so now we have a couple transfers that are older, some kids that transferred from Kentucky that went through it, and they're a year older, and some freshmen."

Those age numbers are likely a bit high, but Kentucky still trotted out very young teams during Calipari's time. The Wildcats also saw great turnover during his tenure, with many of those star freshmen jumping to the NBA after just one year.

Calipari is clearly taking a different approach based on his 2024 class, which is ranked sixth on the 247Sports composite ranking. Unsurprisingly, Calipari is bringing in three 4-star prospects ranked in the top 25 (Boogie Fland, Karter Knox, Billy Richmond).

But some experienced transfers who have found collegiate success are headed to Arkansas via transfer, including Tennessee big man Jonas Aidoo and FAU guard Johnell Davis.

It'll be interesting to see how Calipari fares at Arkansas, but on paper, he's assembled a talented roster with a good mix of youth and experience to start.

Alabama star Mark Sears is withdrawing from the 2024 NBA draft pool and returning to the Crimson Tide.

"I got good feedback from the NBA," he said to ESPN's Jonathan Givony. "But I can still get better in a few areas. I want to show I am a dog on defense next season, continue to bring vocal leadership, and work on my body and get into better shape. NIL has changed basketball and NBA teams told me that age isn't a factor in today's game, so I was comfortable coming back to try and bring home a national championship to Alabama."

Sears averaged 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in his second year at Alabama, helping the program reach its first-ever Final Four. During the Tide's NCAA tournament run, he put up 24.2 points per contest and shot 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Despite putting up nice numbers in 2023-24, the experienced guard doesn't appear to have been a sure thing in draft terms. Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman omitted Sears in his newest mock draft.

Height is an obvious consideration for the 5'11" playmaker, and, despite what he told Givony, his age is probably working against him too.

The advent of the NIL era has made it much easier for players in Sears' position to stay in college rather than embarking into the unknown with the pros. During the upcoming campaign, he can further refine his game and potentially win over more NBA talent evaluators while cashing some endorsement checks.

Keeping Sears in the backcourt will boost Alabama's bid to return to the Final Four and achieve even more in 2024-25. The Crimson Tide already retained forward Grant Nelson, who was their leading rebounder (5.9 boards) while averaging 11.9 points.

Head coach Nate Oats has also assembled the No. 2 class in 247Sports' 2024 composite team rankings. Small forward Derrion Reid and power forward Aiden Sherrell are both 5-star high school recruits.

Alabama unquestionably will have the talent to make another deep run in the Big Dance.

Johnell Davis will officially be suiting up for John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks next season.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Davis has withdrawn his name from the 2024 NBA draft and will play his final season at Arkansas.

Davis previously committed to the Razorbacks in the transfer portal on May 1.

Davis announced on April 2 he was entering the transfer portal and declared for the NBA draft.

There wasn't much hype around Davis as a draft prospect. He wasn't among the top 50 players in the 2024 class in B/R draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman's most recent big board.

Calipari, who was hired by Arkansas on April 10 after a surprise departure from Kentucky, has wasted no time in adding new talent to the roster.

Per 247Sports.com, Arkansas currently has the top-ranked transfer class in the country with five incoming players all rated as 4-star prospects. It also has the No. 6 incoming freshman class.

Davis is coming off his best season at Florida Atlantic. The 6'4" guard was named AAC co-Player of the Year after averaging 18.2 points on 41.4 percent three-point shooting and 6.3 rebounds per game in 34 starts.

The Owls made the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons, including a Cinderella run to the Final Four as a No. 9 seed in 2022-23.

Arkansas missed the NCAA tournament last season with a 16-17 record. The Razorbacks had won at least 20 games in each of the previous four seasons, with three straight tournament appearances from 2021 to '23.

Kentucky guard DJ Wagner is reportedly following his former Wildcat head coach John Calipari and transferring to Arkansas, per "reliable sources" to Richard Davenport of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Wagner, a former 5-star recruit, was ranked sixth overall on the 247Sports composite list of the top high school class of 2023 men's basketball players.

The combo guard out of Camden (New Jersey) High School averaged 9.9 points on 40.5 percent shooting (29.2 percent from three) and 3.3 assists in 25.8 minutes per game last year.

Wagner suffered a high ankle sprain on Nov. 28 against Miami, and the ailment lingered for the year.

"Wagner landed awkwardly on his left ankle after being fouled on a drive to the rim, limped to the free throw line (and even hit one), before heading straight to the locker room," Zack Geoghegan of On3 reported.

Wagner missed four games during the season and told reporters that the injury was a "reoccurring" issue, one that forced him to get a lot of treatment.

That undoubtedly affected Wagner on the court. He was finding his groove before the injury, averaging 25.0 PPG in the two contests (vs. Saint Joseph's and Marshall) before the Miami game. A year of good health and continuity under Calipari could certainly lead to a breakout season.

Wagner isn't the only Wildcat following Calipari, as forward Adou Thiero and big man Zvonimir Ivisic are headed to Arkansas as well. Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis and Tennessee center Jonas Aidoo are also new Razorbacks.

The Arkansas men's basketball program's lone national championship came in 1994 when head coach Nolan Richardson led the team popularized by its 40 Minutes of Hell.

Three decades later, Richardson believes that new head coach John Calipari can deliver the program's long-awaited second national championship.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be a job where [Calipari] could come in and win a national championship," Richardson told ESPN's Myron Medcalf. "I can see that they can. I don't know another coach who could do it better than Calipari because of his recruiting."

Calipari has been a superstar recruiter during his coaching days, nevermore than at his last stop in Kentucky, when he brought in future NBA stars such as John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, De'Aaron Fox and many more.

Richardson expanded upon his thoughts on how Calipari's recruiting skills could benefit the program.

"It's all about recruiting," Richardson said on today's game. "It used to be recruiting and development, and now it's about recruiting the top players. I think [Calipari] is going to do that. I think he's already proven he's a tremendous recruiter by getting all of the one-and-dones. My advice is don't do anything different than what you've always done: go get the best players and you've got a chance to be the best."

Calipari's already put in the work at Arkansas despite being the program's coach for all of a month and a week.

He has three top-25 recruits coming in 2024 with Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond all set to join the fold. Fland was an original UK commit who followed Calipari to Arkansas. Calipari also landed co-AAC Player of the Year and ex-FAU star Johnell Davis in the transfer portal.

We'll see how Calipari does soon enough, but he certainly is laying the foundation in Arkansas to compete for national titles in short order.

For the first time in 15 years, John Calipari will be entering Rupp Arena as the opposition.

Per ESPN's Jeff Borzello, the new Arkansas head coach will lead his team into Lexington to face Kentucky in the lone matchup between the two schools in the 2024-25 season.

Calipari left Kentucky to take over at Arkansas last month after the Wildcats' disappointing first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament this past season. The Razorbacks had an opening after Eric Musselman departed to become head coach at USC. Mark Pope was hired to replace Calipari at Kentucky.

Borzello noted that the Wildcats and Razorbacks will look very different under their respective new head coaches, as both teams are returning zero players from last season's rosters.

Calipari signed three members of the No. 2 recruiting class he initially put together at Kentucky and also landed two transfer players from the Wildcats. The two members of Arkansas' initial recruiting class opted to follow Musselman out West. Pope retained one player from Kentucky's recruiting class and added a slew of players through the transfer portal.

While the Kentucky-Arkansas matchup is sure to draw headlines, there are other interesting storylines coming to the SEC. The conference is set to expand to 16 teams with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas this summer. Alabama, which is coming off a run to the Final Four, will enter the year as the favorite to win the conference title.

The official date and time of the Kentucky-Arkansas game and the rest of the SEC schedule will be announced at a later date. Conference play is set to begin on Jan. 4.

Newly-hired men's basketball head coach John Calipari doesn't plan to stack the Arkansas roster with the kind of reserve talent he put together at Kentucky.

Calipari told former Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson on Wednesday's episode of their podcast Ways to Win that he plans to only keep "eight or nine guys" with the Razorbacks to start the 2024-25 season.

"They're leaving anyway, and why would I develop a kid for someone else? Why would I do that?" Calipari said.

Calipari added that he wasn't the only college coach taking on the philosophy as transfer portal numbers swell.

"I'm hearing a lot of guys are saying eight or nine guys," Calipari said.

He added: "If there is a tenth guy, he knows he's the tenth guy."

In order to fill out the Razorbacks' practice roster, Calipari said he would seek out graduate assistant coaches who "played in Europe, or just got done playing, and can still play."

"We can use them in practice," Calipari said. "The women's programs have five guys that they call 'managers,' but that's who they scrimmage against. And I'm saying, you know what, maybe we'll do it that way."

Arkansas currently has the highest-rated transfer portal class in men's college basketball, per 247Sports, after forward Adou Thiero and center Zvonimir Ivisic followed Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas. Calipari has also secured commitments from Florida Atlantic transfer Johnell Davis and Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo.

Arkansas is additionally bringing in a trio of five-star freshmen in Boogie Fland, Karter Knox, and Billy Richmond, all three of whom were previously committed to Kentucky.

Calipari led the Wildcats to an NCAA title in 2012 in part because of bench depth players like former Kentucky star Darius Miller. Although he may have less bench depth with the Razorbacks this fall, Calipari will now hope the incoming class is strong enough to succeed despite a smaller roster.

Kentucky transfer DJ Wagner plans to visit former Wildcats head coach John Calipari at Arkansas this weekend, per CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein.

Rothstein's report comes the day after former Kentucky forward Adou Thiero announced his plan to transfer to Arkansas, per On3's Joe Tipton.

Wagner averaged 9.9 points and 3.3 assists per game in 29 appearances, including 28 starts, during his freshman season at Kentucky.

He ranks as the No. 8 point guard and No. 37 overall player currently available in the transfer portal, according to 247Sports.

Despite being a regular in Kentucky's starting lineup throughout the season, Wagner's playing time decreased as he struggled with an ankle injury late in the campaign.

After averaging 12.0 points per game with two 20-point outings through the first 18 contests of the season, Wagner was sidelined for more than two weeks due to the nagging injury.

He returned and struggled through a shooting slump that saw him go 0-for-15 from deep over seven games.

Wagner ended the season having been held off the scoresheet entirely in Kentucky's season finale 80-76 loss to Oakland during the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Calipari defended Wagner's performance while recovering from injury several times throughout the end of the season.

"D.J. being hurt and sitting out two and a half weeks really affected him. He's come back. He's better. He's back to where he was," Calipari said before the start of the NCAA tournament, per On3's Dan Morrison. "He was the Freshmen of the Week four times, and then he took two-and-a-half weeks off and it's taken him time."

Wagner could decide to join Arkansas and play a second season under Calipari, who coached his father, former NBA player Dajuan Wagner, at Memphis.

The Razorbacks aren't the only program Wagner is considering, however.

Wagner's first reported visit after entering the transfer portal was to see former Arkansas coach Eric Musselman at USC, per basketball insider Adam Zagoria.

So far Kentucky transfers are split on whether to follow Calipari. Thiero and forward Zvonimir Ivisic have committed to Arkansas, while Aaron Bradshaw and Joey Hart have departed for Ohio State and Ball State, respectively.

Calipari will now hope he can secure a third transfer in Wagner as he looks to almost entirely rebuild the Razorbacks' roster before his first season as Arkansas' head coach.