$45M worth SEC coach's offseason moves earn high praise from analyst Aaron Torres: "Best roster on paper"

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament West Regional-Arkansas at Texas Tech - Source: Imagn

The Arkansas Razorbacks of the SEC did not have a great regular season under first-year coach John Calipari, who is worth $45 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The Razorbacks got out to a slow start and then hit a difficult skid in January, losing six of seven games.

However, the team was able to rally and qualify for March Madness as a No. 10 seed. The Razorbacks went on a strong NCAA Tournament run, upsetting No. 7 Kansas and No. 2 St. John's in the second round. They were then eliminated by Texas Tech in a narrow 85-83 loss in overtime in the Sweet 16.

On Tuesday, college basketball analyst Aaron Torres spoke about why he thinks Arkansas could be the best team in the SEC next season.

"Is this the best team in the SEC? Yes, I believe they are," Torres said. "Again games have to be played, you have to figure things out. You have to figure out rotations. The other thing I'd say, we don't know about Karter Knox coming back. I do think Karter Knox is an important piece to what they want to do in 2025-26. They do need wing scoring, they do need defense on the wing."

"I could go on and on but I really do think this is the best roster, headlined by the three returnees, D.J. Wagner, Billy Richmond, Trevon Brazile. Love the two five-star guards, Meleek Thomas, Darius Acuff."

Torres explained his stance on the Razorbacks being the best team in the SEC next season.

"Three key returnees - maybe four," the analyst added. "Two solid vets out of the portal. A Top 5 recruiting class. Don't let the haters tell you otherwise - Arkansas has the best roster on paper in the SEC next season."

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John Calipari brings a long history of success to the Arkansas Razorbacks

While Aaron Torres spoke about everything he likes about the Razorbacks roster, one of the biggest assets is coach John Calipari, who was hired last season by the Razorbacks. With a season under his belt, the Razorbacks could be poised to take a big step forward.

Calipari has been a head coach since 1988, coaching UMass, Memphis and Kentucky for long stretches. In that time, he qualified for the NCAA Tournament Final Four six times, winning the tournament in 2012 with Kentucky.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Krutik Jain