Photo Credit: Craven Whitlow
Through a combination of bonus COVID years and the wild west transfer portal landscape, eligibility in college sports has gotten out of hand.
Whether it’s a Miami tight end playing nine years of college ball or Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia filing lawsuits in a desperate bid for another year, the days of athletes playing four years at one school and then hanging it up are all but over. They’ll either transfer three times or take things to court for a seventh year.
Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari, the godfather of the one-and-done prospect, said last year that something’s gotta change to stop 26-year-olds from being on the same court as a kid who took the ACT six months ago. This week, he doubled down when talking about college athletes who end up transferring after every season of their career.
“I think kids should be able to transfer, I don’t have any issue with that — once without penalty,” Calipari said in Wednesday’s post-practice presser. “If the coach leaves and goes to another school, you should be able to leave…Other than that, sit out a year.”
Most of Arkansas’ current roster would still qualify for the 2025-26 season even if these proposed reforms were in play. DJ Wagner followed Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas, and Billy Richmond and Karter Knox flipped their letters of intent out of high school from the Wildcats to the Hogs. Trevon Brazile was the lone straggler from Eric Musselman’s final roster.
Coach Cal pointed out that players having unlimited transfers makes it nearly impossible for them to graduate, which hurts them later on in life.
“If they transfer to four different schools, why are they transferring four times?” Calipari asked while making a money gesture with his fingers. “Can they graduate from the last school if they transferred four times?”
He added that these bag-chasers may suffer sticker shock when finding out their first employer post-grad may only be willing to pay a fraction of what they were making playing college basketball.
The vast majority of fans would agree these are common-sense reforms to the transfer portal. The only problem lies with Arkansas’ two (literal) biggest additions out of the portal this offseason.
John Calipari Calls Out His Own Bigs
To replace the outgoing Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic, Coach Cal brought in Malique Ewin and Nick Pringle, a pair of big men out of the transfer portal with a wealth of high-major experience.
Pringle didn’t play much as a freshman at Wofford before heading to Dodge City C.C. After one season there, he transferred again as the top-ranked JUCO power forward in that cycle. The 6-foot-10 forward landed at Alabama, where he spent two seasons as a key contributor, especially in the Crimson Tide’s Final Four run in 2024. During his time in Tuscaloosa, the big fella managed to roast Arkansas both on and off the court.
The Seabrook, S.C., native transferred closer to home in search of a bigger role with South Carolina. It didn’t exactly work out for him, as he averaged 9.5 points and 6.3 rebounds on a dreadful Gamecocks team. But Pringle still flashed his potential in a few standout games, including an 18-point, 9-rebound performance in a blowout win against Arkansas in the regular season.
Pringle is now on his fifth school entering his sixth year of college basketball, and none of his transfers involved a coaching change. The longest he stayed was two years in Tuscaloosa, which has surely made his academic transcript a mess coming into Arkansas.
Although he’ll play a key role in Arkansas’ frontcourt this season, Pringle is exactly the kind of player Coach Cal wants to see less of in college hoops.
In Ewin’s case, Arkansas is his fourth school in four years of college, which seemingly puts him in Pringle’s camp of being a little too transfer-happy.
Ewin spent his freshman year at Ole Miss before transferring down to the JUCO level, where he was an All-American. He then took his talents back to D-I at Florida State, where he averaged 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds as one of the most efficient players in the ACC.
Yet the versatile power forward actually falls within the confines for what Calipari is calling. Ewin transferred out of Ole Miss after Kermit Davis was fired in 2023, and Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton resigned after last season. Thus, Ewin’s “one-time” transfer was leaving South Plains C.C. for Florida State, and the rest is kosher.
John Calipari Breaks Down Arkansas’ Frontcourt
With Brazile the only holdover forward from last year’s team, Arkansas will have a new-look frontcourt this season. Aidoo and Ivisic were solid shot-blockers, but struggled with slow feet and poor rebounding at times. In Aidoo’s case, a lingering foot injury held him back from achieving his full potential with the Hogs.
This season, athleticism is the overarching theme with Arkansas’ big men. Brazile’s highlight-reel hops are familiar for Razorback fans, but Pringle and Ewin each possess an intriguing athletic profile that will be tough for opponents to handle. In Ewin’s case, his footwork and passing ability are elite for his position, but Coach Cal said he’ll have to get up to speed in the SEC.
“Malique Ewin is a skilled, good passer. You can play through him, kind of like Tre Mitchell that I had [at Kentucky],” he said. “You can play through him. He can shoot balls, he can make passes. He’s got to get in better shape. Got to play at a faster pace at times, but he’s going to learn that.”
Pringle’s physicality in the paint is well-known, as his dunking ability and rebounding presence jump off the charts on tape. But Calipari said what he’s been most impressed with is his lateral quickness and defensive versatility.
“I forgot how good a defender he was on the ball, pick and rolls,” Coach Cal said. “Because I watched some tape of our game when they smashed us, and he was switching out on our guards and they couldn’t get by him.”
Calipari said that Ewin needs to improve his acceleration and get more comfortable shooting the ball, and Pringle needs to work on his confidence attacking the basket off the bounce. The Head Hog said both transfer bigs are excellent on-ball defenders, but that he would like to see them block more shots.
On the topic of shot-blocking, Brazile is a player Calipari heaped a lot of praise on as an experienced presence. With newfound continuity heading into his senior season, the athletic forward looks primed for a successful final year in Fayetteville.
“He has played so well that he’s not even the same guy,” Calipari said. “I’m just happy to see him smile. Dude went three quarters of a season and he never smiled. Now you can tell he’s happy…he’s playing the best ball since I’ve coached him.”
Sporting a buzz cut and a jersey swap to No. 7, the senior forward has a look of confidence to him both on and off the court. While his 230 pound listing is the same as last year, Brazile has clearly added some muscle to his frame over the offseason.
By the time the season tips off, the Razorback frontcourt trio will have an average age of 22.6 years and a combined 12 years of college experience. The very kinds of players Calipari wants to see phased out of college basketball will be the backbone of his 2025-26 team.
For a man long known as the king of one-and-dones, these veteran forwards show the Hall of Fame coach’s ability to adapt with the best of them.
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