Category: Arkansas basketball

The Clarksville High School basketball gym probably isn’t quite big enough to host.

Clarksville is halfway between Fayetteville and Conway, the cities of the University of Arkansas and Central Arkansas. Those two basketball programs are set to play next season, the 2024-25 season, according to reports.

Arkansas and UCA have met eight times in the past, but only two since 1947. The Razorbacks are 8-0 in the series, including the last two wins in 2020 and 2021, each by at least 25 points.

Arkansas’ schedule is beginning to come along heading into new coach John Calipari’s first season. The Hogs are reportedly playing Miami (FL) in the SEC/ACC Challenge and Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman told reporters Thursday his Fighting Illini would play Arkansas on Thanksgiving Day.

Calipari has rebuilt the Arkansas roster from almost scratch. Zero scholarship players initially returned, though forward Trevon Brazile ultimately exited to transfer portal without a new destination. Almost every other player on the roster previously played for Calipari at Kentucky or was recruited out of high school when he was the Wildcats head coach.

A number of rules changes are coming to college basketball next academic year, 2024-25.

Primarily, the changes focus on the safety of in-game officials and the expansion of video replay. The latter change is expected to extend game times.

The expansion of video replay was approved for certain circumstances. Specifically, officials can now check if a player’s foot last touching the court was inbounds on a made shot before the clock expired.

Suspensions can now be handed out to players, coaches and bench personnel for threatening actions toward officials. The wording of the new rule is specific. One who “disrespectfully contacts an official or makes a threat of physical intimidation or harm, to include pushing, shoving, spitting or attempting to make physical contact with an official” will be ejected automatically. A one-game suspension will automatically follow, as well.

For the NIT next year, if the board at the NIT approves, coaches will be able to appeal out-of-bounds calls for video review in the final two minutes per game. A failed review would result in a lost timeout for the team that asked for the appeal. This change makes the game more like the NBA, where coaches are allowed two challenges per game.

Finally, in the women’s game, officials will go to video replay when an off-ball foul happens simultaneously to a field-goal or free-throw attempt. The goal is to check which happened first to provide more clarity.