This season, the basketball gods seem to have forsaken Arkansas and John Calipari. The Razorbacks men are off to their worst conference start in nearly four decades. And Calipari for the first time in his illustrious career has started conference play 0-4. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get worse, they did. 

Their latest blow is freshman guard Boogie Fland’s injury. In Arkansas’s 83-65 loss to Missouri on Saturday, Fland played for 32:59 minutes, scoring four points on a dismal 2-of-13 shooting.  Postgame, Calipari revealed the reason behind his off performance is a hand injury sustained on January 11 during a game against Florida. 

“Boogie’s hand, you know, he fell in the game at our place against Florida,” Calipari shared. “Billy [Richmond] jumped on him, so his hand is pretty bad. Don’t know what we’ll do going forward. But, we got to make sure we get that thing right.” 

If Fland’s injury sidelines him for an extended period, Arkansas’s already tight rotation could become a nightmare.  “We’ve got nine guys, and if Boogie is out for a while, we may have eight guys,” the HC said. “Well, guess what those eight guys got to do? Play well. All of them. You can’t have four of the eight and get it done, and that means, again, mindsets.”

After this update, Trey Biddy, publisher of HawgSports.com, summed up the mood perfectly on X (formerly Twitter), “Sounds like they may sit him a while to get it back right. You thought this team looked bad now, wait till they play without Fland…”

Yikes!

Before conference play, Arkansas was 11-2 and held promise. But the start of SEC play has been what could only be called disastrous. Their struggles began with three brutal losses to top-ranked teams—Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Florida—that weren’t even close. Then came the LSU game which was supposed to be a chance for both teams to bag their first SEC win. But it wasn’t Cal’s crew again.

And finally, Missouri hammered the final nail in the coffin… for now.

This stings more, especially because Coach Cal Cal is no stranger to the SEC, but this season has been an entirely new challenge. During his 15-year stint at Kentucky, he was the king of the SEC…for a while, with 12 NCAA tournament appearances, six SEC regular-season titles, and one national championship in 2012. 

However, his later years at Kentucky were rocky. The Wildcats didn’t win an SEC title in his final four seasons, and their NCAA tournament runs ended in early exits. The one-and-done culture that Calipari helped popularize eventually became his Achilles’ heel. 

Top-tier recruits came and went so quickly that building continuity became nearly impossible. After leaving Kentucky for Arkansas in 2024, many hoped a fresh start and the Razorbacks’ promising roster would bring a resurgence. But here we are. 

Arkansas entered this season with the No. 4 recruiting class in the nation and the No. 1 transfer class. The Razorbacks also have a strong 2025 class lined up, with commitments from two 5-star recruits and one 4-star. 

But for all the talent on paper, the team’s performance has been heavily reliant on a few key players.

Currently, only three players are averaging double digits: Adou Thiero (16.7 points), Boogie Fland (15.7 points), and DJ Wagner (10.4 points). Interestingly, all three of them are the ones who followed the coach from Lexington to Arkansas.

John Calipari’s Kentucky gems carry Arkansas

Adou Thiero transferred to Arkansas shortly after Calipari’s move. Known for his defensive prowess, Thiero has become one of Arkansas’s key players. He was the second one from the Wildcats men to make the trip to the South after Zvonimir Ivišić.

Then there was Wagner, who entered the transfer portal after his freshman season and joined the Higs hot on the heels of John Calipari.

Meanwhile, Karter Knox, Billy Richmond, and Boogie Fland were all Kentucky commits who reversed course. Boogie Fland initially committed to Kentucky, but decommitted after Calipari’s departure and followed him to Arkansas. At the time, the freshman star’s high school coach, Pat Massaroni, explained the move, “Boogie has a high level of confidence in Coach Cal that he developed over the last two years. Coach Cal also had a great relationship with his mom and dad.”

Fland’s trust in Calipari has paid off so far (for him at least), as he’s been one of Arkansas’s leading scorers. But with his status now uncertain, Arkansas’s already difficult season could spiral further. They will need someone from the bench to step up and fill the gap. Most probably, a tall order given the team’s thin rotation.

The team’s next game is against Georgia, and while predictions are cautiously optimistic, it’s hard to be confident given their recent form. Will someone from the bench rise to the occasion, or will this be yet another blow for the struggling Razorbacks?