Arkansas basketball reportedly lands nation’s top player in transfer portal
Just one day after receiving a major commitment from former Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo via the transfer portal, veteran college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman reported late Tuesday that the Arkansas Razorbacks and coach John Calipari are expected to add former Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis to their roster.
While Davis has declared for the NBA Draft, Goodman stated in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that Arkansas offered the top shooting guard a lucrative NIL deal “north of $1 million.”
BREAKING: FAU transfer Johnell Davis visited Arkansas this past weekend and is expected to sign with John Calipari and the Razorbacks, source told @TheFieldOf68.
He has declared for the NBA Draft and his preference is to go pro, but Arkansas offered him a lucrative NIL deal…
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 1, 2024
Davis is considered by many to be the best player remaining in the portal. On3 ranked Davis as the No. 1 player in their transfer portal rankings. 247Sports had ranked Davis as the second-best player in the portal behind former Arizona center Oumar Ballo, who recently signed with Indiana.
As 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein noted:
“Johnell Davis became an overnight sensation in the 2023 NCAA tournament when Florida Atlantic made their Cinderella run to the Final Four. This (past) year, he took his game to entirely new levels. His scoring went from 13.8 points a night to 18.2 points per game. Once considered more of an athletic wing, Davis’ guard skills have now made noticeable strides, as well. While he’s still capable of attacking the rim, both in the open floor as well as slashing in the half-court, his 3-point shooting went from 35.7% on 1.2 makes per game in 2022-23 to 43.4% on 1.8 makes per game this year. He even started to show some ability to make plays off off ball-screens and saw his assist numbers almost double from 1.6 to 3.0.”
Calipari has already made good on two prized acquisitions to his roster through the portal this off-season. In addition to Aidoo, who helped lead Tennessee to the Elite Eight back in March, Calipari and top assistant coach Kenny Payne also added Zvonimir Ivisic, Calipari’s star big man at Kentucky last season.
Four-star recruits in the 2024 recruiting class such as Karter Knox, Boogie Fland and Billy Richmond have also committed to Arkansas since Calipari left Kentucky for the Razorbacks’ job in early April.
