'You care more about the kids,'—John Calipari clarifies small roster philosophy,

Last basketball season was special. It was John Calipari's first season on the Hill, and through adversity, somehow, the team made it to the NCAA tournament with seven healthy players. Not only did they make the tournament, but they made the Sweet Sixteen.

While it certainly was exciting to watch for fans, injuries only affected Arkansas because it started with nine players. It only took two season-ending (for all intents and purposes) injuries to push the team to the brink of collapse. So, why only nine players? Well, in the latest episode of NBA star and current head coach for the Memphis Tigers, Penny Hardaway's, The Two Cents Podcast, Calipari opened up about his philosophy.

John Calipari's explains his preference for a small roster

Coach Cal began talking about his new adventure at Arkansas and how people commented that he, 'looks like a new man.' For Calipari, it's all about the opportunity to coach young men, potentially changing their lives, and win at a high level. In the past, especially at Kentucky, he player-focused approach is misunderstood as indifference to winning.

"You know, there are people who say he don't care about winning so you just mentioned about—wait a minute," said Calipari. "How about most NCAA wins? How about Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four?... but I don't care about winning. How good would we be if I cared about winning?... Say what you want to say, but I'm not doing it at the expense of the kids."

Which led him to his next point: the roster size. In this age of NIL, roster management has become more like the pros—for coaches and players. The players are fighting for their piece of the pie and coaches are trying to figure out how to divide it up. Calipari's philosophy is simple. The fewer slices you have to cut, the more pie everyone gets, except it's not just about the money.

"And that's one of the reasons why I don't want to have a team of 14 13 guys," Calipari said. "Give me eight or nine or ten guys and let me take care of those guys because the others are transferring at the end of the year anyway."

With few players, Calipari can better attend to their individual needs. Just like the payroll, Coach Cal's time is also finite, and arguably more valuable. After all, by the end of the season, Arkansas looked like one of the better teams in the NCAA Tournament.

"I thought we could win the national championship the way we played at the end right… I still only want to have eight or nine — a tenth guy that knows he's 10."

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The Razorbacks went cold in the last four minutes, up by 10 points in the Sweet Sixteen matchup with Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders found a way to even the score by the regulation buzzer.

Where were the big men?

Injuries negatively impacted this season, but the roster construction was also a factor. With only two true bigs, Trevon Brazile and Jonas Aidoo, the quality of play declined significantly if either of them was injured or fouled out. Zvonimir Ivicic, the 7-foot-2 Croatian, showed Glimpses of being an elite, but he was easily pushed around in the post. In a league as physical as the SEC, he was better suited to play a stretch-big role.

This season, he's went a difference way, bringing in two big men from the portal (Malique Ewin and Nick Pringle) recruiting a couple more from overseas. Regardless, Calipari is going to do what's best for the players, not himself. He wants to win, but not at the cost of jeopardizing a player's potential. Basically, what may not be the best for winning, may be the best for the team.

"We have injuries, [but] as long as we don't get down to four or five, we'll be okay. But that's the tradeoff. That means you care more about the kids than [yourself], right? Because if I care about them, I got to put myself in a worse position than them."