Calipari Pays Visit to Country’s Best Uncommitted Recruit
Arkansas’ John Calipari knows he became a Hall of Fame coach by recruiting the best high school players in the country and coaching them up before they moved on to the NBA.
Calipari worked both ends of that equation early this week. He prepared the Hogs to pay
a visit to the home of No. 1 Auburn and made his presence known to the nation’s top uncommitted recruit. He made the trip to watch 5-star recruit Nate Ament, the country’s No. 4 recruit.
Duke and Kentucky, and perhaps Louisville, might be the front-runners to land the 6-foot-9 small forward, but the Hogs’ coach hasn’t thrown in the towel.
Ament plays for Highland High School in Virginia and outclassed his competition Monday while scoring 32 points with 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.
The versatile Ament can do it all — run, jump, shoot the three, block shots, handle the ball, and create his own shot. Essentially, he’s a game-changing player who can also help transform a program like Arkansas.
Ament is the fourth-best prep player in the 2025 recruiting class ESPN 100. The top three are 6-foot-9 small forward A.J. Dybantsa (BYU), 6-foot-6 shooting guard Darryn Peterson (Kansas) and 6-foot-9 power forward Cameron Boozer (Duke), whose dad starred for the Blue Devils.
Calipari has already signed three highly decorated prep stars: 6-foot-2 point Darius Acuff, the No. 5 recruit from Detroit; 6-foot-4 point guard Meleek Thomas, ranked No. 10 from Pittsburgh; and 6-foot-6 small forward Isaiah Sealy, rated No. 67 from Springdale, Ark.
Ament would solidify the Razorbacks’ incoming class as the nation’s best. It would also add juice to Calipari’s second season as head of the program and provide confirmation he’s still a viable force on the recruiting trail.
Ament told Capitol Hoops he’ll soon declare his choice of colleges. It’s the sort of decision that excites fan bases and coaches, disappoints others, and leads to life-changing monetary situations for players and their families.
We’ll see if Calipari’s reputation of sending players to the pros makes a difference with Ament. In his 15 seasons as Kentucky’s bench boss, he tutored three overall No. 1 picks, 25 lottery picks and 37 first-rounders.
According to NBA Draft on SI, four current Razorbacks will be drafted in the two rounds of the selection process. They’re all projected to go in the second round.
Junior forward Adou Thiero is predicted to go at No. 33, followed by injured freshman point guard Boggie Fland at 45, freshman shooting guard Karter Knox at 46, and 7-2 forward Zvonimir Ivisic at 59.
