{"id":210445,"date":"2025-10-09T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/210445\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T01:04:08","slug":"three-hogs-best-poised-to-make-cbs-insider-look-silly-for-his-best-players-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/210445\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Hogs Best Poised to Make CBS Insider Look Silly for His Best Players Snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Meleek<\/a>Photo Credit: Arkansas Athletics<\/p>\n

Every time I read preseason college basketball rankings, I\u2019m reminded of those heist movies where the obvious suspects get all the attention while the real masterminds operate in plain sight, quietly assembling the perfect crew for the job nobody sees coming.<\/p>\n

CBS Sports<\/a>\u2019 Isaac Trotter unveiled his offseason crown jewel a few weeks ago, outlining the top five players in college basketball at 10 different positional archetypes. Yet in his exhaustive analysis of college basketball\u2019s elite, he managed to overlook three Arkansas starlets who could make major waves this season. The only Razorback even mentioned in the initial projections was Darius Acuff, Jr., who Trotter suggests as a dark horse candidate to break into the top five as a scorer\/creator.<\/p>\n

To his credit, he did take to social media and post an expanded top-15 for each archetype. Alongside Acuff, DJ Wagner made the \u201ccombo guard\u201d category and Karter Knox slotted under the \u201ctrue wing\u201d umbrella.<\/p>\n

Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari has assembled something special in Fayetteville, but you wouldn\u2019t know it from reading these rankings. It\u2019s time to shine a light on this oversight. While this piece could present arguments for everyone mentioned above, we\u2019ll narrow our focus to the three guys \u2013 outside of Acuff \u2013 most likely to crack the top five at their respective positions.<\/p>\n

Ranking college basketball’s best players, by positional archetypes. One of my favorite projects.<\/p>\n

\u2013 2025-26 impact only. Not tilted toward NBA upside.
\u2013 Numerous guys could fit in a few buckets.
\u2013 Left off the brilliant Jayden Quaintance while he heals up from an ACL. pic.twitter.com\/OnWcHKJGfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Isaac Trotter (@Isaac__Trotter) August 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Karter Knox: The Long Con on the Wing<\/p>\n

CBS constructed its true wing rankings like a 1987 museum security system \u2013 impressive on the surface, but full of exploitable blind spots. They\u2019ve got AJ Dybantsa, Otega Oweh, Josh Dix, Chad Baker-Mazara and Andrej Stojakovic holding down their top five, while Knox imperceptibly lurks in the shadows.<\/p>\n

Knox\u2019s late-season emergence<\/a> wasn\u2019t just impressive, it was the basketball equivalent of watching someone crack a supposedly impenetrable safe with nothing but a stethoscope. When Arkansas needed someone to step up during crunch time, Knox didn\u2019t just deliver, he rewrote the entire playbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-6 wing shot 39% from three over the final 15 games of the season, surviving and thriving in the pressure cooker of SEC play and March Madness.<\/p>\n

If that weren\u2019t enough, two of the five players ranked ahead of Knox (Baker-Mazara and Stojakovic) have transferred to new programs, which comes with a learning curve that Knox won\u2019t have. Furthermore, he has a higher ceiling than everyone on the list, save for Dybantsa, a BYU freshman widely regarded as the top prospect in next year\u2019s NBA Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He just needs to shoot more, marrying that star-level efficiency with bigger volume. So far during fall camp, Calipari has kept urging him to do just that.<\/p>\n

Meleek Thomas: The Five-Star Scorer They Forgot to Case<\/p>\n

The scorer\/creator position might be where Trotter committed his most egregious oversight. He anointed Darryn Peterson, PJ Haggerty, Tahaad Pettiford, Josh Hubbard and Arkansas expat Boogie Fland as his chosen five. While Acuff at least made the top 15, Trotter seems to have forgotten that another extraordinarily talented freshman clad in cardinal red exists on this planet: Meleek Thomas.<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 credentials are mighty impressive for a true freshman \u2013 consensus five-star recruit, McDonald\u2019s All-American, averaged 31.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 4.3 assists while shooting 38.1% from three in Overtime Elite play. Pardon the pun, but those are elite numbers.<\/p>\n

The most baffling part of Thomas\u2019 omission is that he represents everything modern basketball claims to value: elite scoring ability, positional versatility and the kind of clutch gene that can\u2019t be taught in summer camps. There are to things potentially holding Thomas back: 1) the logjam at guard for Arkansas and 2) a relative lack of strength that could get him in trouble on the boards and on defense. <\/p>\n

If Thomas gets out-muscled by someone his own age below, he could get into some real trouble against guys three or four years older:<\/p>\n

Love this sequence from @kohl_rosario<\/a> <\/p>\n

In OTE Finals, his team up by 4 late in game<\/p>\n

You see Meleek Thomas getting physical w\/ him, putting his hands all over Rosario b\/c he knows how good of an offensive rebounder he is<\/p>\n

Rosario STILL able to get the o-rebound<\/p>\n

Then hits the 3 pic.twitter.com\/haD8HKXAXu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 On Ball Creator (@onballcreator) September 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

How Calipari and opposing coaches choose who guards Thomas, and visa versa, is an underrated aspect of Arkansas\u2019 future success.<\/p>\n

Trevon Brazile: The Off-Ball Four Under Deep Cover<\/p>\n

The off-ball 4 position is where CBS really showed its hand. Trotter\u2019s got Alex Karaban, Nate Ament, Eric Dailey Jr., Coen Carr, and Caleb Wilson as his top five.<\/p>\n

A consistently healthy and engaged Trevon Brazile<\/a> isn\u2019t just a candidate for this list, he\u2019s the kind of player who makes you wonder if the entire ranking system has been compromised from the inside. According to CBB Analytics, Brazile was in the 85th percentile or higher in all of the following categories last season:<\/p>\n

Effective Field Goal %<\/p>\n

Hakeem % (The sum of a player\u2019s block and steal percentages)<\/p>\n

Defensive rebounds per 40 min.<\/p>\n

Blocks per 40 min.<\/p>\n

True shooting %<\/p>\n

Second Chance Points per 40 min.<\/p>\n

Field Goal %<\/p>\n

2-point %<\/p>\n

There is no other player on the list that can boast that kind of statistical efficiency. It\u2019s safe to say everyone is downplaying Brazile\u2019s impact on last season\u2019s Sweet 16 run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Brazile\u2019s true value goes beyond the numbers. He can guard multiple positions, run the floor with gazelle-like grace, and make the kind of winning plays that don\u2019t show up in box scores but somehow always coincide with victories. The key here, and for Coach Calipari this season, is that he doesn\u2019t require the ball in his hands to impact the game.<\/p>\n

Again, the injury\/mental engagement concern is legitimate, but using that as grounds for exclusion feels like selling short on Brazile. The skills are still there, and he\u2019s got stability he\u2019s never had before heading into his senior season.<\/p>\n

The Payoff: What This Means for Arkansas<\/p>\n

The beautiful irony in all this overlooking is that it provides Arkansas with the perfect cover for what could be one of the season\u2019s most audacious heists. When everyone\u2019s watching the obvious blue-blooded suspects, Calipari can operate with the kind of freedom from pressure that leads to winning.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the best capers happen in broad daylight. Arkansas basketball in 2025-26 feels like one of those operations: methodical, underestimated and ready to make off with nets and trophies while the supposed experts are still figuring out what happened.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t say nobody warned you.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

More coverage of Arkansas basketball from BoAS:<\/p>\n