Disappointment Predicted for Hogs alongside “Done Deal” Darius Acuff Jr.

Darius Acuff Jr., Meleek Thomas, Arkansas basketball

Decision day has arrived for one of Arkansas basketball’s top targets in the Class of 2025: Darius Acuff Jr.

On Friday, the five-star point guard out of IMG Academy chose Arkansas from a top three that featured Kansas and Michigan.

Ranked as high as No. 4 overall by 247Sports, Acuff is either the best or second-best point guard in the country, depending on where you look. In the days leading up to his announcement, Arkansas emerged as the clear favorite to land his services for what will likely be a lone season in college before turning pro.

“This feels like a done deal for the Arkansas Razorbacks,” college basketball insider Aaron Torres said on his YouTube show Wednesday. “You look at this kid, (he’s) had a history with John Calipari from the beginning, back to the Kentucky days. I think the idea of playing for that NBA developmental coach really is going to help.”

Torres wasn’t alone in this thought process.

On Rivals, there were six “FutureCast” picks from experts and all of them favored Arkansas, including from national recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy.

Adam Zagoria, another well-known college basketball insider, also predicted the Razorbacks to land the 6’2″ guard with a killer shot and steady handles:

That’s a stark contrast to six months ago, as his home state school of Michigan was considered the frontrunner with Kentucky lurking. The coaching carousel vaulted the Razorbacks to the front of the line, though, because the Wolverines fired Juwan Howard and John Calipari left the Wildcats to become the head coach at Arkansas.

Darius Acuff Jr. Starts a Domino Effect

Darius Acuff Jr. becomes the school’s fourth five-star recruit since John Calipari was hired, which is a program record for back-to-back classes.

However, there is a flip side to the news. In all likelihood, his decision probably takes the Razorbacks out of the running for fellow five-star prospect Meleek Thomas.

Although Thomas is considered more of a shooting guard and Acuff a point guard, the general consensus among recruiting analysts and college basketball insiders is that they likely won’t end up at the same school.

“Arkansas fans would argue those two could play together,” Aaron Torres said on his podcast. “I’m a little bit doubtful, so because of it, I don’t think that’s a great fit for him.”

Back in early July, Rivals’ Rob Cassidy had a similar take.

“Arkansas once felt like a major threat (for Thomas), but it’s starting to seem as though the Razorbacks may land Darius Acuff, which would make it exceedingly difficult to also score Thomas,” Cassidy wrote.

Instead, it seems like Thomas will end up at UConn, which also checks the pro development box with Dan Hurley at the helm and has won the last two national championships.

Perhaps Calipari can pull a rabbit out of his hat and pull off a surprise before he commits closer to the early signing period in November, but the Huskies would become an even heavier favorite for Thomas if Acuff commits to the Razorbacks on Friday.

While that may be a bit of a disappointment, it’s worth noting that a similar scenario is working in Arkansas favor when it comes to Acuff’s decision. After losing out on Acuff, Kansas is probably the leader for another five-star guard in Darryn Peterson.

The most likely scenario for three of the top lead guards in the 2025 class is Acuff ending up at Arkansas, Thomas going to UConn and Peterson heading to Kansas.

Acuff’s commitment may also hurt the Razorbacks’ dark horse chances of landing the coveted Boozer twins. The sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, the five-star duo are expected to follow in their father’s footsteps by going to Duke, but Arkansas is still going after them hard.

While the more heralded of the two, Cameron Boozer, is a 6-foot-9 power forward, Cayden Boozer is a point guard, so it would presumably be unlikely that they’d join forces with another elite point guard in Acuff.

Looking Forward for Arkansas Basketball

Of course, two elite players at a similar position not wanting to team up could be a two-way street.

John Calipari has been very open about his new roster construction strategy of not bringing in quite as many freshmen in order to mix in some older transfers.

Rather than signing seven or eight high school prospects, he’ll likely focus on three or four. After all, he signed three five-stars in his initial class at Arkansas.

If that’s the case, he might not want to use two of those spots on the same position. (Although it’s probably safe to assume Calipari would make an exception if it meant landing the Boozer twins or someone at that level.)

That could be put to the test with yet another five-star recruit who recently included Arkansas in his top five: Jasper Johnson.

Listed as a shooting guard by 247Sports and On3 and as a point guard by Rivals and ESPN, Johnson is ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite.

While he’ll finish his high school career with Overtime Elite, Johnson is originally from Kentucky and is the son of a Wildcats football legend in Dennis Johnson. Those things have led to him long being considered a Kentucky lean and him attending a TBT game featuring Kentucky alumni at Rupp Arena the night before releasing his top five schools only further solidified that sentiment.

However, Aaron Torres has received some intel that the Wildcats might not be the favorite.

“It’s interesting he shows up at Rupp Arena the day before he cuts his list, but the counter to that is that I’ve heard maybe mutually, it’s not the perfect fit,” Torres said on his podcast. “That maybe Kentucky doesn’t really believe that he’s a one-and-done and maybe they think it’s best for him to go other places. He thinks he’s a one-and-done, so I’ve been told maybe Alabama is in the mix more than Kentucky, maybe North Carolina’s in the mix more than Kentucky, but we’ll see if Kentucky really pursues this kid.”

It will be interesting to see if Calipari and the Razorbacks put the full court press on Johnson now that the Acuff, who is cut in the mold of a certain NBA MVP, is in the fold.

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See more on Acuff’s commitment here:

Watch Aaron Torres’ full show about Darius Acuff Jr., Meleek Thomas and others here:

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More Arkansas Basketball Recruiting

Barring a meeting in the NCAA Tournament, Eric Musselman and John Calipari likely won’t square off in an actual game this coming season. Instead, we’ll have to settle for a different kind of Arkansas vs USC matchup.

Even though the former and current Arkansas basketball coaches are no longer in the same conference, they are again crossing paths on the recruiting trail

This has already unfolded once in the transfer portal with Calipari and the Razorbacks beating out Musselman and the Trojans for Kentucky transfer DJ Wagner.

Now, it’s happening with an in-state five-star recruit, too.

More here:

Some serious struggle bussing on a dunk attempt for Thomas here:

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Check out some highlights of Darius Acuff Jr. here:

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More on Darius Acuff and Arkansas basketball here:

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