The No. 10 seed Arkansas Razorbacks are preparing for a huge showdown against the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament this Thursday.
But John Calipari has something to celebrate before Arkansas’ date with Bill Self’s Jayhawks, as the Razorbacks just reportedly landed an intriguing recruit, with Joe Tipton of On3 Sports reporting that the SEC program has earned the commitment of Karim Rtail, a forward from Lebanon.
“NEWS: Lebanese forward Karim Rtail has committed to Arkansas, his agents @DanielPoneman and @awadallah_weavetell On3. The 6-9, 20-year-old has been playing professionally in Lithuania,” Tipton wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Arkansas was not the only team that tried to recruit Rtail, with the Penn State Nittany Lions, SMU Mustangs and Butler Bulldogs also giving him a shot.
Before committing to the Razorbacks, Rtail played two seasons in the NKL, the Nacionalinė krepšinio lyga (National Basketball League ) in Lithuania, for the Neptuans Akvaservis Klaipeda. He averaged 5.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.2 blocks in 14.9 minutes through 16 games in the 2023-24 campaign. The following season, Rtail put up averages of 8.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.4 blocks in 16.6 minutes through 35 games, including a total of nine starts.
Rtail joins a short but impressive list of recruits so far by the Razorbacks for the 2025-26 season. Before earning Rtail’s nod, Arkansas had already earned the commitments of five-star talents in point guard Darius Acuff Jr. and combo guard Meleek Thomas. In addition, Arkansas has four-star combo guard Isaiah Sealy in the fold.
Calipari is perhaps known as much for his career in coaching in the college ranks as he is for being a college talent recruiter. There is a long list of players who made it to the NBA after playing for him, especially during his time in Lexington with the Kentucky Wildcats. Anthony Davis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Devin Booker, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, De’Aaron Fox, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jamal Murray and Bam Adebayo are just some of the players Calipari coached in college.
Calipari and the Razorbacks, who are looking to pull off a mild upset against the Jayhawks, made it to the Big Dance in his first season in Fayetteville after going 19-12 overall in the regular season and 8-10 in conference play.
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