Calipari, Hoop Hogs hosting 2025 5-star combo forward Nate Ament this weekend

By Kevin McPherson

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas men’s basketball program has more than one tall order of business this weekend in Fayetteville. For starters, the Hoop Hogs will host 25th-ranked Mississippi State at Bud Walton Arena looking to lock up an NCAA Tournament at-large bid with a win.

But also of large-scale importance is that Head Hog John Calipari and his staff will be hosting 2025 priority Arkansas target and On3 Sports national No. 3 / 5-star target [b]Nate Ament[/b] (6-9 combo forward, Highlands high school in Virginia) on an official visit this weekend.

Ament’s the kind of elite recruiting prize that could elevate Arkansas’ current Top 5-ranked class up to No. 1 in the nation. Of course that would depend on an eventual Ament pledge to Calipari and the Hoop Hogs.

Sources confirmed with Hogville on Thursday that Ament — one of five finalists for the prestigious Naismith Trophy national high school player of the year award, and recently named a Naismith Trophy first team All American — is set to arrive in Fayetteville on Friday. While on campus, he’ll attend the Razorbacks’ team shootaround, he’ll spend time at the team’s basketball performance center across the street from BWA, he’ll be on Nolan Richardson Court inside BWA to observe the team’s pre-game warm-ups, and he’ll be in attendance at BWA for the Hogs-v-‘Dogs tilt that tips up around 11 a.m. CT on Saturday.

Arkansas appears to be Ament’s final visit before he announces his college choice on April 1 during the McDonald’s All American game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Last week, he cut his list of schools to a Final 5 — Arkansas, Duke, Louisville, Kentucky, and Tennessee. He had previously visited four of those schools, and once again his Fayetteville stop this weekend is expected to be his last before decision day.

At the time he released his final list of schools, Ament spoke about his Arkansas recruitment during an interview with Swish Cultures.

“Coach Cal, and pretty much the whole (Arkansas) coaching staff, they started a bit later than other schools, but they’ve been putting me through the fire, been coming to a lot of my practices, a lot of my games, even with some of the recruits they have now have been texting me,” Ament said. “Obviously, Coach Cal’s produced a lot of NBA-level talent, and beginning as a basketball player seeing him at Kentucky, you know it’s kind of a dream a lot of players to see all these NBA players playing on one team.”

Although he characterized Calipari’s pursuit of him as starting a “bit later than other schools,” Ament told Hogville back in May 2024 — just a handful of weeks after Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas — that he’d already been in contact with the Hogs’ new coaching staff.

“I’m big into Arkansas, for sure, I’m big into Coach Cal” he said. “Their staff texted me when they were at Kentucky. I love the way he runs his offense, his defense, the way he runs his program. He’s a great guy, and they have a great staff over there, so I’m big into Arkansas.

“I’ve continued talking to Coach Chin (Coleman, Hogs associate head coach), and a couple of their (Arkansas’) assistant coaches.”

Calipari, Coleman, and associate head coach Kenny Payne were all in attendance two weeks ago to watch Ament rack up a double-double — 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks to lead Highland to its second consecutive Metro (Washington, DC) Private School Conference title. He followed that up with another double-double — 24 points, 18 rebounds, and 4 assists — to lead Highland to a 56-51 win over O’Connell to secure his team’s first-ever VISAA Division 1 championship.

Starting in September, Calipari began what turned into multiple treks to Virginia to see Ament. Hogville was the first to report Calipari’s first trip to see the talented sharpshooter.

Ament would be the perfect finishing touch to what is already a Top 5-ranked 2025 high school recruiting class at Arkansas as he would join fellow McDonald’s All Americans and national Top 10-ranked 5-star prospects [b]Darius Acuff, Jr.[/b] (6-2 guard who is also among the five finalists for the Naismith Trophy NPOY award and who was also named a Naismith Trophy first team All American) and [b]Meleek Thomas[/b] (6-4 guard who was named a Naismith Trophy honorable mention All American) as well as ESPN national No. 67 / 4-star prospect [b]Isaiah Sealy[/b] (6-7 combo guard / wing of Springdale).

Whether as one of the top two performers on the Adidas 3SSB spring-and-summer circuit in 2024, or in various all-star game settings, or during his high school senior season, Ament has consistently proven to be an elite three-point shooter whose efficiency oscillates between 45 to 50 percent on high volume. He’s a slender, rangy 6-9 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan weighing in at 185 pounds.

Ament is more than just an effective long-range sniper. He can score on pull-up jumpers in the mid-range facing the basket, or attacking with turnaround jumpers from the mid-post, or with runners and floaters after driving into the paint, and he can explode to the rim for highlight-reel dunks.

Maybe just as impressive is Ament’s ability to be a playmaker for others as his height, court awareness, anticipation, and high basketball IQ make him dangerous as a passer, especially in two-man dribble hand-offs, pick-and-roll, and pick-and-pop scenarios.

He projects as a 3/4-combo forward at the high major level, and one of a few NBA player comparisons for him is Michael Porter, Jr.

Acuff is an exceptional playmaker — both as a scorer and facilitator — who mixes a blend of bully-ball dribble-drives, crafty stop-and-go hesitation moves and cuts, competent three-point shooting, plus court-awareness, and elite decision-making as a primary ballhandler. He’s also clutch in late, tight-game situations.

Thomas is an elite scorer — he’s long, skilled, and fearless with an alpha mentality — who brings elite two-guard / wing ability with the potential to initiate offense as a primary ball-handler in two-man action as well as isolation scenarios. He’s also proven to be an elite backcourt rebounder with all the tools to be an eventual plus-defender because of his length and competitive instincts.

Sealy is long and versatile and he’s capable of playing the 1, 2, and 3, a combination that has stood out in high school and could translate to the high-major college level. He’s proven to be effective meshing with other high-caliber players (i.e. a loaded 17U Team Thad during the 2024 Nike EYBL circuit’s spring and summer grassroots run), a quality that immediately impressed Arkansas’ coaching staff.