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FAYETTEVILLE -- The possibility of being developed by hall of fame coach John Calipari excites top-25 junior point guard Davion Thompson about the University of Arkansas men's basketball program.
Thompson, 6-3 and 179 pounds, is playing his junior year at Link Academy in Branson. He became the first sophomore to be named the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year in Illinois after averaging 24 points, 5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game last season at Bolingbrook High School. MaxPreps also named him the Player of the Year in Illinois.
He made an unofficial visit to Fayetteville to watch the Razorbacks take down Cincinnati 89-61 in an exhibition game on Oct. 24. Thompson described the highlight of the visit.
"Just seeing how Coach Cal has put different players in the NBA and how many players have come through him and made it to the league," Thompson said. "Like when at the same time, they're on the same team but they still made it work with all the good players they had and all the talent they had and still were able to achieve their goals of going to the NBA."
A consensus 4-star recruit, Thompson is ESPN's No. 4 shooting guard and No. 23 prospect nationally in the 2027 class. He spoke about his strengths.
"Just my leadership being a point guard and being able to be a playmaker and get my teammates involved and also being able to create for myself as well," Thompson said.
His motivation to visit the Hogs was Calipari's resume.
"The history of Coach Cal, he's a great coach, and the program, they have great guards come through and he lets the guard play with freedom and they win at a high level," Thompson said.
He has 16 scholarship offers from Michigan, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Missouri, Oregon, NC State, Indiana and others.
Thompson led all scorers on the under-16 Nike EYBL circuit with 23.5 points per game while also averaging 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists for Chicago-based MeanStreets. He shot 47.6% from the field, 37.3% from three-point range and 79.3% from the free-throw line.
He communicated with Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman, a Chicago native, basketball assistant Tyler Ulis and director of on-court player of development Brad Calipari prior to his trip to Fayetteville.
"They said they're going to be watching me and coming to my games during the season to see me play," Thompson said. "Just keep recruiting me and building the relationship throughout the season."
Thompson said he would welcome a scholarship offer from the Razorbacks.
"It would mean a lot," he said. "Just knowing what Coach Cal has done with his players. He's a players' coach. He puts a lot of players into the league and he wins at a high level."
Thompson liked how Arkansas approaches pregame.
"The pregame stuff they pretty much warmed up like the NBA," Thompson said. "They didn't have everyone shooting at once. They had like certain groups, like two or three would come out and get their shots up and get stretched out. A lot of their stuff translates to the NBA."
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Davion Thompson highlightsarkansasonline.com/112thompson/