FAYETTEVILLE — In an eight-day span at the start of April, Eric Musselman left Fayetteville for Los Angeles, John Calipari became the new Arkansas basketball head coach and Trevon Brazile declared for the NBA Draft.

At the time, it seemed like Brazile's career with the Razorbacks had come to an end, but a little mutual interest from head coach and player changed the coursee.

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"When I went in that room — that locker room — and there was no one in there, my thought was, ‘Well maybe, he didn't want to be here.’ And I wasn't going to beg anybody," Calipari said Monday at a press conference recapping the summer.

"So then I find out, ‘Coach, I think he wants to be here.’ Really? Well, get him on the phone with me because I knew he was good. And then we talked, talked to his dad, sat down and that's what he wanted to do. I said, ‘Well, let's go do this.’"

Brazile made things official on June 4, announcing he would return to Arkansas for his junior season. He is the lone returnee on a roster filled with new faces and new expectations under Calipari.

Brazile entered last season with high expectations. He was coming off a torn ACL and still voted First Team Preseason All-SEC by the media and coaches. NBA Draft experts believed Brazile could be a first-round pick in 2024.

However, the 6-foot-10 forward never found a rhythm in Eric Musselman's final season with the program. Brazile's three-point shot deserted him during a significant portion of the SEC schedule, and the entire team struggled utilizing the athletic big. He was too often stranded behind the three-point line, and not used enough in the high pick-and-roll.

Brazile's final stats on the season were averages of 8.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

The goal this year is rekindling some of that draft hype, and Brazile believes he's working under the right head coach to make that happen.

"His résumé speaks for itself. What he did at Kentucky with guys like Demarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis, it's undeniable," Brazile said Monday. "Just coming here and buying into everything that he's saying and that his staff is saying, it's been good."

According to Calipari and Brazile's teammates, the partnership is working. Adou Thiero and Boogie Davis have been wowed by Brazile's athleticism, and Calipari's been pleasantly surprised by the stretch-four.

"He’s in there laying on his back and I said, 'You’re better than I thought you were'. He looks at me and says ‘I told you’. That’s the confidence that I want him to feel, but he’s got to get into wars and be comfortable in those situations," Calipari said.

In a few months, the wars will come thick and fast, and Brazile be a central piece determining how the Razorbacks start a new era under the Hall of Fame coach.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Why Trevon Brazile returned to Arkansas basketball for junior season