Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman seems to have operating the transfer portal down to a science.
Since he arrived in Fayetteville five seasons ago, the longtime NBA and college head coach has dipped into the portal quite often to land some key pieces for his program.
None more so than this year, with the addition of seven new faces from the portal. In addition to three holdovers from last year, 10 of the Razorbacks’ current 16-man roster has been plucked from other college programs.
During his “Eric Musselman Live” radio show Monday night at Sassy’s Red House, he addressed the advanced maturity of this year’s team, over past seasons.
“This group was equipped to play this early, a team like Purdue,” he said, referencing the Hogs’ 81-77 exhibition win over the No. 3 Boilermakers on Saturday. “The thing that I was most impressed with was our players’ ability to take things from the practice floor to in-game situations, this early.”
The overall learning curve has drastically lessened this year with eight seniors or graduates on the roster, all of whom have previously played at a high level of college basketball. Arkansas had only four seniors and no graduates on the team last season.
Musselman did bring in two impact freshman this year, with forward Baye Fall and guard Layden Blocker, who are already showing their presence. And although last season’s freshman class was arguably the most talented in Razorback history – two getting drafted in the first round and another in the second round of the NBA Draft – that lack of experience reared its ugly head at times during the season.
The coach also addressed the pros and cons of having a veteran team versus a young team on Monday. Advantage to the veterans, off the court, with their general maturity in handling life. Many of the transfers made their initial visits alone, as opposed to freshman, who usually arrive with their parents in tow.
“With the freshman, the coaching staff is not only moving you in, but then making sure you have an adjustment for the first month, month and a half, on campus – it’s all new for them,” Musselman said. “It can be difficult with transfers, too, because some of them have habits that are different from the habits that we have, especially in practice, because we are pretty demanding in practice.
“So, sometimes there’s an advantage with freshmen, because they don’t have those built-in habits. There is a little bit of positives, both ways, but I do think that this year’s group is equipped to play this early. But we will see how we respond after this win.”
In his inaugural year at Arkansas, in 2019-20, Musselman brought in starters Jimmy Whitt and JD Notae from the portal, before landing two more starters the following season, with Justin Smith and Jalen Tate.
He then welcome a portal haul in 2021-22 that included starters and rotation guys, like Stanley Umude, Trey Wade, Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes.
Last season, Musselman veered more toward a youth movement with six highly touted freshman, including three McDonald’s All-Americans. He still found some gems in the portal with Ricky Council IV, Trevon Brazile, Makhi Mitchell and Jalen Graham – the latter three still on the team this season.
“We have a lot of guys that played a lot of college basketball and played at a lot of different places,” said El Ellis, a graduate-transfer from Louisville, who was a guest on the radio show, “So I feel like that’s what’s helped us and I feel like that’s why our guys were so confident in that overtime game because we were older, and a lot of guys have been there before. So I feel like that’s gonna go a long way.”
In addition to Ellis, this year’s portal additions include: Graduate Khalif Battle (Temple), graduate Denijay Harris (Southern Miss), graduate Chandler Lawson (Memphis), graduate Jeremiah Davenport (Cincinnati), junior Tramon Mark (Houston) and sophomore Keyon Menifield Jr. (Washington), who will redshirt this season.