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re: Arkansas Basketball Recruiting Thread *Muss Years Archive - do NOT delete*
Posted on 7/8/22 at 10:45 am to UltimateHog
Posted on 7/8/22 at 10:45 am to UltimateHog
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We simply don't have room for that "low" of a player anymore.
Yep, the standard has changed quickly. Nothing wrong with grabbing a player like him but we are shooting for top 40 players now.
It is funny now to look back at some of the criticism against the Muss hire. High school recruiting was a big concern, then it was high school recruiting outside the state. Nothing much more to criticize now.
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Posted on 7/8/22 at 11:16 am to rockiee
I guess we just picked up a Futurecast on Rivals for Baye Fall. That would be nice.
Posted on 7/8/22 at 1:54 pm to rockiee
Under Muss's recruiting, being the #1 player in the state is no longer a guarantee of an offer.
Posted on 7/8/22 at 3:31 pm to HogX
Yeah we've been in a great spot for Fall.
Posted on 7/8/22 at 6:05 pm to RazorHawg
NBPA Top 100
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FIBA U17 World Cup
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On court one there was, well, let’s just call it a lack of energy and enthusiasm to get things started off. Enter Layden Blocker and John Bol of the Chicago Bulls camp team. They weren’t able to do enough to engineer a win, but the recent Arkansas commit Blocker and the top 15 ranked 2024 big man Bol at least went all out from an effort standpoint.
Committed to his home state school, Blocker is one of the most athletic point guards in the country and he does all of the little things. After a slow start he really attacked and also hit a couple of three-pointers to help open up the floor for him. He’s a willing passer, a tough on the ball defender and that blow by speed can bail him out of problems.
As for Bol, he’s still got work to do on the offensive end (though, he’s really made huge strides with his footwork in the post) but the work he does on the glass and as a rim protector is tough to ignore. At 7-foot-2 he is lean but extremely mobile and blessed with as good a motor as any player in the country. That motor serves him well and the enthusiasm he plays with his endearing to anybody watching. His team was credited with four blocks and if that’s all they had, he must have had all of them.
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COMPARING BAYE FALL
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Five-star big man Baye Fall has had a really good camp and backed up his status as the top ranked center in the class of 2023 at No. 14 overall. He was solid Wednesday and on Thursday he was easily one of the most productive players in camp as he used his length, quickness and lift off the floor to cause problems on both ends of the floor.
In this business, everybody wants comparisons. Some are good, some aren’t so good. If we had to make one for Fall, though, we feel like Robert Williams of the Boston Celtics would be a good one.
Fall is actually a bit taller than Williams but what he does protecting the rim, elevating for dunks, and seeming like he’s got good timing for being around the ball is similar. We know that players want to be compared to big names, but Williams has carved himself out an important role for a championship level team in Boston and it isn’t a huge stretch to see Fall eventually making it to that level. Arkansas comes up a lot for him when talking about potential destinations and they are certainly in there but Seton Hall, among some of the other contenders, has a real chance here as well.
FIBA U17 World Cup
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IAN JACKSON FLIES HIGH TO 21-POINTS
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It's become a common site for those following high school hoops in the United States but the international fans got a fun and exciting introduction to Ian Jackson, the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2024 class.
The 6-foot-4 guard put on a transition exhibition in his debut against Lebanon that totaled 21-points, shooting 10-of-17 from the field.
Jackson's explosive athleticism was on full display and gave the crowd some 'wow' moments with his high-flying antics and rim-rocking dunks.
Since the recruitment period opened up, he immediately became a blue-chip prospect with all of the blue bloods calling but more on that later.
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DAVID CASTILLO POURS IN 21-POINTS
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David Castillo wasted no time in introducing himself to the rest of the world when he got the start for Team USA and immediately started doing what he does best by putting the ball in the basket.
The No. 29 overall prospect in the 2024 Rankings came out of the gates hot and he never looked back scoring 21-points on a highly efficient 8-of-11 from the field, knocking down 5-of-7 from behind the line.
Castillo was the best offensive weapon for Team USA on the first night and his scoring, specifically his shot-making is going to be highly valuable for Team USA moving forward.
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RON HOLLAND'S MOTOR AND ATHLETICISM CONTINUES TO CAUSE PROBLEMS
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Ron Holland is a five-star prospect in the 2023 class and a big separator for Holland amongst his peers is the consistent motor he plays with that unlocks his athleticism to having a big impact on the court each time out.
The 6-foot-8, 195-pound power forward out of Duncanville (Texas) is taking his athleticism, motor and his improved skillset to the world stage in Spain and the United States National Team is reaping the benefits.
On Sunday, Holland posted a team-high 14-points to go with six-rebounds and three-assists in 23-minutes of action, helping the USA push past Slovenia in a 88-55 victory.
Kentucky head coach John Calipari even made the trip across the pond to keep tabs on Holland along with his other targets on the team.
Texas and Arkansas both have assistants in attendance as well, two schools in the mix for Holland.
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WHO IS NO. 1 IN 2024?
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Currently, 6-foot-7 wing Naas Cunningham ranks No. 1 in the class of 2024 and he’s one who has already taken OTE up on their NIL-based deals to preserve his college recruitment. Will he leave the month of July with his No. 1 ranking intact? Well, that’s a very good question because right now his hold on the top spot is tenuous at best.
Going in Cunningham's favor are his combination of size, athleticism and ability to make shots from deep. On the other hand, he’s not exactly distanced himself from the pack and both his game and production can be inconsistent.
Because of that the door to a new top dog in the class is very much open. Current No. 2 Ian Jackson (who could eventually end up in 2023) is applying serious pressure and has been crushing it for USA Basketball at the Fiba U17 World Championships. No. 3 Tre Johnson – another shooting guard who like Cunningham was cut from that very same USAB team Jackson is starring for – is coming off of an electric performance with his high school team in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Showcase. Currently unranked, big man Flory Bidunga is a lock to debut as a five-star after the summer and he’s pushing for at least the top five in 2024. Could he put himself in the conversation for the top spot?
The race is the widest open of any class that will be ranked – 2023, 2024 or 2025 – after the summer as the rankings in each class currently stand.
Posted on 7/8/22 at 6:06 pm to RazorHawg
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3. RON HOLLAND
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WHERE THINGS STAND: The Texas-based Holland is as in demand as prospects come and he has been in the spotlight for some time now. The major players in his recruitment are familiar. Holland has a public list of frontrunners, but Kentucky, Arkansas and UCLA seem like the most serious threats. UCLA once looked like the leader here and still remains in the mix, but Arkansas offers him a chance to possibly reunite with former high school teammate Anthony Black and the chance to stay somewhat close to home while playing for a winner. Kentucky shouldn’t be slept on either.
PRESUMED LEADER: Arkansas or Kentucky seem like the most likely landing spots for Holland, but it’s impossible to discount the work UCLA has put in, even if the Bruins seem to be running in third these days.
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FUTURECAST: Baye Fall to Arkansas
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Five-star forward Baye Fall had a very productive day on the Adidas Circuit, knocking down some outside shots, blocking and altering shots on the perimeter, and showcasing a good overall activity level.
Fall is hearing a lot from Arkansas, Auburn, Texas, Oregon, Seton Hall and Rutgers. As of now, Arkansas and Auburn seem to have the inside track in this recruitment, with a slight edge going to the Razorbacks.
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Baye Fall, Colorado Hawks
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A top 15 player in the class of 2023, Baye Fall showed his evolving skill set to go along with what he brings physically. While Fall won’t necessarily power through defenders, he showed that he wanted the ball, attracted double teams and shot over defenders. Defensively, Fall blocked or changed multiple shots around the rim with his length and athleticism which makes him intriguing for college coaches. In the last game of the night Rutgers, Texas, Kansas State, Oregon, Auburn, Seton Hall among others came to watch to the talented big man.
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Assane Diop, Colorado Hawks
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Diop who plays alongside Fall also had himself a productive night. With two bigs on the court Diop continues to develop. He brought a level of toughness and physicality around the rim, played hard, ran the floor, and cleaned things up on the offensive glass.
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Annor Boateng, Arkansas Hawks
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Ranked No. 36 in the class of 2024, Arkansas Hawks wing Annor Boateng came to life in the second half of last nights matchup. Boateng is already physically mature for his age, and has tons of athleticism that he used to create his own shots and finish in the rim. While it’s early in his recruitment Texas Tech, UCLA, LSU, TCU are among the programs to reach out to Boateng as of late.
Posted on 7/9/22 at 9:59 am to RazorHawg
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WESLEY YATES HAS A KNACK FOR WINNING
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There is not much more I can state about the winning ways of Wesley Yates outside of the fact that he has done it at every level. The quality is simply his best attribute. To give more clarity to his background, Yates was once regarded as the top player in the class dating back to his elementary school days. There is something to be said about his production and passion to win games since being placed on that radar.
Eric Musselman of Arkansas, Steven Pearl and Ira Bowman of Auburn, Stephen Gentry of Gonzaga, Robert Ehsan of Stanford, and Chris Beard of Texas were sitting on the sidelines for both of his games. All of which see his value in helping their programs in the win column.
Posted on 7/9/22 at 10:49 am to RazorHawg
Hard to believe what Musselman has been able to accomplish thus far.
Bright days ahead.
Bright days ahead.
Posted on 7/9/22 at 7:28 pm to razorbackfan4life
Tuned in to the Pistons summer league game. Umude went 4-5 and scored 12 points in 10 minutes of run.
Pretty damn impressive, and I know Detroit will give him a serious look now.
Pretty damn impressive, and I know Detroit will give him a serious look now.
Posted on 7/10/22 at 11:48 am to RazorHawg
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CUNNINGHAM BACKS UP TOP BILLING
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The race for the top spot in the class of 2024 is very much up in the air. On Saturday, current No. 1 Naas Cunningham and his New York Rens squad found themselves matched up with current No. 3 Tre Johnson and Team Griffin. While the two weren’t necessarily matched up with each other at all times, they did have some head-to-head moments and it would be foolish to think that they weren’t aware of each other’s standing and the competition that is raging to be considered best in their class.
A long and bouncy 6-foot-7 wing who will spend his final two years of high school with Overtime Elite (he’s doing so on a NIL deal which will preserve college eligibility just in case you didn’t know), Cunningham didn’t get off to a good start. He had some chippies roll out, his jumper wasn’t falling, and he was mostly reliant on being ahead of the pack in transition. Just before halftime, though, he started to find his rhythm before taking over in the second half to finish with 28 points and lead the Rens to comfortable win.
So, what did Cunningham do well? He played in attack mode. He was all over the rim with dunks, got to the free throw line 10 times and found a nice mix of some three-point hits to go along with his slashing to the rim. He is very skinny and could use some more bulk but outside of wanting him to hit the glass a little harder (just one rebound) it would be hard to find anything to complain about with his Saturday play in a big game and he held serve when it comes to retaining the top spot.
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Terrion Burgess, Arkansas Hawks
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Over at the 16U division, Arkansas Hawks had another young prospect in 6-foot-9 forward Terrion Burgess. Burgess plays up on 16U and has a lot of intangibles that will bring in attention from high major programs early on. Burgess has a lot of length and athleticism with tons of upside to work with as he enters his sophomore year.
On the recruitment side, Burgess holds early offers from Texas Tech, Arkansas, and Auburn among others.
Posted on 7/11/22 at 11:47 am to RazorHawg
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Chris Johnson is the 2023 On3 Consensus No. 38 ranked player. The 6-foot-4 point guard led his Houston Defenders program to a UAA Circuit Session 3 championship this weekend.
“I play hard, and I compete,” Johnson told On3. “I’ve worked on my shooting a lot and made myself a better three-level scorer. I’m a good defender. I try to have fun and win; I love winning. I’ll watch a lot of Bradley Beal and Ja Morant, how they use their athleticism, and they get to their spots.”
The quick-twitch lead guard announced in May he would be transferring to Montverde (FL) Academy has a handful of schools prioritizing him in recruitment. On3 caught up with Chris Johnson during UAA Circuit Session 3 to go in-depth about each of these schools.
“At the end of this month and into the first part of August,” Johnson said, “I’m going to get pretty hectic with visits. I’m setting with Kansas, Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Alabama.”
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Arkansas: “They got three McDonald’s All-Americans this year, and I know each of them. I like coach (Eric) Musselman. He has been recruiting me hard for the past year, and I just really like their program and what they are doing.”
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“I’m going to be looking for a brotherhood,” Johnson said. “I want to into a program that will allow me to come in and compete. The location won’t matter, as long as they will let me get out there and play; that is all I can ask for.”
Posted on 7/13/22 at 11:39 am to RazorHawg
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The No.1 ranked center in the class of 2023 Baye Fall has taken his first official to Auburn. Along with Auburn, Fall has taken unofficials to Arkansas and Seton Hall and may visit Rutgers during the fall.
“My recruitment is going really good right now,” he said . “I’m talking to new schools and starting to see what I want and don’t want. I’m going to narrow my list in the end of July maybe.
“In terms of these live periods, I think it’s cool for schools to show up to my games. It shows me who wants me, who’s going to be there at the next level, and who I can trust. l it’s really important if schools show up and I look at that a lot.”
Auburn, Texas, Seton Hall, and Arkansas are among the schools prioritizing the five star big man and he spoke some schools with 247Sports.
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Arkansas: “When I went to Arkansas it was when they played a game against Kenutcky and I’ve never seen fans go crazy like that. The facilities were also good and what they had on the table.”
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With a list cut approaching in the near future, Fall has a rough idea when he looks to commit.
“It might not be a final list I’m just cutting my list to focus on those schools and look at certain things again. I may cut it again or commit from there. My decision will probably be during my senior year.”
“The main parts will be going to the schools, talking to the coaches and seeing their plan of how they’ll be able to help me on and off the court. I want to see how they can help me accomplish what I want to accomplish.”
Posted on 7/13/22 at 11:45 am to RazorHawg
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The main parts will be going to the schools, talking to the coaches and seeing their plan of how they’ll be able to help me on and off the court. I want to see how they can help me accomplish what I want to accomplish
I know we already sit well with him but if the above is true, not sure how Muss isn't the best coach at getting this done.
All we hear time and time again is how Muss' pitch is so detailed and well thought out. That he does a great job highlighting the areas a player can get better and how Muss is going to make that player better.
Posted on 7/13/22 at 2:07 pm to rockiee
Sounding more and more like the NBA will be lowering the draft age from 19 to 18.
Posted on 7/13/22 at 2:21 pm to UltimateHog
Wonder what that means for OTE and G League Ignite types - recruiting top HS players at 15-16 to sign with them?
Posted on 7/13/22 at 3:17 pm to RazorHawg
They need to just go ahead and make it like baseball.
Posted on 7/18/22 at 10:59 am to beebefootballfan
Posted on 7/18/22 at 12:39 pm to RazorHawg
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Five-star Baye Fall is one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2023 class. He guards multiple positions, scores in a variety of ways – showed off multiple outside jumpers last weekend – and has coveted length that makes him one of the more highly sought after prospects in the rising senior class.
The Colorado Hawks forward took the time to speak with Rivals about the latest in his recruitment at the 3SSB Championships.
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Arkansas: “I like their style of play and their environment. I went there for the Kentucky game and like what I saw. Their play style fits me and coach Muss (Eric Musselman) is a great coach.”
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Playing with Assane Diop in college: “We would wish to, if that’s the best for the both of us, we’ll do that. We haven’t talked about it really deep, but there’s some schools that, if one of us goes there, we’ll probably end up going to the same school, but we don’t know yet.”
Decision timeline: “Probably during my senior year.”
Upcoming visits: “Texas on Sept. 10, and I’m going to Rutgers in September, too. I’ll go back to Arkansas, but I don’t know when yet.”
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RIVALS' REACTION
Fall has some of basketball recruiting’s heaviest hitters lobbying for his services at the next level. Arkansas and Auburn appear to be in the best spot currently, but all of the other schools listed have a shot as well.
I recently entered a FutureCast for Fall to Arkansas, and while it’s not a done deal, the Razorbacks have put themselves in tremendous position in this recruitment. Sources also tell Rivals that Arkansas would like to have both Fall and Diop.
Posted on 7/18/22 at 6:57 pm to RazorHawg
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Vyctorius Miller currently ranks as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2024 class and since the contact period began for rising juniors, he said his phone has been blowing up so much he had to get a new one.
"It's going crazy to be honest, it's just a blessing," he said of his recruitment since coaches were allowed to start calling him. "It was crazy, I had to get another phone because it was glitching out."
Of all the schools in contact, which he says includes Duke and Kentucky, he feels prioritized by Arkansas, Kansas, UCLA, USC and Oklahoma State.
Miller is wasting no time in his recruitment and is already planning to lock in official visits following the live periods.
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Arkansas: "They have been hitting me a lot. I like how the players they have now are similar to my game like Nick Smith."
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Miller recently transferred to Chandler (Ariz.) Compass Prep but is a native of Los Angeles but says staying close to home won't be a factor.
"Wherever has the best opportunity for me to make it to the NBA then I am with it," he said.
Posted on 7/19/22 at 11:52 am to RazorHawg
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BLOCKER’S EFFORT STANDS OUT
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Last but certainly not least, I wanted to single out future Arkansas Razorback Layden Blocker of Bradley Beal Elite because I doubt that I could count on one hand guys who play harder than he does. A monster athlete and vocal leader from the point guard position, Blocker isn’t the flashiest ball handler or the greatest scorer and every now and then he’ll make a “what the………” type of decision. But no matter what, he’s going to play all out and if he does make a mistake, he’s generally going to find a way to make up for it with a big time defensive play (he’s among the very best on ball defenders in 2023) or a tip in, great pass or big dunk in transition.
Blocker gives the type of energy that teammates feed off of, that fans love to watch and that coaches love to coach. I’m pretty sure that will continue when he returns to his home state of Arkansas for college. His BBE team pulled off an "upset" win in a real battle of toughness over a New Jersey Scholars team featuring three top 20 players and the tone that Blocker set had a lot to do with it.
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