re: Are the Hog fans still confident with Monk?

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Last April, Allen committed to the University of Florida. His high school coach Johnny Rice told me that until that point Arkansas had heavily recruited him but backed off after he committed to play for Billy Donovan.

Arkansas coaches could have tried harder, though, according to Allen’s long-time AAU coach and trainer Kahn Cotton. Cotton, who has trained Allen most mornings for the last five years, recalls that coaches with Louisville, Florida, Connecticut, Baylor, Tennessee and Memphis had all personally visited Allen or watched one of his games more times than Arkansas coaches had before last April. “Florida had been here three times and Arkansas came once in that time period … Baylor had been down four times, Tennessee three times, Memphis five or six times by that time.”

Arkansas’ coaches can’t speak for themselves on this matter, as Allen hasn’t yet signed with a program. But it doesn’t seem Allen was as high of a priority for Mike Anderson and his staff as other in-state players like Bobby Portis and now Malik Monk (Anderson and every Razorback basketball player except Alandise Harris [who was ill] watched a December double-header which included a game between Monk’s Bentonville team and St. Louis Chaminade).

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