McCurdy: Great time at the UA

FAYETTEVILLE — Sean McCurdy, who began the transfer process after the season, left Arkansas last week but not entirely for the reason that most people assumed.

“It’s not just because of playing time that I’m leaving,” McCurdy said. “Some other issues happened.”

McCurdy, a reserve guard, declined to elaborate on the contributing factors to his departure but said they had nothing to do with former Coach Stan Heath or current Coach John Pelphrey. McCurdy asked for and was granted his scholarship release before Heath was fired March 26.

McCurdy hauled his belongings back home to Connecticut on Wednesday and said he plans to enroll at William & Mary in the fall. He’ll spend about two weeks there this summer working out with his new teammates.

“I just felt to further my basketball career I needed to go elsewhere,” McCurdy said. “I’ll be closer to home. William & Mary is six hours away from my home. But I loved being in the South. Southern hospitality, there’s nothing like it.”

William & Mary can offer McCurdy the kind of playing time at both guard spots that he rarely saw at Arkansas. He played 15 minutes or more in just nine of the team’s 67 games during his two seasons.

Heath billed McCurdy as a cerebral point guard who could shoot when he signed him, and he expressed hope that McCurdy could gradually take over the position in a bestcase freshman year scenario. McCurdy played aggressively and made plays along with rookie mistakes in showing promise that first season.

An unfortunate turn in a late-season game at LSU shook McCurdy to the point that he skipped class the next day to avoid being seen and Heath shielded him from media interviews for several days. McCurdy was thrust into the game’s final seconds after not playing since the first half and missed two free throws. LSU won 78-77 when Darrel Mitchell hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.

McCurdy said during the 2006 off-season that the episode had “crushed” him at the time but that he had recovered.

Still, he never looked quite the same in games, seemingly more cautious as if playing to avoid mistakes rather than carrying the more confident air from his freshman year. Heath didn’t show much confidence in him, giving him chances mostly when the coach was unhappy with starter Gary Ervin, as McCurdy’s turnovers rose.

The two years at Arkansas were hardly a bust, though.

“I had a great time,” McCurdy said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. Playing for the Razorbacks was such an honor. The fans are great.”

Hopefully, they’ll remember McCurdy for giving them a thrill Dec. 21, 2005, in Dallas. Also fresh off the bench that night, he heaved in a 57-foot bank shot at the halftime buzzer against Texas Tech. It gave Arkansas a 39-36 lead and momentum in an eventual 78-65 victory. Views from Hill

Thoughts from senior center Steven Hill from an interview last week: On the brief spring workouts with Coach John Pelphrey and the new staff: “They were really intense. He was really trying to get a feel for what kind of players we were, what we could do. I’m sure he’s been watching film, but there’s only so much you can tell from film.” On whether he believes Arkansas underachieved last season: “I think underachieved is pretty harsh, but at the same time, you always wish you could have done more. Looking back, we were disappointed with not winning an NCAA Tournament game this year or last year. We feel like we could have won a game or two, but at the same time, you have backto-back 20-win seasons, backto-back NCAA Tournament appearances. That’s something. We feel like we could have done more.” On the season ahead: “I think the expectations are pretty high. With the new coaching staff, everyone’s excited. We return really our core group of guys. If we can just come together and continue to develop as a team with chemistry — because we’ve got a lot of good individual parts — we can really do a lot of damage this year.”

On the chemistry issue, which became a hot topic off and on beginning late in the 2005 season when the Hogs lost five of their last six games and declined an NIT bid: “Chemistry, to me, is an up and down thing. It takes a long time to get it, but you can lose it really fast. We’ve had it before, and we just need to focus on keeping it and sustaining it. Adversity can derail it. That can come through injuries. That can come through tough losses. That’s where having six seniors on this team can help overcome it.” Draft projection

For what it’s worth, NBA Draft Express has put together a 2008 mock draft on its Web site and lists Steven Hill as a second-round pick, going 44 th overall. Joe laying low

Former Razorback Joe Johnson of Little Rock won’t be among the 25 players trying out for the USA Basketball Senior National Team this summer. He played a prominent role on the team last year.

USA Basketball listed the reason for Johnson’s absence as injury-related.

Atlanta Hawks spokesman Jon Steinberg said Johnson does not have a new injury and decided against going to the tryouts so he could fully recuperate from a calf muscle injury that forced him to miss Atlanta’s final 21 games.

The injury did not require surgery, just rest.

“He’s still our ironman,” Steinberg said. “Hopefully when he gets this healed he won’t miss any more.”

Johnson led the Hawks in scoring (25. 0 points per game ) and minutes (41. 2 ).

Sekou Smith, who covers the Hawks for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, published grades for the team’s players after the season and gave only one A. It went to Johnson.

Smith wrote: “Johnson’s All-Star nod (as an injury replacement ) was no fluke. This year he solidified himself as one of the league’s premier and most versatile talents. Now he needs a consistent running mate.”

And, apparently, Johnson works and plays well with others. He came in fifth in voting for the Joe Dumars Trophy, the NBA’s sportsmanship award that the Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng won. Utah Jazz guard Derek Fisher (Little Rock Parkview, UALR ) was third. Translating hoops

The Mexican National Team has a strong Arkansas accent and is being introduced to cuarenta minutos de infierno. Or something to that effect.

It’s “40 minutes of hell” south of the border with former Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson leading the national team and two of his former staff members, Andy Stoglin and Wayne Stehlik, assisting. They were in Juarez last week running tryouts and have about 10 more days of workouts before taking a break.

Richardson, who’s bilingual and grew up in the border town of El Paso, Texas, will try to coach Mexico to its first basketball appearance in the Olympics since 1976. The team will compete in the FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas later this summer. He coached Panama in the 2005 Americas Championship, and the team qualified for the 2006 World Championship.

The Web site Latinbasket. com posts updates and inadvertently used a mug shot of Richardson’s son, Nolan Richardson III, next to two of the recent reports. Consulting Nolan

Rob Evans sought advice from longtime friend and former Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson when considering John Pelphrey’s offer to be an assistant coach.

Richardson, who unsuccessfully sued the school three years ago, gave the university a thumbs up, Evans said.

Evans said he hopes Richardson will attend some Arkansas games, something Richardson hasn’t done since the school fired him March 1, 2002.

A good bet would be the Missouri game. Richardson’s former assistant Mike Anderson, whom he considers a son, is the Tigers coach.

“Hopefully, we can get him on board with us,” Evans said. Recruiting inside now

As the Ole Miss coach in the 1990 s, Rob Evans used players from Arkansas to beat the Razorbacks. But he doesn’t want to see a repeat now that he’s a UA assistant.

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Evans said. “We’re going to make sure that if there’s a kid in this state that we feel like can help Arkansas and the Razorbacks that we’re going to make sure we zero in on him and make sure if at all possible that this is where they want to be.

“ I did find this out when I was at Ole Miss, that most of the time if the kid was from Arkansas, he grew up wanting to be a Hog. So I hope that that’s still the case.”