More than 250 teams, including 102 of ESPN. com’s Top 150, will be in Northwest Arkansas for the Real Deal on the Hill basketball tournament that starts Friday and runs until Sunday.

Point guard Courtney Fortson, who signed with the Arkansas Razorbacks during the early signing period in November, credited his exposure to Razorbacks fans during last year’s tournament as a factor with him signing.

“Real Deal on the Hill is a top-of-the-line tournament,” said Fortson, who played for the Southeast Elite AAU team from Alabama. “It’s very organized, and there are a lot of good teams. I had people after games come up and saying good things. The fans made me feel at home. I put it my mind that I was going make them as one of my college choices.”

Hogs fans made sure Fortson, who starred at The Patterson (N. C. ) School, knew how much they appreciated his intensity on the court.

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“They were calling me lionhearted and commented that I play hard all of the time,”

Fort-Check out The Recruiting Guy’s new blog blogs. arkansasonline. com / recruiting son said. “They said I played good defense and I’m a good allaround player and get my team involved and stuff like that, lots of positive things.” Fortson, who’s rated the No. 7 player in the nation by Takkle / Sports Illustrated, is ultracompetitive and is never satisfied with the status quo. Already a great ballhandler, Fortson is trying to improve in the most unusual way. “I dribble with tennis balls every day with my head up,” Fortson said. “It really increased my dribbling skills. I think even though I had good dribbling skills I think its help dramatically. I had a tennis ball on my bed one day and I was just playing with it so I was like, I’ll try it out.”

Fortson has seen his hard work pay off in other parts of his game.

“I’ve been working on my three-point shot,” Fortson said. “I can shoot it, but I’m way more consistent now. Once I hit a couple in a game, it’s going to be hard to stop me because I’ll just go past them then.”

He has an old-school element to his game — the bank shot. He’s worked hard to increase his range on the shot.

“It’s increased beyond the three-point line, but I won’t bank it from the three-point line,” Fortson said. “It just makes the game way easier for me with the angles on the side.”

TORN BETWEEN TWO Cornerback David Gordon, who plays for East Central High School in Tulsa is one of the top 2009 football prospects in Oklahoma and has the Oklahoma Sooners and the Arkansas Razorbacks as his top college choices.

“They’re up there. OU and Arkansas are the two fighting it out right now,” Gordon said.

Gordon, 6-0, 175, 4. 4 seconds in the 40-yard dash, said he felt at ease when he visited Arkansas during Junior Day in March.

“They made me feel comfortable,” Gordon said. “It felt like if I went there it would be like family. It just felt real comfortable. I felt like they would actually want me there. The coaches were real laid back, and that’s always good they didn’t seem uptight.”

Gordon said he has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa with Stanford, Miami, Kansas and Kansas State showing interest.

Gordon cites secondary coach Lorenzo Ward and the chance to play in the SEC as pluses for Arkansas.

“I like Coach Ward,” he said. “He’s a coach that can teach you to be a great individual athlete and great player. I know he’s coached in the NFL and he’s played football and that’s one thing my parents and I love is we know he’s actually played. He’s not one of those coaches that just talks; he’s actually done it and coached it. I also like the competition level they play against. The SEC is the best conference.”

East Central Coach Travis Hill praised Gordon’s athletic ability.

“He’s a special athlete,” Hill said. “He was one of our leaders in interceptions with six and had a lot of yards catching the football. What makes David unique as an athlete is his ability to run. He’s the 100- and 200-meter 5 A state champion and also long jump state champion.”

Gordon participated Friday in the John Jacobs Invitational track meet on the Oklahoma campus and won the 100 in 10. 62 seconds and the 200 in 21. 29. Gordon attended the Oklahoma Red-White spring game Saturday. He said he would miss Arkansas’ spring game because he will be at an Under Armour combine that day.

Gordon said he would like to play football and run track in college. He noted Arkansas’ success in track and field as a bonus.

Hill said Gordon is good in the classroom and exhibits good leadership skills.

“He’s academically qualified, solid student and a solid person,” Hill said. “One of our leaders on our football team and one our leaders in our school and in the community.”

Gordon’s father, Chris, and his side of the family, including uncle Kevin, who is the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at East Central, are from Fort Smith.

“Some [family members ] are still in the Fort Smith area,” Gordon said. “A lot of them have gone to California. A couple of them like my dad, my uncle, grandmother and aunt are still here in Oklahoma.”

He said the family is split on where he should play his college football.

“That’s how it’s going right now. Instead of it being an OU and OSU conflict, it’s more of an OU and Arkansas conflict.” Gordon said.

Gordon said he and his family will discuss his college choices and hopefully make a decision by the end of summer.

E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline. com