FAYETTEVILLE - During the national signing period, Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey and his assistants signed a basketball class ranked among the top 25 nationally by several analysts.

ESPN. com has the Razorbacks' six-man class ranked 11 th. Other rankings for Arkansas' class include 13 th by CBSSports. com, 16 th by Rivals. com and 24 th by Scout. com.

Pelphrey, gearing up for his second season at Arkansas, said the positive attention on recruiting is flattering, but falls into the same category as preseason polls that don't impact the outcome of games.

"I don't know how valuable they are in relationship to the paper they're written on," Pelphrey said Wednesday on the SEC coaches' summer teleconference. "I think a good way to evaluate a recruiting class is when those guys are gone.

" Did they make it all the way through ? Did they graduate ? Those are pretty good ways to rank recruiting classes. They get ranked before we ever toss a ball up or get through a practice."

Arkansas' recruiting class includes 6-10 freshman Andre Clark from North Little Rock; 6-1 freshman Rotnei Clarke from Claremore, Okla.; 5-11 freshman Courtney Fortson from Montgomery, Ala., and The Patterson (N. C. ) Prep School; 6-6 Jason Henry from West Memphis and Cincinnati Harmony Prep School; 6-9 freshman Brandon Moore from New Orleans Holy Cross; and 6-6 junior Montrell McDonald from Crowley County (Texas ) Community College.

Clark enrolled at Arkansas in January and began practicing with the team in February, but did not play in any games.

Arkansas is counting heavily on its newcomers because of the loss of six seniors from last year's team, including four starters.

"We're excited about those young men," Pelphrey said. "I think they're going to have a chance to do great things here.

" By the same token, we understand that there is an adjustment level for everybody when you change levels."

Pelphrey was a three-year starter at Kentucky, but noted that he had to sit out as a true freshman.

"As a player, I, by no means, was ready. I had to redshirt," he said. "I've seen McDonald's All-Americans take three-quarters of the year before they could figure it out."

Henry and McDonald signed in the spring after fall signee Daniel Payne was released from his scholarship in April.

Payne, a forward from Coffeyville (Kan. ) Community College, wasn't going to be academically eligible to play at Arkansas next season.

With Payne's loss, Henry and McDonald figure to be the top candidates to replace Sonny Weems as the Razorbacks' starting small forward.

Weems, 6-6 and an All-SEC player last season, was a secondround NBA draft pick by Chicago and traded to Denver.

Pelphrey said Henry and Mc-Donald are "two big, athletic wings" who have the chance for immediate playing time.

"The biggest thing for those two guys is that they're walking into a wonderful situation here... where they're going to have a tremendous opportunity to play and have an impact on games from Day One," Pelphrey said. "It's pretty unique to have a chance to do that."