FAYETTEVILLE -- Mike Anderson played his last round of golf for a few months Sunday and made his second hole-in-one.
It was with a 9-iron on the 141-yard No. 11 hole at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers.
"How about that?" Anderson said Tuesday between practices with his Arkansas men's basketball team. "Yeah, my last round of golf, and that's the way to leave."
Anderson, whose first hole-in-one was nine years ago when he was coaching at Alabama-Birmingham, is putting his golf clubs away to focus on basketball.
The Razorbacks, who open Anderson's fourth season against Alabama State on Nov. 18 at Walton Arena, started full-scale practices Tuesday by going at 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
"I'm super excited," Anderson said. "I think I feel more comfortable than I've ever felt. Probably part of the reason why is because of the players we have and how they're representing the university on and off the floor.
"These guys are committed to the team. They're committed to each other. They're committed to the vision, and I think that bodes well as we enter year four."
The Razorbacks are practicing with 13 eligible players as well as Dusty Hannahs, a junior guard who is redshirting after transferring from Texas Tech.
Sophomore 6-11 forward Bobby Portis, an All-SEC second-team pick last season when he averaged 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, leads a group of returnees that includes six of the top seven scorers from last year's 22-12 team that played in the NIT.
Newcomers include two point guards, junior Jabril Durham and freshman Anton Beard, whose additions will allow senior Ky Madden to play more off the ball after he averaged team highs of 12.8 points and 2.7 assists last season.
Junior guard Anthon Bell said the preseason workouts -- when the Razorbacks were able to go 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 at times -- were highly competitive.
"They got a little bit chippy," Bell said. "That's something we haven't had in the past, but I feel like it's a positive with the way people are competing."
Bell said Anderson cut some workouts a little short.
"There's been a couple of times we've been going hard and Coach just ends it," Bell said. "So I feel like if we're going that hard, it's going to transition to the games."
Portis said he understands better what the players have to do this season after making the transition from high school to the SEC as a freshman. He's gone from 236 to 243 pounds and said he's ready to play stronger inside.
"In high school, we conditioned but it wasn't like this here," Portis said. "It was a different physicality. This year I've embraced it."
Anderson said this should be his best and deepest Arkansas team.
"There's some serious competition in practice," he said. "I don't blow the whistle a whole lot, so it gets pretty physical, really aggressive."
Anderson said he doesn't mind practice getting a little chippy.
"I like to see them get after it," Anderson said. "That's not a problem. You can always bring them back down. It's hard to amp them up there."
Sports on 10/08/2014