The Arkansas basketball team is in the running to make a late addition to its 2016 signing class.
Brachen Hazen, a senior forward from Columbia City (Ind.) High School, will officially visit Arkansas this week after getting a visit from Coach Mike Anderson last Tuesday.
Hazen, 6-8, 200, signed with Central Florida during the early signing period in November. He was granted a release from the Knights after Coach Donnie Jones was fired after the season.
Hazen and his parents will arrive in Fayetteville on Monday for the official visit and will leave Wednesday.
Anderson, while visiting Hazen, was accompanied by associate head coach Melvin Watkins and Scotty Thurman, who's expected to be named an assistant in the near future.
"It went really well, I really enjoyed the time we spent together," Hazen said. "They watched me workout for about 30 minutes."
Hazen said conversation with the Razorbacks coaches went smoothly.
"I ended up talking to them for over an hour and they did a rundown about what Arkansas was like, what the campus was like and they kind of went into there was a need for my kind of position," Hazen said. "They were really excited about me and wanting to recruit me pretty hard."
Hazen, who chose Central Florida over scholarship offers from Ball State, Clemson, Creighton, Maryland, Richmond and Valparaiso, averaged 16.1 points and 9.3 rebounds this past season.
He made an unofficial visit to Purdue on Thursday and Vanderbilt on Friday. The Hogs will be his first official visit since his release. He said he had a great vibe with Anderson, Watkins and Thurman.
"That's kind of why I showed so much interest in getting down there and getting on campus quickly because I thought the conversations went great," Hazen said. "I liked all of them I thought they were great guys."
Hazen said the Hogs haven't extended a scholarship offer yet.
"We'll see what happens once I get on campus," he said. "I really excited to see what happens."
Hazen said Anderson told him how Arkansas wants to utilize him if he becomes a Razorback.
"They liked the way I played on my AAU team last year, that's kind of the film they've seen of me," Hazen said. "I was kind of a four, slash three or a three-four wing player."
Hazen said there won't be a quick commitment, regardless of how the visit goes.
"That's not how my family and I run through our decisions," Hazen said. "We normally take a week or a couple of weeks to decide things and with this being the biggest decision I'm making right now in my life, we're going to take as long as we can to decide and look over all of the options."
Arkansas has signed five prospects for the 2016 class. With the team losing four seniors along with the transfers of guard Jimmy Whitt and forward Lorenzo Jenkins, the Razorbacks have 11 of the 13 allotted slots filled for the 2016-2017 season.
Center Moses Kingsley has entered his name into the NBA Draft, but hasn't hired an agent and could return for this senior season. His departure would open another scholarship for Anderson.
E-mail Richard Davenport atrdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 04/24/2016