FAYETTEVILLE — So much has changed in the last year for the Arkansas basketball team.
Heading into August 2015, Razorback head coach Mike Anderson had suspended three players because of legal issues and was scrambling to add warm bodies, and prized power forward Ted Kapita had been ruled academically eligible.
That doesn’t even take into account that his two best players off of a 27-9 NCAA Tournament squad — Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls — weren’t returning after declaring for the NBA draft.
If this had been politics, the arrow would have definitely been pointing down in terms of momentum and the perceived health of the program.
But as this season’s version of the Razorbacks get ready to head to Spain for four-game exhibition tour on Aug. 6-16, that arrow is definitely pointing up.
“I made the statement earlier that sometimes you have to go through some things, adversity to find out who you are really are,” Anderson said. “We had some adversity take place. We dealt with it. We didn’t like the outcome that took place last season so we want to continue that surge that we had when we won 27 games.
“We will continue with that momentum. And what better way to do it than have an opportunity to go and get some early season practices in and hopefully they can set the tone for what’s to come.”
While there is a big zero on the spread sheet for the 2015 class with Jimmy Whitt transferring to SMU and a mutual decision with Lorenzo Jenkins to move on, Anderson and his staff have reloaded with eight new faces on the 2016-17 roster.
The Razorbacks also have a top-five 2017 recruiting class nationally with the pledges of a pair of ESPN.com’s top 62 players in the country in El Dorado center Daniel Gafford (6-foot-11, 223 pounds) and Little Rock Parkview guard Khalil Garland (6-6, 190), as well as pledge Darious Hall (6-7, 210), a small forward from Little Rock Mills.
Arkansas also added a 2018 pledge on Tuesday in Fort Smith Northside shooting guard Isaiah Joe (6-2, 170) and a 2019 commit earlier this year in Little Rock Christian point guard Justice Hill (5-11, 160).
The Razorbacks also have offers out to a pair of Joe and Hill’s 2018 Arkansas Hawks AAU teammates in Little Rock Parkview forward Ethan Henderson (6-8, 190) and Thomasville, Ga., forward Reginald Perry (6-9, 200), both highly regarded nationally.
Arkansas is also thought to be close to offering and likely getting a commit from another Hawks player in Jonesboro point guard Desi Sills (6-1, 180), while Arkansas Baptist junior Connor Vanover (7-3, 220) also has an offer.
With all the talent in the state over the next few years, it would appear that the future is bright.
“I think there are a lot of guys from Arkansas right now who want to help Coach Anderson bring the Razorbacks backs,” Hall said. “To be from Arkansas and to do that in Fayetteville would just be so special.”