FAYETTEVILLE — Only a sophomore, forward Daniel Gafford is considered one of Mike Anderson's veterans heading into the 2018-19 season.
Aside from him, the Razorbacks return only two players - junior Adrio Bailey and sophomore Gabe Osabuohien - who saw the floor last season. Following his recent trip to the Nike Basketball Skills Academy in Los Angeles, Gafford said he's liked what he's seen from the team's newcomers over the summer.
Should redshirt freshman guard Khalil Garland be cleared for full basketball activities, Arkansas could floor as many as 10 fresh faces this season. Anderson and his staff signed eight players in their 2018 recruiting class, and point guard Jalen Harris, a transfer from New Mexico who sat out the 2017-18 season, will also be eligible.
"I’ve seen that we’ve got a lot of dogs this year," Gafford said Tuesday in his first speaking appearance since April 9. "They’re going to come and they’re going to impress. They’re going to come in with the same mindset I had last year. They’re just going to come in and be ready to play."
Gafford said it wasn't unusual this summer for several players to work out on their own in Arkansas' Basketball Performance Center late into the night. Off the top, he mentioned freshmen Isaiah Joe, Reggie Chaney, Desi Sills and Ibby Ali.
He's been impressed with his teammates' inclination to grow and says they're not of the mindset that everything will be handed to them.
"Like their first week here, they came in, you know, they were getting in the gym at nighttime," he said. "They all have that mentality to work, and they all have the mentality to get better. We’re just going to see what happens when the season gets here.
"I have a lot of hope in them. If they don’t (bring it), then I’m going to get on to them, if they just come in and think it’s going to be easy. You just have to come in and be ready to work for it."
Bailey, who at times played a starting role for Anderson last season, and Osabuohien, a seldom-used role player who most notably factored into a pair of home wins over South Carolina and Vanderbilt last season, have made progressions in their games, Gafford said.
As one of three juniors on the roster, Bailey has assumed a leadership role alongside Gafford and, for Osabuohien, he's become more comfortable with the program after a full offseason in Fayetteville.
"He’s a non-stop worker, too," Gafford said. He basically has been working on his shooting, he’s been working on attacking the basket hard and not going up soft, basically. ... I’m comfortable (leading the team), but I let Adrio take it most of the time. When it’s my time to step in and try to be a leader, I step in, but I just lead by example basically."
He's also thrilled to be playing alongside Harris, a speedy, shifty guard who appears to be a frontrunner for a starting role. Harris started 18 games as a freshman at New Mexico and averaged 4.5 points and 2.3 assists per game.
Gafford isn't concerned about not having guards who distribute the ball. Harris will reward big men for running the floor, he said.
"If a big man runs, he screams out loud in the gym," Gafford said of Harris. "So playing with a guy like that, it shows that we’re going to be a great team this year because we have guards that can get it to the big man and facilitate like we had last year. We had guards that facilitated last year, so we have another guard that can facilitate.
"Honestly, he’s going to help the young guards come in and try to walk in his shoes, also."