LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey wasted little time in making an in-home visit to point guard Rashad “Ky” Madden on the first day of the contact period that started Thursday and runs until Oct. 5.
Madden, 6-5, 170 pounds, of East Poinsett County, is considered by recruiting services to be one of the top prospects in the nation with scholarship offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Baylor, Kentucky, Connecticut, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Florida, Marquette and others.
Pelphrey notified the Madden family beforehand of his plans to arrive at their house at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning, the earliest possible time to make an in-person visit with a prospect.
“It lets you know he’s pretty interested that he would take time out of his day to get there at 12:01 a.m.,” said Rashad’s father, Jerome Madden. “That made it seem that it’s pretty important.”
The elder Madden commended Pelphrey and his coaching staff for doing a good job of recruiting his son.
“He sat there and talked about where we were in the recruiting process,” Madden said. “Which basically hasn’t changed, and we talked about what we thought about the coaching staff and Arkansas in general.”
Rashad Madden led the Arkansas Wings to the 17-under AAU national championship Aug. 1 in Orlando, Fla., while being named the tournament’s MVP. He averaged 19.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists while shooting 58 percent from the field, 34 percent from beyond the three-point line and 78 percent from the free-throw line as a junior for East Poinsett County.
Jerome Madden and his wife, Gloria, accompanied their son on an official visit to Baylor over the weekend, where their daughter, Jordan is a sophomore for the Bears women’s basketball team.
“You couldn’t ask for anything better,” Jerome Madden said of the trip to Waco. “The coaching staff was great. We met the president of the university and toured the campus. We met all of the coaches and the players.”
The Maddens plan to make an official visit to Arkansas this weekend followed by official visits to Ole Miss on Sept. 24-26 and Connecticut on Nov. 5-7. Jerome Madden said Georgetown and Oklahoma State are possibilities for the fifth visit.
“It’s pretty much even,” he said. “Arkansas and Ole Miss have basically been there from the beginning. Arkansas more or less, they’re there for the long haul, and Ole Miss isn’t far behind, but as far as a pecking order I don’t know. Baylor, they’ve been in there here and there. We’re going to the schools to look at them and weigh the options and decide what the best fit is forhim and sit down and make a decision.”
Madden said the recruiting process has been an enjoyable experience for his son.
“It’s always great to be wanted,” he said. “Especially when you go to places and they appreciate you and they really want you and they need you. It just feels good to be wanted.”
PONDERING POTENTIAL
National recruiting analyst Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com sees the Razorbacks having one of the premier recruiting classes in the nation should they be able to add Rashad Madden and DeSoto, Texas, small forward Antwan Space to the Hogs’ current oral commitments of forwards Hunter Mickleson of Jonesboro Westside and Aaron Ross of Little Rock Parkview and combination guard B.J. Young of Florissant (Mo.) McCluer North.
Space made an official visit to Fayetteville on Sept. 3-5.
“I think right now that it would be a class that would definitely hold up as a top 10 class, based on the three kids they already have and if you add those kids,” said Coleman, who has more than 30 years of experience. “It would definitely be one of the stronger classes they’ve had in recent memory. I think in their case, they would have kids that have the potential to be a nucleus of a very, very strong team down the road.
“The nice thing: three of them are home-grown.” E-mail Richard Davenport at
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/14/2010