Last week, Dusty Hannahs was signed to a 10-contract by the Memphis Grizzlies.
It is his third 10-day contract, and as a hard-nosed player for the Grizzlies G League team the Memphis Hustle, he has become a local favorite with the fans.
Hannahs was averaging 21.3 points per game when he got called up for what started with a three-game road swing.
He didn’t play in the first game, which isn’t unusual. In the second game, he scored four points in six minutes, and in the last game he scored eight in six minutes.
Which is why Grizzlies fans are calling for him to not only get more playing time but to stay with the parent team.
Hannahs has always been a good three-point shooter, but now his range seems to be when he steps off the bus.
On a team laden with shooters at the University of Arkansas, he still averaged 15.4 points per game in two seasons and became something of a trivia question from his final game when the Hogs played North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
Why was Hannahs on the bench when the Hogs needed a three-pointer to win the game?
Hannahs is a native of Little Rock, who played at Pulaski Academy and two years at Texas Tech before transferring to Arkansas.
While at Tech he made eight consecutive three-pointers in a span that covered two games.
Hannahs sat out a year after transferring to Arkansas where he also became a fan favorite for dialing up long-distance threes.
Hannahs has paid his dues in the G League and deserves a shot at the big time.
The Arkansas Razorbacks moved up five spots in the latest NCAA NET rankings after beating Tennessee.
The Hogs were No. 45 and are now No. 40.
There is no exact solution to what ranking gets you in the NCAA Tournament, but a rule of thumb is try to be no worse than No. 35.
The three remaining games could move the the Hogs into a very safe zone going into the SEC Tournament where wins could help their seeding a little.
Conference tournaments rarely change seedings much, but they can.
By the way the Razorbacks played against Tennessee, there is no reason they can’t win out, and that would mean avenging an earlier loss to LSU which has a NET ranking of 33.
Moving up to No. 40 put the Hogs one spot behind Alabama, who they beat in Tuscaloosa.
It appears that Kentucky, Auburn, Florida and LSU are in the tournament, and a fifth spot could come down to Alabama or Arkansas.
What helps the Hogs and Crimson Tide is that other than three very good teams, the ACC is very down, including traditional powerhouse North Carolina which is last in the ACC and has a NET ranking of 95.
That won’t happen many years, and the Tar Heels will be improved next season.
Until then, there are going to be some teams catching a break when the tournament bracket is announced.
Despite a short bench, the Razorbacks have found a way to win games they shouldn’t, and the five they lost while Isaiah Joe was recovering from knee surgery won’t count against them.
Those games will be deducted from the calculations.
How did the Hogs end up with such a short bench?
It began in 2017 when they signed just four players, all from Arkansas, including Daniel Gafford.
Not one of those players is still on the roster, as three chose to transfer.
Gafford is on the roster of the Chicago Bulls, who drafted him with the 38th pick of last year’s NBA Draft.
He is currently averaging 13 1/2 minutes per game off the bench and averages 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds.
All are decent numbers for a rookie.