University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman and his staff’s success on the basketball court and recruiting has the attention of ESPN junior 4-star Marcus Allen. Because of that, he plans to make an official visit to Fayetteville.
“Arkansas is a great school, I’ve been watching them for the longest especially now that they have Jordan Walsh, Nick Smith and Anthony Black,” Allen said. “I can really see myself fitting into that kind of a mold of those type of players.
“I also like the coaching staff is great. Coach Musselman always text me. He always hits me up I would say everyday, He’s always tuned into any of my games, well into all my games. I already feel the love from the coaching staff and the people already.”
Allen, 6-7, 210 pounds, of Chandler (Ariz.) Compass Prep, is also ESPN’s No. 10 power forward and No. 54 overall prospect in the nation for the 2024 class.
He reports 18 scholarship offers from Arkansas, Miami, Florida State, Missouri, Villanova, Stanford and others.
Musselman, recruiting coordinator Ronnie Brewer Jr., assistant Anthony Ruta and others on the staff keep in touch with Allen on a regular basis.
“Everyone on the coaching staff hits me up from Coach Brewer to Coach Musselman to Coach Ruta,” Allen said. “It’s like a consistent conversation. Each one sends me videos of the campus, sending videos of their games and stuff. I like Arkansas, so I’m always tuning into the games as well. That relationship is good with everyone.”
Musselman and his staff’s combined 52 years of NBA experience is one of the strongest selling points for the program and Allen is also impressed.
“I would take that into consideration because I would want to go to the NBA ,” Allen said. “That would be my ultimate dream and I would want to go somewhere that would put me in the position to showcase my skills, so I can get to that next level. So I feel like they’ve already done that and been there so they know what to expect and they know what to do.”
Allen, who is looking to officially visit Fayetteville in the spring, said Musselman critiques his performances.
“He’s telling me things I need to work on, or he’s telling me [what he likes to see] in my games, and just keep my head up, if we lose,” Allen said. “He tells me to still impact the game other ways and still be effective.”
He appreciates Musselman watching his games knowing he’s fully locked into the season and the responsibilities that go with coaching an SEC team.
“That’s crazy, but I will also say it’s love as well because that takes a lot of time because I know with the college schedule, it’s a lot of scouting and looking at the players and working in his own team right now,“ Allen said. “That’s a lot. “
He averaged 18.5 points, 7.5 rebounds as a sophomore at Miami Norland before transferring to Compass for this season.
Allen, who has a 3.7-grade point average, is a natural when it comes to talking to people and his ability to communicate so easily has him looking to enter the media field after basketball.
“After college, I want to go into journalism, so that’s going to be one of my majors,” he said. “I think I would be good at that.”
As far as other official visits, Allen plans to talk with his mother about other possibilities.
“I know Arkansas is an option for sure, I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and discuss with my mom,” her said. “There’s a lot of schools recruiting me, so I know the recruiting process is like time consuming as well, so I really don’t want to take a lot of visits, so I’ll have to sit down with my mom and have to cut down the list and see what schools we’re actually going to visit.”