Following Arkansas basketball’s 71-56 win over South Dakota State, Eric Musselman announced that he and his staff will not be recruiting anymore high school players for 2023.
“We’re done in the high school ranks,” said Musselman. “We’re going to try to have a philosophy to go after high, high-level high-school players, like the two guys we just got (Layden Blocker and Baye Fall). See where the roster is and go from there.”
His comments might come as a big surprise if you’ve been living under a rock since 2006. That was when the one-and-done rule was implemented and completely changed college basketball. With the recent addition of the transfer portal on top of that, coaches and programs are having to continuously adapt and evolve to have success.
Nobody in college basketball has been able to use both of those tools as successfully as Eric Musselman has in recent years.
In his first off-season at Arkansas, he was able to use the transfer portal to find guys like Jalen Tate and Justin Smith to pair with standout high school recruits like Moses Moody, Devo Davis and Jaylin Williams. That team made it to the Elite Eight, and so did the team last season that was made up similarly of young recruits and transfers.
This is the new way that Arkansas basketball operates. It’s a byproduct of the success the program is having on the court and the fact that players want to play for someone like Eric Musselman.
👀 @TheBayeFall21 @Laygogetit2 https://t.co/E6pt5Ymewx
— Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) November 16, 2022
Musselman is going to be content with having two of the best five-star prospects in the country, Layden Blocker and Baye Fall. Then, once the dust settles on another season, they’ll evaluate the roster and use the transfer portal to fill in the gaps.
It’s a new game on and off the court, and it’s a game that Eric Musselman has seemed to figure out almost down to a science.
On paper, it looks like a Razorback renaissance in college basketball could be taking place for years to come.
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