FAYETTEVILLE – When the 2019-20 basketball preseason magazines are released early next fall, most experts will likely project Arkansas to finish somewhere in the bottom half of the SEC. New head coach Eric Musselman, however, isn’t interested in a one-year pass.
Musselman, who compiled a 110-34 record at Nevada before being formally introduced as the new head Hog on Monday, said in his first team meeting that Arkansas should expect to be playing in the NCAA Tournament next season.
Video of the meeting was sent out from the UA’s social media accounts and, as one might expect, was music to the ears of Hog fans everywhere.
When asked about it in his introductory press conference on Monday, Musselman doubled down on his comments.
“Well, first of all when I said I believe, I believe that Coach (Mike) Anderson has done a great job of accumulating talent. So many great young pieces,” Musselman said. “A lot of the guys just finished up their freshman year, and usually players make great leaps after their freshman year going into their sophomore season. We feel like we have to set high goals.
“We knew that was going to get out – there was a camera in there –- so it isn’t anything I wouldn’t say today. Our goal is to make the tournament next season and that should be our goal every single season. That’s really how I feel. And I think that’s how our players feel.
“They didn’t flinch when I talked about it. Later on, I got to eat with them and we talked more and more – about how that can happen and what we have to do as a group between now and November.”
Arkansas will return a plethora of players who were first-year contributors for the Razorbacks this past season.
The returning group includes Isaiah Joe, Mason Jones, Jalen Harris, Desi Sills and Reggie Chaney, but the Hogs currently lack depth and experience down low after losing Daniel Gafford to the NBA.
With the spring signing period beginning on April 17 and running through May 15, Musselman will need to work quickly in trying to find big men.
“I mean obviously with the NCAA rules, we can’t really talk too much about recruiting. But yeah, we’re going to work hard to still look at guys that are in this class,” Musselman said. “There’s no doubt that’s going to happen.”
Musselman’s first recruiting-related move as head coach of the Razorbacks came approximately an hour before he was introduced on Monday. Musselman and the Razorbacks became the latest to offer a pair of very heavily recruited teammates at Phoenix (Ariz.) Hillcrest Prep in five-star small forward Kyree Walker and four-star small forward Dalen Terry.
Musselman credits much of his recruiting success at Nevada, which included a five-star signee in 2018, to his program’s usage of social media.
He still plans to be creative on social media in Fayetteville, but says Arkansas’ logo speaks for itself in recruiting.
“The great thing about Arkansas is there is a brand,” Musselman said. “Everybody in the country, when they see that logo, they know what it is. Obviously from a social media standpoint, if anybody followed what we did at Nevada, we were trying to create a brand, trying to create who we were.
“I’ll still probably be extremely active on social media, because I enjoy it. But having said that, we don’t need to do anything… we did some crazy stuff [at Nevada] and had some fun on social media, and we’ll still have fun. But that logo means a lot. When people see it, they know what it means. So I don’t think we need to get too outlandish here.”