I don’t know how to feel about this other than trust Muss.
We now have Walsh or Devo, Mark, Battle, Menifield, Ellis, Davenport, Pinion/Blocker and Ford. That is 9 guys for the three guard spots, assuming a 3 guard lineup like always.
The way Muss is adding guards, have a feeling that Muss is telling them that both Devo and Walsh are not returning, Not sure if that is good or bad.
Depending on whether Devo or Walsh come back or both don’t, either 4 of those 9 sit or 3 of those 8. I listed them in the order I am leaning.
It is clear now that after last year’s offensive struggles, Muss has decided to recruit offense and hopes to coach them up on defense. Other than Mark, none of the transfers are noted for defense.
I selfishly feel for Blocker. Have invested too much time in following his high school career.
Finally, I think guard recruiting is over. The final transfer will be a Big.
Aloha PJ,
At what point will portal recruiting negatively affect high school recruiting of four stars and below? Not just UA, but other top D1 basketball programs.
UA…Campus of Champions
When I saw this headline, my first thoughts were Huh and why? Then, after reading this, and seeing his picture, a few things came into focus. He is the only player on that team that I still distinctly remember. He had decent stats for the year. It looks like he made good progress from his Jr. year to his Sr year at Louisville. He was a 2 year JUCO All American.
This past year, he led Louisville in scoring, assists, and steals. He had a positive assist to TO ratio. That’s not easy to do on a bad team.
What are Menifield’s and Blocker’s thoughts on this? Is Menifield still as happy as he looked in those pics with Muss over the week-end? What are Ellis’ expectations this coming season? In addition to leading the team in the 3 above categories, he was also the team’s leading minute guy, by far. More importantly, what are Muss’ expectations for El? He sure accepted his commitment without even a visit.
I understand what your saying but Walsh should be announcing his intentions this week before the 21st . He’s atleast testing the draft , if not transferring when the smoke clears . As far as blocker he will play but I don’t see muss putting any more freshman in the driver seat . A lot of the players we got were good players on bad teams aside of T.Mark. I think he will utilize ellis as more of jd notae year 1. 6th man of the year vibes .
Blocker will crack the rotation
Devo is gone , he’s gonna get a professional check from from either the g-league worth up to $300k or the overseas route they’re giving players top clubs are giving away $500k-$1m. Especially someone as marketable as devo
Muss is trying to find a scorer gaurd to fill the jd notae roll his first year . Whether it’s mini field or Ellis idk but I don’t think blocker was expecting to start this season .
Blocker is GREAT and fits muss’s needs but this is a weak 2023 high school class . He’s not game changing ready as of yet he will see the floor because he has too much upside unless he blows muss away this summer he’s gonna be the 8-10th man off the bench . Just hopefully muss doesn’t cut his rotation to 7 as he’s always does
Ellis is a very good player and will fit in well with us because he won’t try to do everything by himself like he had to last year
we’re going to try to go up tempo a lot more next year and he wants combo guards that can beat you off the dribble and also step out and drill the 3 and can also knock down free throws …every one of the guys he’s brought in fit this same description.
I remember Ellis from Maui because of that mop he wore under his headband, maybe to absorb excess moisture?
It is inevitable. As we know, Muss is focusing on 5 stars only. That means 4 stars coming to Arkansas may have to find lesser schools, which forces 3 stars to go to even lesser schools and the domino continues. I am sure they will have a scholarship but not the school they were hoping for.
As I said, Muss will rotate 5 guys at the three wing spots. If Blocker plays, one of Ellis and Menifield doesn’t play.
Moses Moody, Jaylin Williams, Devo Davis?
Question was about what happens in the future going forward and not what happened in the past.
Ellis had a four-game stretch in Feb where they were playing at Miami, Virginia, clemson, and at Duke…
He averaged 25 PPG
55% FG
48% three PT %
91% FT.
Those are some really good tough teams and he rose to the occasion big time.
He is going to be a handful with all the other quick G we’re bringing in
Blocker is rated a 4-star by the four services. A composite 5 star by one. Baye is 4-star by two and a 5 by two others.
’24 Dink Pate is a 4-star. They would’ve taken him in a heartbeat.
There’s only 20-25 5-stars a year. Don’t think Muss will limit himself to 5-stars.
It seems that Muss is slinging guards on the wall to see which ones stick. At least 2 of the portal guards have declared for the draft. And there’s the uncertainty around Devo. Who knows what our backcourt will actually look like next year. Guys like Ford and Blocker would seem to be insurance policies. I do hope he lands a reliable Inside scorer. We won’t win anything that matters without one.
I keep hoping we’ll be getting a really solid big as our big splash final transfer
Hey, welcome back Eagle! We missed you.
Yeah, but we always go by the service that has our guy rated the highest. At least that is how Arkansas media does it. 
We will see what Muss does going forward. As many predict, he is going with two freshmen a year. It is possible that he may not be able to get 2 5s in a given year and may dip down to a 4.
Now we have to wait on three guys to make their final NBA decision. Devo, Mark and Ellis. Wonder if that is why Muss is loading up on guards.