College Basketball Recruiting
Eric Musselman overhauls Arkansas basketball via transfer portal
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated19 Apr 2023
Media members in college basketball have criticized Arkansas basketball head coach Eric Musselman for his “over-the-top aggressive” approach when it comes to recruiting. Musselman has kept the Razorbacks relevant in college basketball over the last few seasons with his portal grabs and he’s doing the same this offseason. At the moment, Arkansas has the second-best transfer class in all of college basketball only behind West Virginia for the 2023-24 season.
So far, Musselman and the Razorbacks have boosted their roster for next season with five new additions via the transfer portal. Arkansas has gotten Khalif Battle (Temple), Tramon Mark (Houston), Keyon Meinfield (Washington), El Ellis (Louisville), and Jeremiah Davenport (Cincinnati).
The Hogs needed these reinforcements if they want to continue to compete at a high level. Five players have already left the team as they are declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft.
👀🔴The Muss Bus has NO brakes 🚌💨! Arkansas lands another 🌟 out of the Portal in Louisville Guard Transfer:
El Ellis(6’3-180)👆🅰️🐗‘22-23 Stats:
17.7 PTs; 4.4 ASTs; 2.6 RBs; 1 STL
41% FG; 31.9% 3P; 81% FTsGo Follow & give him a warm welcome!#Razorbacks #Basketball https://t.co/1jgciPnJ0J
— Rabid Razorback Fans (@Rabid_Razorback) April 17, 2023
Eric Musselman has already added five commits through the transfer portal this offseason
As of today, Arkansas has lost Anthony Black, Nick Smith Jr., Ricky Council IV, Davonate Davis, and most recently Jordan Walsh all to the NBA Draft. That is why head coach Eric Musselman and the Razorbacks have been extremely active in the transfer portal. Four of those five players played a vast majority of the minutes for Arkansas last season and were legitimate starters.
One area that Coach Musselman has stressed this offseason is his team’s three-point shooting. They shot the long ball at (.313) percent as a team last season, which was 317th in the nation out of over 150 D-1 NCAA programs. Arkansas made a total of 179 threes as a team last season and that included their tournament run to the Sweet 16.
Their incoming transfers made a combined 282 threes last season and Musselman has surely addressed their outside shooting which was their flaw. It proved true in their Sweet 16 game vs UConn when they could not keep us with the Huskies’ three-point shooting. The portal window is still open until May 11 and Arkansas still has some time to land top transfers from around the nation.
