A year after featuring one of the nation’s most experienced teams, Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson finds himself on the opposite end of the spectrum.
The Razorbacks will feature a plethora of newcomers this season after losing more than a handful of seniors.
Unfortunately, most of those newcomers have zero experience at the college level.
That’s one of the biggest reasons why Arkansas was picked 10th in the SEC in the preseason on Wednesday. There’s no Daryl Macon, there’s no Jaylen Barford, and there’s very little experience across the board.
However, even with a lot of unknowns heading into the 2018-19 season, you won’t see Anderson using his team’s youth as an excuse.
“I thought we’d be picked last to be honest with you,” Anderson said at SEC Media Day on Wednesday. “When you look at what we lost, we went from one of the older teams in terms of seniors to one of the younger teams.”
“But at the same time, our mindset – like everyone else here – is we’ll put a team out there that wants to contend for a championship. Being young won’t be an excuse. We know there will be bumps along the way.”
While those bumps could be more frustrating than usual, there’s one big reason why Arkansas could exceed its preseason ranking: the return of likely future NBA lottery pick Daniel Gafford.
The 6-11 sophomore surprising came back to Fayetteville for another season after seemingly being a first round lock in the draft. He averaged 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game during his freshman season while racking up 75 dunks and 76 blocks.
And now, Gafford finds himself in a unique spot as a sophomore. Not only will all eyes be on him from a production standpoint, but they’ll also be on him from a leadership standpoint as he and senior forward Adrio Bailey are the only returning Hogs with significant experience.
Luckily, Anderson has already seen Gafford embrace his new role as a leader.
“He’s much more outgoing, and he’s more talkative now,” Anderson said. “He’s doing it by example as well. Every day in practice he’s working extremely hard. He’s improved from last year and put on 8 to 10 pounds. He wants to continue to get better and what better position to be in where now you’re gonna be considered not only one of the better players in the SEC but in the country. I think he’s got the right mindset thus far.”
But even as good as Gafford could be in his sophomore campaign, he and Bailey won’t be able to do it alone.
Gabe Osabuohien is another frontcourt returnee along with Gafford and Bailey, but he averaged just 6.8 minutes per game last season.
That’s where all the newcomers come into play.
In the backcourt, there’s JUCO transfer Mason Jones, New Mexico transfer Jalen Harris, redshirt freshman Khalil Garland (who still isn’t medically cleared), and a host of true freshmen. In the frontcourt, there are guys like Ethan Henderson, Reggie Chaney, and Ibby Ali.
What do all of these players have in common? They’ve yet to play a game for the Razorbacks.
And for Anderson, that means very few guaranteed spots, which has translated into plenty of competition in practices.
“I’m really excited about the competitiveness in practice,” Anderson said. “That’s one of the things with a young team – they’ve gotta learn how to compete. Every time they come to practice, they’re auditioning in front of me. They’re trying to vie for those minutes, and I think that creates an opportunity for your team to get better.”
When you put it all together, constant development and improvement will be crucial to Arkansas’s success in what could be the deepest conference in the country this season.
The SEC features three likely preseason top 10 teams in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Auburn, and could once again get eight teams or more into the NCAA Tournament.
With that type of competition on a nightly basis, Anderson is aware of the challenges ahead and hopes to bring his young team along very quickly.
“That’s gonna be our chore is to get these guys to grow, and to grow significantly throughout the year,” Anderson said. “We’ll have our share of mistakes without a doubt. Our guys are gonna make mistakes.”
“But as long as they’re learning from it and continue to work and improve each and every day, I think this will be the ultimate team. They’re gonna have to rely on each other.”
For more SEC basketball coverage, follow me on Twitter @theblakelovell.