NOLAN CALLS to congratulate Musselman.
FAYETTEVILLE — The latest coach to lead the University of Arkansas basketball team to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and last one to do it had a nice talk Tuesday night.
Nolan Richardson, the Razorbacks’ coach when they made the Sweet 16 in 1996, called Eric Musselman to congratulate him on Arkansas breaking a 25-year drought and making the Sweet 16 again by beating Texas Tech 68-66 on Sunday night in Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“Eric has done an excellent job,” Richardson said. “[Wednesday] I went to the store for the first time in a long, long time, and the first person I saw was a young boy about
12 or 13 years old, and he said, ‘Coach, we’ve got a chance to win a national championship again.’
“Now, I haven’t heard those words in 25 years. That tells you how excited all the fans are about the Razorbacks.”
Richardson said he’s enjoyed getting to know Musselman, who is in his second season as the Arkansas coach.
“Eric’s been a really good guy to me,” Richardson said. “We’ve been around each other from time to time, and he’s called and written me letters. So I wanted to call him and let him know how much I’m pulling for him.”
Musselman said Richardson’s congratulatory call meant a lot to him.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It was a really good conversation. We talked about defense, we talked about how to keep your team focused on a run like this. It was great to hear his thoughts.”
Richardson led Arkansas to its only basketball national championship in 1994, a runner-up finish in 1995 and another Final Four appearance in 1990 as part of six trips to the Sweet 16 in a seven-year span from 1990-96.
“Coach Richardson is a coaching legend,” Musselman said. “He’s somebody I’ve looked up to for many, many years — way before coming to Arkansas as a coach.
“His style of play was unique, and the hardest thing as a coach is always to have a style and an identity. Coach Richardson’s teams always had an identity with the way they played so hard defensively.”
Musselman said he appreciates how Richardson has treated him.
“I know he’s complimented our ballclub this year on several occasions, which means a lot,” he said. “I came into this Razorback family and it was important to be accepted by somebody like Coach Richardson.”
Smith great fit
Arkansas senior graduate transfer Justin Smith’s return to the state of Indiana for the NCAA Tournament after playing three seasons at the
University
Indiana in nearby Bloomington has sparked a lot of interest among local media.
“We really felt like we had to get a lot more athletic than we were the first year at Arkansas,” Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said on an NCAA media call when asked why he pursued Smith in the transfer portal. “We felt like maybe there was some potential there from being a multipositional player that we could expand on a little bit.
“Then the more I talked to Justin, the more I felt it was a great fit to play in our system, and for him to play with some freedom to be able to isolate players.”
Smith, 6-7, has combined for 49 points and 19 rebounds in the Razorbacks’ two NCAA Tournament games.
“We basically played him at the [power forward spot] all season long,” Musselman said. “Then we’ve gotten into this tournament and made some adjustments as the games have flowed, and he’s played some [center], which he really didn’t do at all during the regular season.
“But he’s a player that I think has improved as much as any player in college basketball. I certainly think that NBA teams are taking note of his play.”
Smith, who is averaging 13.9 points and 7.1 rebounds, missed four games in January after undergoing surgery on his right ankle.
“Justin is a pro’s pro, honestly, when it comes to his work ethic,” Arkansas senior guard Jalen Tate said. “He takes care of his body, man.
“You don’t see too many guys have surgery in the middle of the season and be able to come back and have the year he’s been having. Especially here down the stretch.”
Musselman, a former NBA head coach and assistant, said he’s gotten calls from several teams asking about Smith.
“I think he’s got more upside,” Musselman said. “I think he’s continuing to grow as a player. I don’t think he has plateaued at all.
I think his best basketball is still ahead of him.”
Hoops ‘therapy’
Oral Roberts Coach Paul Mills said some of his players had dealt with family issues because of covid-19.
“We’ve had a couple of players who had to deal with situations with parents on account of covid and the ICU, and didn’t know if they would live,” Mills said. “We’ve had several of our players whose parents have been displaced home-wise on account of covid, and had financial strains and had to find new places to live.
“I would tell you that as difficult as those situations are — and they were heartwrenching when we were going through them as a team — those kind of things, not only do they develop a resiliency, but basketball almost becomes therapy.”
‘KK’ with team
Arkansas freshman guard Khalen “KK” Robinson hasn’t played since early January after undergoing season-ending foot surgery, but he’s with his teammates in Indianapolis.
“KK has been great,” freshman forward
Jaylin
Williams said. “I know it’s probably bothering him inside that he can’t be out on the court, but KK is probably the happiest person for the team to see us succeed.
“Even though he has that boot on, you’ll see him over there jumping for joy, happy that we’re winning the game. When Devo [Davonte Davis] goes full-court and dunks the ball, you’ll see KK over there flexing.”