Barford, Macon could make impact for Hogs in NCAA Tournament
FAYETTEVILLE — If Arkansas’ two junior college transfer guards debut as well in their first NCAA Tournament games as their first-ever SEC Tournament games, then perhaps the Razorbacks greatly impact the South Regional starting Friday in Greenville, S.C.
Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon considerably impacted Mike Anderson’s 25-9 Razorbacks at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., blending with fellow Razorbacks guards Dusty Hannahs, Manny Watkins and Anton Beard and complementing the Arkansas forecourt led by 6-10 senior center Moses Kingsley.
The eighth-seeded Razorbacks, third in the SEC and a SEC Tournament finalist losing Sunday’s championship game to SEC champion Kentucky, and the ninth-seeded Seton Hall Pirates, 21-11 and third in the Big East, play in Friday’s 12:30 p.m. TNT-televised South Regional first round. The winner will advance to Sunday’s second round in Greenville against Friday’s winner between heavily favored No. 1 seed ACC champion North Carolina and 16-seeded SWAC Tournament champion Texas Southern.
In Arkansas’ SEC Tournament victories over NITbound Ole Miss and NCAA Tournament-bound Vanderbilt, it was Barford the brilliant and Macon the magnificent. Barford scored 13 on Ole Miss including three of four treys, grabbed six rebounds, dished four assists against one turnover, blocked a shot and made two steals.
Against Vanderbilt Barford scored 18 points with four rebounds and three steals and scored 13 in Sunday’s 82-65 loss to Kentucky.
Macon against Ole Miss scored 17 points, including nine of 10 free throws, netted a steal, a blocked shot and four rebounds and three assists against one turnover.
Against Vandy, Macon scored 15 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals and scored 18 points against Kentucky.
In the general view of several SEC coaches on Monday’s SEC teleconference, Arkansas’ juco duo just picked up at the SEC Tournament where they left off during the SEC season once they adjusted to major college ball.
“Barber and Macon, when
they figured out how good they were at the level, they were ridiculous,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Those two kids are really good.”
Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy concurred.
“They did exactly what Mike intended for them to do, make an immediate impact,” Kennedy said. “You are talking about two guys who were arguably the best juco players in the country and a perfect complement for each other.”
They complemented the entire team, Georgia coach Mark Fox said, and that’s not easy for junior college transfers to do, finding a niche with returnees and young incoming freshmen.
“Arkansas has a good team, and Mike deserves a lot of credit and probably was a very strong candidate for coach of the year in this league,” Fox said. “Those two kid showed the ability to shoot and slash and complement Kingsley inside and Hannahs on the perimeter.”
South Carolina coach Frank Martin credited Anderson’s patience taking some early-season lumps piecing the puzzle together.
“Mike deserves an unbelievable amount of credit for the way he managed that team, and those kids deserve a lot of credit,” Martin said.
Anderson, a junior college transfer when he played for Nolan Richardson at Tulsa before assisting Richardson 17 years at Arkansas then head coaching Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri, was asked his philosophy on recruiting jucos which this season also include 6-8 Arlando Cook in Arkansas’ power forward rotation with 6-8 University of Colorado transfer Dustin Thomas and 6-9 two-year letterman junior Trey Thompson of Madison via Forrest City High.
“We know their window is a little small,” Anderson said of juco transfers on campus time to develop. “They’ve got to come in and try to expedite the process of learning and try to fit in.”
The Razorbacks August exhibition games tour of Spain expedited that process, Anderson said.
“Coming here into the summer and then the foreign trip, they spent some quality time with these players and each other,” Anderson said. “Some guys get it quicker than others. These guys have done a good job of picking up things that we are trying to do and bringing what they bring to the table and what we’re doing. I think they are playing good basketball.”