Earth, Wind and Fire UA’s shining stars

DETROIT — Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson was totally relaxed during his news conference Thursday.

It may have been the most comfortable he’s ever been, as his sense of humor was keen when he told the story of recovering his lost national championship ring and what he thought about Jaylen Barford’s, “They call us [Barford, Darryl Macon and Anton Beard] Earth, Wind and Fire” declaration.

Barford said that as he was departing the podium so no follow-up questions could be asked.

When told about it, Anderson, who is usually very cautious and conscious about bulletin board material, looked puzzled for a moment, then laughed, “I think they are making something up,” he said with a smile.

Earth, Wind and Fire was a funk band that was big in the 1980’s, long before the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville’s trio of starting senior guards was born.

Earth, Wind and Fire is still on tour, but mostly plays casinos.

Earth, Wind and Fire the basketball players are on tour, and if they are going to stay that way they have to play their best defense of the season when they take on the Butler Bulldogs this afternoon in their opening game of the NCAA Tournament Otherwise they will join 31 other teams as a one-and-done.

In Arkansas’ 11 losses this season, opponents never had more turnovers than assists.

Guards like LSU’s Tremont Waters were the reason they lost. Waters had 19 assists and just 6 turnovers in the 2 Tiger wins.

Butler’s point guard, Kamar Baldwin, has Anderson concerned.

Baldwin is a sophomore who as a freshman came off the bench the first 10 games of the season, then became a starter and has remained one.

This season he has 103 assists and 73 turnovers, and he likes to score. He averaged 15.5 points per game, but he’s not really a long-distance dialer. He shot 141 threes and made 46 (32.6 percent), but he’s quick off the dribble and has the rare combination of being left-handed but shoots with his right.

That means he can drive either direction.

Earth, Wind and Fire will need to stop him and at the same time be prepared to help with 6-7 forward Kelan Martin who can score inside and out. He made 87 of 240 (36.3 percent) threes.

The Bulldogs have two bigs who will come off the bench to try and stop Daniel Gafford, 6-11 Joey Brunk and 6-10 Nate Fowler, but Fowler is the one in the rotation who’s not as quick or athletic as Gafford.

The key could be Baldwin, who “is an important player for them,” said Anderson, “and he plays really good defense.”

Mostly, though, this is about which Razorbacks team shows up. The one that beat Florida will blow Butler off the court; the one that showed up for Kentucky in Fayetteville would need some luck.

Daryl Macon snapped out of a three-game slump where he was 7-28 from the field and 0-12 on threes, with a 5-of-10, 19-point effort against Tennessee. That’s good news.

Now is not the time to be in a slump.

In the SEC Tournament Beard, who according to Anderson gets less attention and thus more open opportunities, didn’t look to score as much and had 12 assists and only two turnovers.

Barford is Barford. He’s going to work hard to get shots and he’ll play decent defense.

Whether it was on the podium for news conferences or the floor for practice, this senior- laden team seems relaxed and confident, but both of these teams were in the NCAA Tournament last year and were eliminated by North Carolina, so experience isn’t a factor.

What will be big is how Arkansas’ Earth, Wind and Fire performs, and those are the ones who want to own Detroit the way the band did three decades ago.

WALLY HALL