Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman on differences this year with more experienced roster not causing same coaching frustration as last year's young and talented team.
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00:00 Year five for you here in Arkansas,
00:01 and this is--
00:02 I did a piece the other day about your roster
00:05 having 35 years of Division I experience,
00:08 seven transfers the most you've had since coming here.
00:11 Will you talk a little bit about the vast difference
00:14 between last year and a young team,
00:15 and maybe one that's a more veteran experience,
00:17 and how that even impacts practices and how you plan?
00:21 Yeah, I think every year is different.
00:24 It's really helped to have the returners back,
00:31 meaning Devo and Jalen Graham and Cade and Lawson and Joseph.
00:44 We have a little bit more returners than we've had.
00:46 And then obviously, with the experience
00:52 that we have with guys like El Ellis and Davenport,
00:57 and Brazil's helped a lot on the side.
01:01 He still hasn't jumped in with us full go.
01:05 But having returners along with veterans
01:08 that have played a lot of college basketball games.
01:11 T-Mark comes from a great program at Houston.
01:16 So you get a guy like T-Mark who's
01:20 played for such a great coach in Calvin Sampson.
01:23 He understands how to work hard.
01:25 He understands expectations.
01:28 So I think it's different with experience.
01:35 You can do things a little bit differently.
01:37 And then we have more returners than we did in the past
01:41 as well.
01:42 So we've been able to accelerate some of our schemes.
01:46 But there's no comparison ever of really teams
01:50 other than the fact that what can this group execute and then
01:55 move on to the next step or maybe a different phase.
01:59 We've got in a lot more right now
02:02 than we have in the past four years.
02:05 And I think it's a combination of a whole bunch of things.
02:10 Eric, I remember last year you were
02:12 saying that you were having to repeat yourself
02:13 a lot with that young group.
02:14 Is there less of that with the teaching?
02:16 Aspect of summer?
02:18 Yeah, I mean, when I come home at night,
02:23 I mean, I tell Danielle all the time,
02:31 there's not as much coaching frustration.
02:33 In reality, we've had one bad practice, I thought,
02:44 the whole summer.
02:45 And then we'd like the energy a little bit better.
02:50 But I would say, for the most part--
02:54 and again, we're doing execution.
02:56 We're doing teaching.
02:57 We're doing five on O, skeleton, dry run type stuff.
03:04 We have no way, shape, or form.
03:08 If we even come close to a rotation,
03:12 roles are being formulated in the coaching staff
03:16 and probably in the players' minds.
03:18 I'm sure that the players are forming opinions of teammates
03:23 and forming maybe who they trust or formulating
03:26 who could be a go-to guy.
03:28 And I use that term very loosely, like who could be,
03:32 because that's going to all evolve and develop.
03:35 And we hope to--
03:37 whoever we are in November, we hope that, just
03:40 like in the past, that we're much different come March.
03:43 And that could be rotation player-wise.
03:46 It could be set play.
03:49 I mean, we still have a lot to try to figure out.
03:51 But it's been a really good summer as far as working.
03:56 Our mile times, much improved off the last four years.
04:05 And then it's similar approach.
04:10 And adding type stuff that we had with our last year
04:15 at Nevada, I would say.
04:18 I know you guys have been limited in what
04:20 you can do over the summer.
04:21 I'm just curious of maybe your overall takeaways.
04:24 Are there certain things about this group that have really
04:26 stood out to you that you like?
04:28 Or maybe any areas you've identified
04:29 that you need to work on going into the fall?
04:31 Really coachable group.
04:34 And I'll give you an example.
04:35 Ellis was really quiet.
04:38 Was doing what he should do as an individual.
04:48 I don't know if I've seen a player change so quickly
04:53 in his leadership, his verbal command of the floor.
04:59 Been really cool to see in a very short period of time.
05:02 And then the other guy, like Jalen Graham's practice habits
05:05 are dramatically different than last year.
05:08 Dramatically.
05:08 He's done an incredible job of understanding expectations
05:15 and then following through on his part.
05:19 So there's been some evolving even this summer.
05:22 But that's been one thing, Curtis,
05:23 that's really been cool to see is Graham's evolution
05:28 and how El has really picked up what our expectations are
05:34 and how we try to conduct practice
05:37 and how talking and verbalization is really
05:42 important on the court for us.
05:44 And we've already talked a lot about the veterans
05:46 on the group.
05:47 Just curious what you've seen from your freshmen, Leighton
05:50 and Bay, so far and how they've kind of acclimated themselves
05:52 to the team.
05:53 Yeah, great question.
05:54 I mean, Bay got here a little bit later
05:56 than some of the other guys.
05:57 He's a very, very hard worker, spends a lot of time
06:03 on his own.
06:06 Surprisingly, he can make threes at a much higher clip.
06:12 Got to continue to work on hands.
06:14 Catching the ball in traffic is an area
06:17 that we want to continue to work with him on.
06:21 And because he's a freshman, he's
06:23 going to play a little bit catch up on understanding
06:26 as we add stuff.
06:30 And again, he came late.
06:32 So I think anybody that isn't here
06:35 when some of the foundation stuff has been put in,
06:37 you're playing catch up.
06:39 And certainly, he falls into that.
06:42 And then Leighton, he's got a very mature approach
06:47 to how he conducts.
06:50 I don't know if I've been around a player his age who
06:53 comes in pre-practice and goes into the weight room
06:56 and starts stretching and getting himself mentally ready
07:00 to practice, not play, but to practice.
07:04 So he's mature beyond what his age is.
07:08 And he's a good leader on the floor.
07:10 And he's got point guard characteristics for sure.
07:15 You've had a lot of, I guess, non-traditional lead guards
07:18 in your time at Arkansas with Jimmy Witt, Jalen Tate,
07:21 and even Anthony Black last year.
07:22 With El Ellis, how would you compare and contrast
07:24 his skill set and what he brings to the table
07:26 as a potential point guard for you?
07:28 Yeah, I mean, I think when we look at Jalen Tate and Jimmy
07:32 Witt and Anthony Black, I mean, those guys were freaks
07:39 from a length and a size standpoint.
07:41 Cody Martin at Nevada, Lindsey Drew at Nevada,
07:44 those guys are--
07:46 they're 6'6" with 7-foot wingspans
07:50 that guard the 1 and 1/2 guys every possession just
07:54 because of their length.
07:55 So we're a little bit different this year when El's out there
08:00 and when Layden's out there.
08:03 But we're also a little bit different
08:05 because they have a little bit more traditional point guard
08:08 mentality of some things that we won as well.
08:13 So probably not going to defensive rebound as well
08:18 as we have in the past at that position
08:20 because Anthony Black's one of the best defensive rebounders
08:24 in college basketball.
08:25 Jimmy Witt was incredible, rebounded the ball.
08:29 Tate was great at it as well.
08:32 So we're a little different in that aspect.
08:35 And El's been traditionally a scoring guard
08:43 who's played the point.
08:44 We're going to want him to continue to score,
08:47 but also to be a little bit more of a facilitator
08:49 than maybe what he has been able to show last year.
08:55 And with Keon Minnifield, obviously,
08:56 you'd rather have him this year ready to play.
08:58 But just is the plan with him maybe
08:59 to have him on the JD, no-tay track?
09:01 I know the redshirt year was very important
09:03 for his development.
09:04 Yeah, I think one of the non-benefits of the way
09:10 the transfer portal is right now,
09:12 as I look back at the transfers that we've
09:15 had that have sat out-- and I'll use Cody and Caleb
09:18 Martin as an example--
09:21 I thought it was the best thing for the longevity
09:24 of their career.
09:25 And that's proven the case with how they're
09:27 playing at the NBA level.
09:30 Keon, super, super talented.
09:36 Pat Eckerman, who was on staff here,
09:40 he watched our practice and just talked about, wow,
09:45 he's special talent.
09:48 And that's what the year's got to be about,
09:55 is how can he get better?
09:58 How can he gain weight?
09:59 How can he gain strength?
10:00 Certainly, we've got a pretty good player on scout team.
10:05 Eric, I know you like these big preseason exhibition games.
10:11 I'm just curious how that Purdue exhibition game came about.
10:14 Do you have a connection with Coach Painter?
10:17 Only connection, really, with Coach Painter
10:19 is just Nike puts on an event with a certain group
10:25 of coaches.
10:26 And so I've been a part of that with him and his wife
10:29 and Danielle, but nothing substantial other than the fact
10:34 that from afar, you're talking about one
10:37 of the premier programs in the country.
10:40 You're talking about when we met about as a staff,
10:45 it was how can we play a top three team in the nation?
10:54 Who would be willing to play us?
10:57 And how could we possibly do that in front of our home fans?
11:01 Because last year, we played Texas,
11:03 who was a top 10 team for most of the year.
11:06 How could we get a team in Bud Walton?
11:11 And Todd Lee did a great job of working the exhibition game
11:18 for us and then doing that with administration and Purdue's
11:22 administration.
11:23 I think it's going to be a great game for Purdue, for Arkansas,
11:28 for our fan base as well.
11:31 Because you're going to be able to get a Big 10 team in here
11:37 that I'm going to assume comes in anywhere from one to three.
11:43 And they're really unique.
11:45 They have incredible shooters.
11:48 They were young last year.
11:50 They have a player that could be player of the year
11:53 in college basketball who's overly unique in how
11:57 you have to prepare for him.
11:59 So I think it gives us a lot of really great things.
12:02 And we referenced our Texas game even
12:04 as we got ready for the NCAA tournament about things
12:09 Texas did, about physicality.
12:13 So hopefully, this is a game that we're
12:15 going to be able to reference throughout the course
12:17 of the season as well.
12:20 Coach, you mentioned some of the practice habits
12:23 that have been impressive.
12:24 But when you think about the transfers,
12:26 is there any one player or one specific basketball skill
12:29 from them that's really stood out and surprised you so far
12:31 in summer workouts?
12:33 I think that when you go and you get into the transfer portal,
12:38 I think that you try to study a player analytically.
12:43 You try to study how he did in league play.
12:46 You try to study how he played against top 20 teams.
12:51 You try to figure out what a guy can do in clutch situations.
12:54 So I think we've studied the guys that we've gotten,
13:00 or even the guys that we maybe missed on and didn't get.
13:04 I think there shouldn't be a lot of surprises with the transfer
13:08 due to the fact that you're able to evaluate that player
13:11 in Division I level.
13:12 So I don't know if there's been any real surprises.
13:18 I mean, we have been--
13:20 we've been banged up.
13:21 We've had a lot of guys on the side that
13:29 will all be, for the most part, when we come back--
13:32 I mean, we have one more practice tomorrow.
13:35 And when we come back, we should be a team that's fully healthy.
13:39 And there's no reason to go into who was hurt.
13:42 It's irrelevant because we're doing everything
13:46 behind closed doors.
13:47 And when we come back, other than the timeline of Brazil,
13:54 it'll be a little bit different than some of our other guys
13:57 because we are being overly precocious with him
14:02 and want to make sure that we hit that nine-month mark
14:06 before he does a whole lot.
14:10 Coach, you talked about the Purdue game,
14:12 but you also have Duke coming in for the ACC/SEC challenges.
14:16 What does it say about where your program is
14:17 to get those two teams coming in to Bud Walton?
14:21 Yeah, well, I think one, Purdue--
14:24 that game in particular, they had
14:26 a choice of probably doing that game with a lot of people.
14:31 And I think that Coach Painter and his staff
14:34 understand that Bud Walton is a unique place to play.
14:39 And I'm really hopeful that our fans across the state
14:45 understand the significance of getting a team
14:49 like this for an exhibition because there's
14:51 not a lot of exhibition games that
14:53 are being played against Division I teams.
14:57 And so we're doing something unique.
15:00 We're doing something that--
15:01 I mean, you're putting it all out there really quickly.
15:07 You're auditioning in front of a lot of people.
15:10 There's a little bit more opinions
15:17 that are going to be formed during that game,
15:20 after that game, than if you play a Division II team.
15:23 So credit to Purdue for being willing to play a road game.
15:28 Credit to them to be willing to play a quality opponent
15:32 and same thing from us.
15:34 They've proven a lot more than we have
15:36 with who they have coming back.
15:39 And then the Duke game--
15:42 look, Bud Walton was going to be sold out
15:45 regardless of what our schedule looked like across the board.
15:50 But the four years that I've been here,
15:53 I would anticipate that the Duke game is
15:59 going to be like when we played Kentucky
16:01 and when we played Auburn and they've been ranked very high.
16:05 I know that the requests that I've gotten from friends--
16:11 I was talking to Phil Nevin last night, the Angels manager.
16:15 He's coming to that game.
16:17 Like, there's a lot of people that
16:18 want to come to that particular game, too,
16:20 which is you look at our schedule with the three Bahama
16:24 games at the Battle of Atlantis.
16:28 And then you look at Oklahoma and you look at Duke.
16:32 That's going to be as five challenging games
16:36 as this program's ever played non-conference.
16:42 And we'll figure out ways to get better
16:47 after playing those five games, too,
16:49 because we're going to find some holes in our team, for sure,
16:54 with a lot of new guys playing that quality opponent.
16:57 We know Duke will come in here one, two, or three as well.
16:59 So between the Purdue game and the Duke game,
17:06 we'll probably play two of the top three teams in the country
17:08 in a four-week span.
17:12 Getting Kentucky, staying with schedule,
17:15 and up home and away for a back-to-back season,
17:17 it's only going to be the third time since Arkansas
17:19 has been the SEC.
17:20 Has there anything come from--
17:22 How many times has it been since I've been here?
17:24 Twice-- two out of-- right.
17:25 But I mean, I always thought that those
17:27 were two of your premier programs in the league.
17:29 Why weren't they playing more home and away?
17:31 Did you get anything from the office
17:32 other than here's the schedule?
17:34 Do you know why they're leaning into that?
17:36 We just get the schedule.
17:39 But I mean, certainly, with Coach Cal and his program,
17:44 I mean, it's like what they experience as a team every year.
17:49 They go into everybody's building.
17:51 It's sold out.
17:54 It's a game that's circled right away.
17:58 For us, if you look at our road attendance--
18:00 and I have not studied the numbers, but probably should.
18:04 I'd love to know what our road attendance is this year,
18:06 because we went in a lot of buildings
18:08 that were sold out, too.
18:11 And with each passing year--
18:14 again, I don't have the numbers, and I could definitely
18:17 be way off.
18:18 But if I had to guess, our road attendance numbers
18:22 have probably increased as well.
18:25 OK, and a follow up.
18:26 You don't have to go to Knoxville,
18:28 I think, for the first time since you've been here
18:30 this year.
18:30 They come in.
18:31 And if you consider now getting a timeshare in Tuscaloosa,
18:34 the schedule seems to send Arkansas to 'Bama lately,
18:37 and now you get Tennessee.
18:38 Yeah, and I think that every coach, every program
18:42 has their own philosophy on things.
18:45 But your question, Kevin, is in the NBA,
18:49 it's an 82-game schedule.
18:52 And you play everybody equal, right?
18:55 You play your conference a certain amount of games.
18:58 You play the other conference home and away.
19:03 At Nevada, we had a balanced schedule.
19:08 So winning the league carried a lot of weight.
19:12 When you have an imbalanced schedule,
19:17 strength of schedule matters.
19:19 And who you play, and where you play them,
19:21 and what time of the year you play them matters.
19:24 So we had a much higher goal at Nevada
19:32 to win the conference based on how the schedule was set up.
19:38 Here, I don't know how you determine who--
19:40 it's really hard to determine who the best team is,
19:45 because not everybody's schedule is equal.
19:48 And so our goal is, how do we get better in March?
19:54 How do we advance in the tournament?
19:56 That's always going to be our goal because of what you said.
20:01 I mean, I can tell you a lot of restaurants in certain cities,
20:06 and then there's other cities in our league
20:08 that I have no idea of one restaurant based on how often
20:13 or how little we've visited them.
20:15 Yeah, Coach, this is the first time
20:19 we've been able to talk to you since the board approved
20:22 those Bud Walton renovations.
20:23 I was just curious your thoughts on those.
20:26 I mean, it's way over my deal.
20:29 But obviously, I think any time there's
20:34 going to be renovations with anything, you're excited.
20:38 And I know that there'll be a lot of conversations
20:42 on what those look like.
20:44 And I probably won't be asked too much
20:48 unless I ask about the locker room.
20:52 But I think whatever they come to
20:54 is going to be awesome for the program
20:56 and great for the fan base.
20:58 And the game of college basketball is changing.
21:07 It's becoming way more entertainment.
21:10 Part of that's having your building be the place to be
21:16 so that you don't just want to cater to basketball fans.
21:21 You need to cater to people that don't necessarily
21:26 love basketball.
21:28 And you do that by having amenities in an array.
21:31 That's what makes pro sports different
21:34 is how they market and get people
21:37 to come to their games that aren't coming just
21:41 for the ball and the two hoops.
21:43 They're coming to a place to be.
21:46 It's a fun environment.
21:48 It's entertaining, all those things.
21:50 And certainly, having a building be renovated,
21:53 I think it can certainly add to that tremendously.
21:57 Greg.
21:58 You mentioned the Oklahoma game.
21:59 How did that game get back on the schedule?
22:02 If it wasn't, what went into that?
22:05 I read that at one point, Hunter said it was off.
22:09 And I thought it was off, too.
22:11 It was discussed possibly playing it in Oklahoma City.
22:19 It was discussed, are we going to do it or not do it in Tulsa?
22:25 I think it's great for Oklahoma.
22:26 I think it's great for Arkansas.
22:28 I think it's great for the Sooners fan base.
22:31 I think it's great for the Razorback fan base.
22:34 I think it's great for Porter Mosier.
22:36 I think it's great for our staff.
22:38 So the environment there, any fans
22:43 that haven't been there for either program,
22:46 I think it's a great game.
22:48 It gives you a different feel than our own building,
22:51 much like the Little Rock game does.
22:53 It's really cool.
22:55 It's-- if you play double digit games in Budwalt,
23:02 then you get an opportunity to go play a game.
23:04 And it helps us prepare for the NCAA tournament.
23:07 I can tell you that.
23:10 Obviously, you go to Little Rock,
23:11 and it's all 100% Razorback fans.
23:16 But still, it's a different environment
23:18 that we have to adjust to, which I think helps
23:21 prepare our basketball team.
23:23 From a fan base standpoint, it's great as well.
23:27 Going to Tulsa, jumping on a bus,
23:29 staying in-- it's different than playing
23:31 a game in this building.
23:33 It is a neutral site game.
23:34 So I think that's an awesome game for us,
23:37 too, on the schedule.
23:40 With Tremont and Jeremiah, is anything in particular
23:43 stood out to you about those guys this summer?
23:46 And where do you think they can maybe best help you?
23:48 Yep.
23:48 So T-Mark is a--
23:50 I mean, you're talking about a guy that started on a team
23:53 that was ranked number one for most of the year.
23:58 So that alone speaks volumes.
24:01 Houston, one of the toughest teams physically,
24:06 one of the best defensive teams every year,
24:11 one of the most disciplined coaches.
24:13 So T-Mark got all of that.
24:16 I think he's a very underrated offensive player from the way
24:21 that he's improved his game in a short few months.
24:27 I think he's a player that defensively, him and Devontae
24:33 "Devo" Davis together are going to be really good.
24:39 Devo has taken on the challenge, even as a freshman,
24:42 to guard the opposing team's best player,
24:45 regardless if that player plays the one, two, or the three.
24:49 And oftentimes, Devo's assigned to the power forward,
24:52 if need be.
24:53 And now he's got another partner to try to--
25:02 it's really hard, man.
25:03 When you assign a guy the best player on the other team,
25:06 and he's holding that guy under his average,
25:08 and the bulk of the plays are run at you,
25:10 and you're fighting off screens, you're on an island on
25:13 isolations, what Devo's done defensively is insane.
25:19 I mean, he really only had one game last year
25:21 where I felt like the offensive player--
25:24 I mean, that means he won 29 battles.
25:27 And he was basically 29 and 1 in his individual matchups.
25:30 And I think that team art can do the same thing for us, which,
25:34 let's face it, college basketball, premier scores
25:37 are usually the point guard, off guard, or small forward.
25:41 With the exception of certain teams,
25:43 where Mississippi State's going to throw the ball into Tulu
25:46 Smith, and you've got a big--
25:48 but for the most part, if you generalize 1, 2, and 3,
25:52 and now we've got two guys that play two of those three
25:56 positions that are incredible defenders
25:58 from an individual standpoint.
25:59 And then Davenport really shoot the basketball,
26:02 got great range, can play the three,
26:04 can, if we want to go small ball, can play some four.
26:09 So he's given us a stretch the floor type player
26:13 that we look at our numbers, we obviously needed.
26:17 Final question, Kevin?
26:18 Mus, going back to recruiting with the five returnees,
26:22 how important-- it gets overlooked-- retention?
26:25 I mean, I consider Brazil and D'Evo
26:27 bookend five-star recruiting prizes,
26:30 when you look at it from a retention standpoint.
26:32 Can you talk about how that's helped the whole thing
26:35 internally, when you do bring in a total of nine newcomers,
26:38 even with five returnees?
26:40 Yeah, I mean, I think if you look at college football,
26:43 if you look at college baseball, if you
26:46 look at college basketball, there's a lot of starters.
26:52 There's a lot of top three scores off teams in Power Five
26:58 that are transferring.
27:00 We have not had that.
27:03 Jadie Note, he elected to go pro a year before his eligibility,
27:09 but he did not elect to transfer and leave Arkansas.
27:13 Adise Toney elected to go pro with a year of eligibility,
27:18 but he did not transfer.
27:20 So we have not had anybody walk into my office
27:26 at the end of the year, like a TB or a D'Evo,
27:31 and decide that somewhere else--
27:35 and we've been very, very lucky from that aspect,
27:39 to not have a starter that's a top two player or top--
27:45 because it happens in every sport.
27:48 And so the impact, Kevin, that those guys have for us
27:51 right now, words can't describe.
27:55 TB's on the side, coaching players, and D'Evo--
28:00 I said our team had one bad practice.
28:02 D'Evo's had one bad practice all year.
28:05 That's a lot of practices with only--
28:07 over-- you go eight out of your 10 weeks,
28:09 and he had one bad practice.
28:11 And I'm assuming that bad practice we had a team
28:15 was probably the one that he had a bad practice.
28:19 So having those guys back, even Cade and Lawson,
28:23 those guys are--
28:25 it has a big impact when you try to demonstrate something,
28:30 and you have players jump out there and demonstrate it.
28:33 It just changes your culture.
28:37 And all the guys that are--
28:39 same with Joseph.
28:40 He knows exactly what we want, and he can go out and show,
28:46 verbalize, and show just by doing what's asked of him.
28:52 Before Mike rushes me off, anybody else got anything,
28:54 or are we good?
28:56 We're good?
28:57 All right, Mike, good timing.