FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson will be looking at plenty of players at point guard when the Razorbacks play a four-game exhibition tour in Italy this week.

Anderson said the candidates to play point guard include juniors Rickey Scott and Mardracus Wade, sophomores Ky Madden and BJ Young, freshman Dee Wagner and junior Fred Gulley, a transfer from Oklahoma State who will be eligible to play in early December after first semester exams are completed.

“It could be by committee,” Anderson said.

“We’ve got more pieces than we had last year.

When you have options, you can make sure guys are doing what they’re supposed to do. If option one isn’t working, you’ve got option two and option three.

“We didn’t have that luxury last year.

Waiting on waiver

Junior forward Alandise Harris, a former Little Rock Central standout who transferred to Arkansas from Houston in the summer, isn’t making the trip to Italy while awaiting word on whether he’ll be granted a waiver by the NCAA that will allow him to play for the Razorbacks this season rather than redshirt.

Anderson said he has no idea when the NCAA may issue a ruling.

“It could be tomorrow or another week or month,” Anderson said. “But it is something we’re really staying on top of.”

Cleveland injured

Arkansas assistant T.J. Cleveland is wearing a cast on his right leg after tearing an Achilles tendon while playing a pickup game with other staff members earlier this summer in Walton Arena.

“I was making a move and it just popped,” Cleveland said. “It wasn’t painful at all. I thought somebody had stepped on the back of my shoe, and I turned around and nobody was there, and I stood up and then it was kind of numb, so I knew it was bad.”

Cleveland, 32, said the only other time he’s been injured is when he had a high ankle sprain while playing for the Razorbacks.

He said that injury happened in practice.

“I’ve been hurt twice in my life, and both times it happened on that court,” Cleveland said.

Cleveland said he doesn’t plan to play in more pickup games after he recovers.

“I’m going to retire from playing now,” he said. “It probably will just be golf and fishing.”

Take good notes

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said playing well and winning the exhibition games are important in Italy, but he also wants the Razorbacks to enjoy an educational experience.

“I might even make them write a paper about it,” he said.

The Razorbacks’ itinerary includes visiting the Colosseum, Vatican City and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, among other stops, and taking a boat tour of Lake Como.

Brewer impressed

New York Knicks guard Ronnie Brewer, the former Razorback who continues to live in Fayetteville during the off season, included pickup games with Arkansas’ players as part of his workout regimen.

“I see a lot of improvement in the team from last year to right now,” Brewer said. “The newcomers are pretty good. They’re very athletic.

You can tell they’re a little young, but the more the coaches work with them, the more they’re in the gym, the better they get.”

Sports, Pages 27 on 08/12/2012