Thirsty band of seniors

Parched 5 see NCAA bid as oasis for UA

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, center, and the senior members of his Razorbacks basketball team, from left, Kikko Haydar, Fred Gulley III, Coty Clarke, Mardracus Wade and Rickey Soctt Jr., begin their season Nov. 8 with SIU-Edwardsville.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, center, and the senior members of his Razorbacks basketball team, from left, Kikko Haydar, Fred Gulley III, Coty Clarke, Mardracus Wade and Rickey Soctt Jr., begin their season Nov. 8 with SIU-Edwardsville.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

— Arkansas hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2008, but Fred Gulley has been there.

Gulley, a fifth-year senior guard with the Razorbacks, played in the 2010 NCAA Tournament as a freshman with Oklahoma State. He started and played 30 minutes in the Cowboys’ 64-59 first-round loss in Milwaukee.

“Playing in the NCAA Tournament is the greatest feeling you can have,” Gulley said. “If you get to go, then it’s a place you have to go every year. Just getting a taste of it has made me so hungry for that feeling again, and now that it’s my senior year I’d love to help our team get back in that position.”

Gulley, who transferred from Oklahoma State to Arkansas in January 2012, is among five seniors for the Razorbacks this season.

That’s in stark contrast to last season, when Arkansas didn’t have any seniors.

“It’s good to have some guys that have been through the wars,” Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. “That’s why I think we’ll be a lot better.”

In addition to Gulley, Arkansas’ other seniors are guards Rickey Scott, Mardracus Wade and Kikko Haydar and forward Coty Clarke.

“We have a lot of responsibility not only to lead this team, but to show the younger guys how to lead when we leave,” Haydar said. “We take it with great honor and responsibility.”

Scott said that when he signed with Arkansas, he figured he’d be playing in the NCAA Tournament every season.

“You see all these other teams in it every year and you’re going, ‘Man, I want to be there, too. I know we can play there,’ ” Scott said. “It’s hard to watch.”

This season marks the last chance for Scott, Wade, Haydar and Clarke to play in the NCAA Tournament and stop Arkansas’ absence at five years, the longest for the program since an 18-year drought from 1959 to 1976.

“The clock is ticking,” Scott said. “It’s now or never. We have to prove what we can do as a team.”

Arkansas has gone 18-13, 18-14 and 19-13 the previous three seasons and hasn’t even made the NIT with SEC records of 7-9, 6-10 and 10-8.

Wade said it’s been frustrating to know the Razorbacks probably have been a few victories away each season from making the NCAA Tournament.

“There’s not so much pressure, but a feeling of being anxious to get there,” Wade said. “I believe this team can get there with the group of guys we have, all the hard work we have and will continue to put into it.

“As seniors, it’s something we talk about all the time. We try and come out each and every day and set an example for these younger guys.”

Clarke is in his second season at Arkansas after transferring from Lawson State (Ala.) Community College. He said the seniors “want to get it back to how it used to be” this season by returning Arkansas to the NCAA Tournament, where the Razorbacks played 22 times in a span of 25 years in 1977-2001 under coaches Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson.

“We can’t take no days off, no plays off,” Clarke said. “It’s our last year to do it, so we’ve got to do it.”

Clarke is the Razorbacks’ leading returning scorer (7.6 points) and rebounder (5.2) from last season, but he averaged just 20 minutes per game.

Anderson said he expects Clarke to play an expanded role this season on a front line that will be bolstered by the addition of 6-6 junior Alandise Harris — who redshirted last year after transferring from Houston — and 6-10 freshmen Bobby Portis and Moses Kingsley. The Razorbacks also will be looking for added production from sophomore forwards Michael Qualls and Jacorey Williams.

Clarke started the final 13 games last season and had some of his biggest games against the SEC’s best teams with 18 points and seven rebounds against Florida, 14 points and 12 rebounds against Kentucky and 13 points and seven rebounds against Missouri.

“Coty really played good basketball the last half of last year,” Anderson said. “He’s got to play even better for us this year, and I’m confident he’ll do that. Coty is much calmer now. He took a starting spot last year. He’s a very versatile forward, and I look forward to him branching out his game even more.”

Wade, Scott, Gulley and Haydar are part of the backcourt rotation with junior Ky Madden, sophomores Anthlon Bell and Dee Wagner and freshman Manuale Watkins.

Wade needs to regain the shooting touch he had as a sophomore, when he led the SEC in three-point shooting at 47.6 percent (70 of 147) and averaged 10.8 points. Last season Wade seemed to struggle with deciding when to shoot.

“His problem last year was he pump-faked too much,” Scott said. “He sold himself a little short.”

Wade said he’s regained his shooting confidence after putting too much pressure on himself.

“After you lead the league in three-point shooting, you think, ‘Dang, I’ve got to shoot 50 percent,’ ” Wade said. “Then you come out here and you hesitate and you worry about what other people are saying. Then your confidence gets low. Things just all start piling up, and you don’t play the way you’re supposed to play.

“This is my senior year, and I’m going to go out with a bang.”

Wade said he won’t worry about missing shots.

“Coach said if I’m 0 of 10, shoot the 11th one, but these guys around me allow me to get good shots,” he said. “We’ve moving the ball well in practice, so I’ve got to take that to the games with me.”

Scott also will be looking to regain some offensive punch after his scoring average dropped from 9.1 points as a sophomore to 4.3 last season.

“Rickey is a guy that I think has unlimited potential, and hopefully he’ll play to that potential,” Anderson said. “He’s strong, and he can get to the basket. He’s got to make to make an impact for us.”

Anderson said it’s also important for Wade and Scott to focus on defense, which is an area of strength for Haydar and Gulley. Last season Haydar led the Razorbacks with 14 charges taken.

Haydar, a walk-on who is on a full academic scholarship, went from the end of the bench to being a key contributor last season after he scored 13 points against Michigan.

“Kikko is what I’m all about, and that’s hard work and perseverance,” Anderson said. “He’s a leader, and he’s made himself a heck of a player.”

Haydar said it means a lot to him being a team captain along with Clarke.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work to get where I am,” Haydar said. “Just playing for the Razorbacks is a dream come true, something I’ve wanted ever since I was a little kid.”

Haydar played at Fayetteville High School, where he and Gulley were teammates. Gulley missed the first nine games last season before being eligible for the second semester, and he averaged 1.5 points and shot 31.3 percent from the field in 13.0 minutes per game.

“Fred is much improved,” Anderson said. “Last year he came in during the middle of the season, and that’s the hardest thing for a guy to do the way we play. Now he has a better feel and a better sense of the urgency you’ve got to play with on our team.”

Haydar said Gulley is playing more like he did at Fayetteville.

“He’s more aggressive,” Haydar said. “I think he’s more comfortable with us as a team.”

Gulley said he’s “definitely more comfortable” understanding his role with the Razorbacks now.

“It’s hard being the new guy, and coming in two games before conference play starts is a struggle,” he said. “I’m ready physically — and mentally I’m better — for this season.

“I know my teammates better, know where I fit in. Last year it was like being a freshman again being with Coach Anderson, having not played for him before.”

Gulley would like to feel like a freshman again in one regard — playing in the NCAA Tournament as he did at Oklahoma State.

“We’re super hungry for it, but we’re just going to take it one practice and try to get better,” Gulley said. “Then at the end of the year, hopefully we’ll be in the NCAA Tournament.”