I don’t play fantasy sports. Never have, never will.
But I did have fun putting together an All-Arkansas team this week of current Division I basketball players from the Natural State. Arkansas would finish near the bottom of the SEC standings in football every year if there were a rule that prohibited teams from signing players from out of state. But I’m confident Arkansas would do quite well under the same guideline in basketball.
I had already started a list when my friend Bob Holt wrote a story that showed 11 players from Arkansas spread among six SEC schools. But there’s more, including freshman Austin Reaves, already a fan favorite at Wichita State who is called Jimmy Chitwood (Hoosiers) by his teammates.
I’m calling my fantasy team the Arkansas Fighting Catfish in honor of a favorite former high school mascot (Lake City Catfish) that no longer exists. So, let’s go. Make it, take it.
Like my cousin ‘Booger Red’ said after he crashed his motorcycle during an attempt to flee the law, “I’m from Arkansas and I ain’t skeered of nothin’ or nobody.”
THE STARTERS
G — Dusty Hannahs
(Pulaski Academy/Texas Tech/Arkansas)
Hannahs had to put in two years at Texas Tech before he got his chance with the Razorbacks, and he’s made the most of it.
“I think Arkansas has always been under-appreciated,” Hannahs said of his home state as a recruiting destination. “There are guys coming from the small towns and big cities.”
Hannah has developed a floater near the basket to show he’s more than a threepoint shooter. He’s Arkansas’ leading scorer (16.3 points per game) despite coming off the bench in most games.
G — Malik Monk
(East Poinsett County/Bentonville/Kentucky)
I was born in Lepanto (pop. 2,200), the small town in northeast Arkansas that’s produced the Monk brothers, Jerome Madden and Ky Madden, country music singer Buddy Jewell, and “The Immortal” Teddy Barnes, whose touchdown catch in 1975 helped Arkansas upset No. 2 ranked Texas A&M.
So, darn right, I’m claiming Malik as one of our own even while he plays for Kentucky instead of the Razorbacks as we had hoped. But he’s won’t be there for long.
I thought it was a stretch earlier this season when I read that Monk could be the SEC Player of the Year. But it’s at least a possibility for the true freshman, who is third in the SEC in scoring
(19.4 points).
For sure, Monk will be the first NBA player from Lepanto next year. Two mock drafts posted last week showed Monk going No. 3 to the Boston Celtics or No. 6 to the New Orleans Pelicans.
G — KeVaughn Allen
(North Little Rock/Florida)
If you follow high school basketball, you know that Allen teamed with Ohio State wide receiver K.J. Hill to lead North Little Rock to a state championship two years ago in Arkansas’ largest classification. Allen hasn’t slowed down much at Florida, where he’s averaging 13.6 points per game as a sophomore for the Gators.
F — Trey Thompson
(Forrest City/Arkansas)
With so many scorers, we’ve got to have a passer, right?
Thompson passes very well for a big man and he shoots nearly 72 percent from the field.
F — Payton Henson
(Siloam Springs/Tulane/Vermont)
Anyone who remembers “The Triplets” (Sidney Moncrief, Marvin Delph, Ron Brewer) at Arkansas mustn’t overlook their teammate, Jim Counce, an academic standout and solid role player for the Razorbacks.
Henson provides the same role for the Arkansas Fighting Catfish, although Henson is more of an offensive threat who leads Vermont in scoring with a 13.1 per game average. Henson is also an academic standout who graduated from Siloam Springs with a 3.92 grade point average.
THE RESERVES
Even players on the most star-studded lineup need an occasion breather and we’ve got plenty of firepower on the bench. So look out, SEC, the roster for the Arkansas Fighting Catfish is deep and ready for action.
F — Aaron Ross
(LR Parkview/Texas Tech)
G — Anton Beard
(North Little Rock/Arkansas)
G — Payton Willis
(Fayetteville/Vanderbilt)
F — Jaylen Jackson
(West Memphis/Arkansas-Little Rock)
G — Manny Watkins
(Fayetteville/Arkansas)
G — Daryl Macon
(LR Parkview/Arkansas)
G — Austin Reaves
(Newark/Wichita State)
G — I.J. Ready
(LR Parkview/Mississippi State)
F — Justin Leon
(Conway/Florida)
F — Mitchell Smith
(Van Buren/Missouri)
G — Kahron Ross
(Jonesboro/Lehigh)
F — Nick Smith
(Bentonville/Belmont)
Rick Fires can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter@NWARick.