Razorback Tuesday Practice Observations

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas held its second pre-Spain practice in its Basketball Performance Center on Monday afternoon.

The first hour of practice was again open to media, so here are some observations. As with yesterday, the disclaimer is that it is only a portion of one practice and no one should draw overreaching conclusions from an hour in late July.

— Some footage from the workout is here. Full discloser: I didn’t film the 3 on 2/2 on 1 transition drills today since I’d done it yesterday. Probably should have. The team did those first and then worked 3 on 3 for a bit, which is what is in today’s video, before largely focusing on shooting drills for the rest of the open part of practice. There isn’t as much video as I’d have liked, but I’ll try to get more tomorrow.

— The team collectively shot the ball much better than it did Monday. A good chunk of it was in drills, but there were a lot more jump shots that fell during the transition drills and 3 on 3 work, too. So the practice was encouraging in the sense that the there appear to be more capable shooters and the team may not be as reliant on one or two good shooters with a lot of non-shooting threats on the floor, like last season.

— Scotty Thurman has a good rapport with the players. That was evident when he worked with a group of four guards at one of the side goals for a portion of practice.

— Adrio Bailey looks a tad bit bigger than Michael Qualls and might be just a bit less athletic, which there’s no shame in — he’s still a top-flight athlete. But there are a lot of similarities in their games as freshmen. It’ll be interesting to see if Bailey can develop other areas of his game like Qualls did. But his athletic ability is for real. He’s had a few mammoth dunks where he’s violently attacked the rim the last few days. He’s been very aggressive in general, which is an encouraging sign.

— Daryl Macon may be Arkansas’ best perimeter defender. It’s either him or Manny Watkins. Macon has very quick feet and can move really well laterally to slide with ballhandlers and wall off driving lanes. It’s maybe not a part of his game that was advertised as much when he signed, but that’s been as impressive to me as his offensive game, which has been good, too. Offensively, he plays with a really good pace and doesn’t get in a hurry when penetrating. He’s shown enough these first two days to drive home that he can be a combo guard and serve as a player who can create for others in addition to himself. His shooting has been as expected. He’s got range and isn’t shy about letting it fly when he gets a sliver of space. There’s a good chance he puts in more time in the gym than anyone else on the team, which I’ll be writing about at some point. But defense is what stood out most Tuesday. He’s giving whoever he guards fits. The two JUCO guards have been very impressive so far.

— Barford, Macon and CJ Jones’ were paired together in shooting drills and took turns besting each other at different times. Barford has a bit of a low release point, but the results have been good at his JUCO and the last two days. Macon and Jones have great form. The trio was pretty impressive as a whole. In

— Kikko Haydar is again a graduate assistant and was working as the eighth guard in a 4 on 4 segment designed to work perimeter rotations. He deferred on offense and moved the ball, but defensively he’s still as scrappy as ever. Picked Jones’ pocket on one drive.

— Mentioned Watkins earlier, but he has definitely not lost a step as a defender. Stonewalled a Hannahs drive (below) in one portion of practice that prompted Mike Anderson to get onto Hannahs about moving the ball. Had the question posed to me on radio earlier Tuesday about who would lead the team in scoring. Hannahs was my answer just because it comes so naturally for him and he is a volume shooter. But I do think he’ll have more help this year.

— It’s way too early to really know, but Dustin Thomas seems like he’ll have a good chance at starting next to Moses Kingsley. He had a great day Tuesday, hitting a lot of 3-pointers and mid-range shots both in live action and drills. He isn’t the athlete that Bailey is, but is probably the next best athlete at the 4. It's also apparent he has prior DI experience. He showed the ability to finish some tough shots around the rim and was impressive overall on the offensive end.

— Brachen Hazen is an above-average leaper. That aspect of his game has been impressive, as he’s finished a few plays above the rims. He hasn’t shot the ball poorly the first two days, but hasn’t been a knockdown guy either. Still, his form indicates he has the talent to be a good shooter. He may not possess the quickness to guard wings on defense or the ballhandling skills to play on the wing on offense, at least at this point. But defense on the wing or as a 4 is going to be an issue. This team should have plenty of scoring, so Anderson may lean toward defense at the 4. It’s clear that he and Jones are still adjusting to the college game as they make decisions, which is to be expected. Hazen’s shot could get him on the court as a floor spacer. It’ll be interesting to see how the rest of his game progresses as he gets acclimated to the speed of college ball.

— Jabril Durham has been on hand watching practice each of the last two days. He will likely have some news of his own in the near future.