The 17-under Arkansas Hawks' five Razorbacks commitments will be reunited at the Real Deal in the Rock basketball tournament in Little Rock this weekend, and they are looking forward to it.
It will be their first time playing together since competing in the Adidas Uprising Summer Championships in Las Vegas last summer.
One of the five, Jonesboro junior guard Desi Sills, 6-1, 170 pounds, said he is excited about the chance to play in front of Razorbacks fans.
"It's wonderful getting the crew back together," Sills said. "I missed them and now we're back together and we have the chemistry going and we're ready to put in a show."
The Real Deal in the Rock runs Friday night, Saturday and Sunday and will be based at the P.A.R.K. complex on Geyer Springs Road. The Hawks begin play against traditional powerhouse Atlanta Celtics at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The Hawks' other four University of Arkansas, Fayetteville commitments include junior guard Isaiah Joe, 6-3, 160, of Fort Smith Northside, sophomore point guard Justice Hill, 5-11, 160, of Little Rock Christian, junior forwards Reggie Perry, 6-10, 225, of Thomasville, Ga., and Ethan Henderson, 6-9, 190, of Little Rock Parkview.
Sills, who helped Jonesboro to a 32-0 record and the Class 6A state title, said he is looking forward to seeing Razorbacks fans on hand.
"There's going to be a wonderful crowd out supporting the Hog 5," Sills said.
Perry, who once lived in Little Rock, said he is also looking forward to playing in front of the Arkansas fan base.
"We're expecting a lot of Hog fans to come out and watch us play, but we're still trying to get our business done," Perry said.
ESPN rates Perry the nation's No. 10 power forward and No. 25 overall prospect for the 2018 class. Perry said he's determined to get better.
"I'm just focusing on becoming a better shooter," Perry said. "The last couple of weeks I've been getting up a thousand shots a day."
Perry's ability to take the defender off the dribble helps distinguish him from most of the other nationally ranked big men.
"I feel like that's one of the key parts of my game that separates me from everyone else," Perry said. "I continue to work on it so I can be better."
Perry chose the Hogs over scholarship offers from Florida State, Auburn, Arizona State, Mississippi State, Alabama, Iowa State, Miami and others last year in August. Other schools have backed off in trying to recruit him.
"It has really settled down," he said. "I really haven't gotten any other calls or texts."
ESPN rates Henderson a 4-star prospect and the nation's No. 18 power forward. He's expecting to hear the Hog Call on Friday.
"I kind of expect to hear some Woo Pig Sooie," Henderson said.
The Hawks went 33-5 last spring and summer and won the Real Deal in the Rock and 3 Stripes tournament in St. Louis while finishing in the semifinals or finals of other tournaments. Hawks chairman and Real Deal creator Bill Ingram said the plan is to better last year's record.
"We're going to start off with an exceptional tough game with the Atlanta Celtics," Ingram said. "A talented team with a deep history with top 15 players. We're going to find out how really good we are. We played each other last year and we beat them, but they've improved since last year and I think we have too."
HONING IN ON BAYLOR COMMITMENT
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and his staff are expected to host Baylor offensive line commitment Jackson Kimble for a visit during Easter weekend of April 15-16.
Kimble, 6-5, 270, of Southlake (Texas) Carroll has a list of scholarship offers that includes like Arkansas, Baylor, Arizona State, Minnesota, Texas Tech and others. He received the offer from the Hogs on March 13 and thought quickly about visiting.
"I really didn't thought of or liked Arkansas until up to this season after seeing the O-line they had," Kimble said. "They're a great offensive line team."
He's being recruited by running backs coach Reggie Mitchell.
"He was one of the first coaches to talk to me," Kimble said. "I've been waiting on the offer for a pretty long time, so when it came I was super happy."
E-mail Richard Davenport at [email protected]
Sports on 03/28/2017