Moncrief loves upward tilt of Arkansas' recruiting arc

Moncrief
Moncrief

Former Arkansas All-American and NBA star Sidney Moncrief has played and coached at different levels of basketball and thus has a lot of knowledge about the game.

He loves the upward trajectory that the Razorbacks' basketball program is on, including a current in-state recruiting roll that consists of three 2017 in-state signees and five standout commits already in the hopper for the 2018 and 2019 classes.

This comes during a stretch when University of Arkansas, Fayetteville head coach Mike Anderson has led the team to 26 and 27 wins into two NCAA Tournaments in the last three years.

"If you have a coach like Mike Anderson, if you have a program like Arkansas, you have facilities and fans like we have in this state, why would you want to play anywhere else?" Moncrief said at Anderson's golf tournament in Rogers on Monday.

"If you're one of the top players in this state, you're going to get to the NBA as quickly here as you would Kentucky or anywhere else."

Little Rock Hall's Moncrief, Conway's Marvin Delph and Fort Smith Northside's Ron Brewer were the catalysts for a Razorback revival in the mid-to-late 1970s when they signed with former coach Eddie Sutton.

All three could have easily gone to more high-profile programs than Arkansas at the time with offers from Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, LSU, Minnesota and others.

"I think (former Arkansas assistant) coach (Pat) Foster had put out the word, 'He's going to Arkansas,' so people stopped recruiting me real early," Moncrief said. "They got off me real early. Those schools hung in there, but for me, it was either Arkansas or Arkansas State, because that was home for me."

He noted that athletes such as Sylvan Hills' Archie Goodwin (Kentucky), North Little Rock's KeVaughn Allen (Florida) and Lepanto's Malik Monk -- who played three seasons at Bentonville High -- certainly have a right to choose where they want to go.

But he didn't have to like how that went down, said Moncrief, who is second all-time in scoring at Arkansas and remains the top rebounder.

"It pains me," Moncrief said "... Of course, people have the opportunity to make their choices, but considering what Mike is building here, this should always in my mind be your first option. Because most kids want to go where? The NBA. You should do it from here."

Moncrief, who was the fifth overall draft pick in the 1979 NBA Draft and was a five-time All-NBA player and two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year in his 11-year career, has some ideas on what kept Arkansas from landing some in-state guys and why they are on such a roll now.

"Sometimes it is your recruiting, sometime it is your staff, a lot of times maybe it is the climate and other teams in the conference," Moncrief said. "I think the SEC is very competitive and you have great schools that you are recruiting against and you have some outstanding cities that you are recruiting against -- LSU in Baton Rouge and Vanderbilt in Nashville -- all these great cities to choose from.

"But I think Mike has convinced players that he can grow their game, they can become a better player and he has also tapped into the junior college scene since high school players are going pro earlier so when you get a freshman now it is different than 20 to 30 years ago."

Sports on 05/25/2017

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