Hogs lose Charleston commit to Oklahoma State
Arkansas lost a commitment Monday night when Charleston’s Sean Michael Flanagan flipped and announced he was signing with Oklahoma State.
I will be signing with Oklahoma State Dec 20th ????????.. Thank you Arkansas coaching staff and fans for everything!! pic.twitter.com/9RiyTjFT5A
— Sean Michael (@smflanagan7) December 19, 2017
He committed to Arkansas on June 3 under the former coaching staff.
According to reports, Flanagan said Sunday at the conclusion of his Arkansas visit that he was still committed to Arkansas, but also considering Oklahoma State.
He did express some concern about not knowing who would be the defensive coordinator at Arkansas, according to Otis Kirk at Hawgs247.com:
“Probably on the defensive side of the ball, but they don’t have a DC. It’d be nice to know who it will be, but we’ll wait and see.”
Reports say he will sign with the Cowboys at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Charleston Gymnasium.
Indications are Bohannon expected to pick Baylor
Don’t be surprised if Earle quarterback Gerry Bohannon announces Tuesday he’s going to Baylor instead of Arkansas.
Richard Davenport of Recruiting Thursday and WholeHogSports.com said on Bo Mattingly’s radio show Monday that’s what he was thinking.
It’s also what we’ve heard over the weekend.
After spending several hours over the weekend looking at film on some of the recruits, I’m not too concerned about Bohannon going to Baylor.
While he has a lot of upside potential, he’s not going to come in and set the world on fire and he hasn’t exactly played against the highest level of competition. That’s not his fault, but Class 2A doesn’t have the same level of athletes the higher levels do.
Just to see if I was missing something, I talked with someone who has spent decades making a living evaluating high school players.
“When you watch his games, he hasn’t exactly jumped out to me as being that much better than everyone else on the field,” he said. “When you watch players like Darren McFadden, you don’t even have to look at a roster to know who you’re looking at. I didn’t get that with Bohannon.”
Bohannon may turn out to be a great college player, but it’s not something Razorback fans should be too worried about.
As new coach Chad Morris has said, he’s been trying to establish a one or two-year relationship with players in 20 minutes. A lot of this urgency has been created with the new signing period.
But, if the Hogs lose Bohannon to Baylor, put that one on the previous coaching staff’s doorstep. They had several years to build the relationship and nothing Bohannon has said since Bret Bielema was fired has indicated any dropoff due to the coaching change.
Of course, right now it’s all speculation.
There have been bigger surprises on signing day … good and bad.
Anderson on win over Troy, playing ORU Tuesday
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson met with the media Monday and talked about Saturday’s win over Troy and the game upcoming Tuesday night against Oral Roberts.
Northcross-Baker paces Razorbacks to Sunday win
FAYETTEVILLE — Junior Raven Northcross-Baker dropped in a career-high 22 points, including six three-pointers, leading Arkansas to a 91-57 win over UT-Arlington in Bud Walton Arena on Sunday.
The win was fueled by some halftime adjustments and, oddly enough, a scoring run by the Mavericks.
Arkansas was up double figures at halftime but UTA came out of the locker room hitting six-of-seven field goals to cut the lead to single digits.Arkansas (8-3) got double figure scoring from four players, with Malica Monk netting 20 points, Jailyn Mason with 15 points and Keiryn Swenson with 10 points to join Northcross-Baker.
With the lead trimmed to eight points, 52-44, with 2:18 to play in the third period, the Mavericks controlled the tempo and energy brining life to their bench and fans.
The ruckus from the visitor’s bench seemed to inspire Arkansas who charged down the floor and got a 3-pointer from Swenson to regain a double-figure lead. Sophomore Kiara Williams got a steal and Mason ran the floor for a layup as Arkansas stretched the lead to 11 points.
Arkansas opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from Swenson, a steal, and back-to-back three-pointers from Northcross-Baker. That run helped secure the win for Arkansas.
Northcross-Baker hit four 3-pointers in the fourth period scoring 12 points and helping the Razorbacks outscore UTA 28-11 in the final 10 minutes.
Notes
• Raven Northcross-Baker scored in double figures for the second time of the season with a career-best 22 points.
• Malica Monk recorded her 11th consecutive double-figure scoring game and her sixth 20+ point game.
• Arkansas forced double figure turnovers for the 10th time in 11 games.
• Career-best 12-for-12 from the line for Malica Monk. It is the fifth time this year she has been perfect from the line.
• It is the fourth time this year Arkansas has recorded double figure 3-pointers.
• Twelve 3-pointers is a season-best and the fourth time this year the Razorbacks have had double digit baskets from distance.
• Arkansas has outrebounded its opponent in five games including Sunday, 40-27, over UTA.
• Arkansas had season bests for field goals (30, 3-pointers (12), assists (19) and tied their season-best with 19 free throws.
Up Next
The Razorbacks travel to Arizona State for the final game before the holiday break. Arkansas returns hosting Grambling on Dec. 28 and opens Southeastern Conference play with Ole Miss in Bud Walton Arena on Dec. 31.
