This article originally appeared on December 27, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.
Prep basketball in Arkansas has experienced a boom in recent
years.
While some of the state’s top high school players have gone out of
state, like Sylvan Hills High’s Archie Goodwin who went to Kentucky, most of
them have stayed home and are playing at Arkansas
Six of the 15 players on the Razorbacks’ roster played high school
basketball in the state of Arkansas.
In fact, half of those players played just down the street from
Bud Walton Arena, at Fayetteville High. Seniors Fred Gulley III and Kikko
Haydar, as well as freshman Manuale Watkins had successful careers with the
Bulldogs before coming to Arkansas.
Junior Rashad Madden was a highly touted recruit from Lepanto,
Ark., where he played at East Poinsett County High.
The other two native Arkansans are both from Little Rock. Freshman
Bobby Portis came to Arkansas after leading Little Rock Hall High to four state
championships.
Junior Alandise Harris took a different route to Arkansas. He went
to Houston for two seasons after being a three-time All-State award winner at
Little Rock Central High, before becoming a Razorback.
The state also has strong AAU basketball, led by the Arkansas
Wings Elite team based in central Arkansas.
Portis, Watkins and freshman Moses Kingsley all spent time with
the Wings.
The future of Arkansas prep basketball is bright, as well. Head
coach Mike Anderson’s 2014 signing class includes commitments from Little Rock
Parkview’s Anton Beard and Forrest City’s Trey Thompson.
While none have committed, the class of 2015 in Arkansas includes
Kevaughn Allen from North Little Rock, the No. 23 overall prospect in his class
according to ESPN.com, and the class of 2016 includes Bentonville’s Malik Monk,
the No. 8 overall prospect in his class according to ESPN.com.
This is the 14th of a series of short articles about the Arkansas basketball team. Each
day leading up to SEC play, I will post an entry about something basketball
related that starts with the next letter of the alphabet. Here are links to the
previous entries, as well as the dates for the next five…
O – Dec. 28
P – Dec. 29
Q – Dec. 30
R – Dec. 31
S – Jan. 1
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