Hogs 2011 Recruiting Class Down to One, Mickelson Transferring

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Hunter Mickelson (21) announced he was transferring on Tuesday. Credit: Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

Fayetteville, Ark. – The 2011 Arkansas Razorback men’s college basketball five-man recruiting class has gone from once highly anticipated down to one remaining player. Adding to the frustration, from a fan perspective, on Tuesday sophomore center/forward Hunter Mickelson announced he was transferring from Arkansas.

Arkansas had the No. 7 ranked recruiting class in 2011, per Rivals, after signing guards B.J. Young, Ky Rashad Madden, along with forwards Hunter Mickelson, Devonta Abron, and Aaron Ross. After two largely unproductive seasons for Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson, he is looking at another rebuilding project on the Hill going into his third season.

Anderson lost Abron as a transfer to TCU, Ross never made it the Arkansas campus, B.J. Young is questionably pursuing a professional career, and now Mickelson is leaving giving the Hogs already bare thread thin front court even less depth for the 2013-2014 season.

Mickelson, 6’ 10”, 245 pounds, started in 20 of the Razorbacks 31 games appearing in each but saw a dramatic drop off in game time for the 19-13 finishing Hogs. By Jan. 31, Mickelson had lost his starting position entering the Alabama game.

Against Alabama Mickelson played 11 minutes after garnering true starters’ minutes for much of the season. The following two games against Tennessee and Florida Mickelson would see 24 and 20 minutes of action but would never top the 20 minute mark for the rest of the then 13-game season playing a season low six minutes against Vanderbilt in the season ending opening round SEC Tournament game loss.

Mickelson, an in-state product from Jonesboro, showed much promise during his freshman season averaging 2.3 blocks per game, 5.2 points, and 3.7 rebounds while playing 17.1 minutes per game. The big man showed a penchant for perhaps being better around the perimeter on offense with future promise down on the blocks.

During his sophomore season his minutes dropped to 16.6 with his scoring up slightly to 5.4, rebounds essentially the same at 3.5, and his block total dropping to 1.2 per; one less block per game on average.

Fans have complained about Mickelson’s lack of aggressiveness on the boards citing how he can be moved out of position easily at times. Fans also forget they’re talking about a freshman now sophomore still learning to play the game.

Perhaps the new world of college basketball created by a NBA full of one-and done college players has pushed fans to forget that even as late as the late 1990’s and the early 2000’s college players were given an opportunity to evolve into better players hitting a peak by year four not by week four of their freshmen seasons. Hopefully Anderson remembers and will choose to keep players instead of making them feel like they need to transfer from Arkansas in order to be successful at the college level.