Arkansas Basketball: Four Hogs in latest B/R Mock Draft
By Max Hoover
Bleacher Report released a new NBA mock draft for 2023 on Monday afternoon, and four Arkansas basketball players were projected as NBA draft picks. Those four players are Nick Smith, Anthony Black, Trevon Brazile, and Ricky Council IV.
Having four players drafted would tie the Arkansas basketball record from 1992. Todd Day, Oliver Miller, Lee Mayberry, and Isaiah Morris were all drafted that year.
Smith is projected to come off the board first to the Indiana Pacers with the fourth overall pick. In a draft with a consensus top-two that is worth tanking for (ask the Utah Jazz, who traded both Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell this offseason), Hog fans should be ecstatic to see Smith going this high.
Smith could be head coach Eric Musselman’s best recruit with Arkansas basketball. Jonathan Wasserman, who wrote the mock draft article for Bleacher Report, says that Smith is “looking like the early favorite to come off the board first among college prospects.”
If Smith enjoys playing with Black, he could get to continue that at a professional level. Wasserman currently has Black projected to go 18th overall, also to Indiana. Wasserman describes Black as a prospect who will be “an interchangeable 6’7″ point guard or wing, given his unique playmaking IQ and defensive quickness and anticipation.”
While Smith and Black are both projected first-round picks, Brazile and Council are projected to go in the second round. Brazile is mocked 34th to the Sacramento Kings (in a selection owed to them by the Pacers, oddly enough), and Council is projected 58th to the Phoenix Suns.
Wasserman describes Brazile as “poised for a breakout” because of his “athletic finishing, paint touch, and shooting potential.” Council could be interesting as a late second-round pick because of his “frame, athleticism, and pull-up shooting for iso scoring,” per Wasserman.
Despite having four future NBA players, the 1992 Arkansas basketball team lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Hopefully, Musselman and his staff can take this crop of NBA talent to greater heights.