Muss Bus Faces Mathematical Conundrum

Not enough seats in Fayetteville to carry every Razorback looking for a ride

This past Monday night, shortly after 5-star guard Anthony Black let the world know he will be a Razorback, ESPN analyst Paul Biancardi officially declared that the Muss Bus had become an Arkansas freight train. 

Oh, for head coach Eric Musselman's sake, if that were only true. The fact is, Musselman is still driving a bus, and unfortunately for him, it's still the tiny bus high school basketball teams take to their games with only 13 available seats. 

That's right. The coaching genius who finds a way to slip out of every predicament on the basketball floor is facing a problem he can't escape on the basketball sideline. 

If you count all the Top 100 eggs Musselman has landed in the basket this recruiting season, you realize six of those seats on next year's bus are now taken. That leaves seven spots for scholarship players, plus he can tie a couple of walk-ons up top to that little vent hole that has the flashing light on top of it. 

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So with that established, let's look at who's waiting out on the curb hoping to catch a ride and who's being dropped off. 

While multiple Razorbacks have been granted an extra year because of COVID, including a handful of seniors, three have exhausted their eligibility. The college road for Chris Lykes, Trey Wade and Stanley Umude has come to an end. 

That frees up three seats from this year's ride to the Elite 8. The remaining two seniors, JD Notae and Au'Diese Toney, each have the potential option to return. 

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Add them in with the remaining eight scholarship players, and you're now looking at 16 players needing a seat on our 13-seat bus. 

There's no way around it. The math doesn't add up and the impending result of the equation is going to be painful for everyone involved. 

There is a certain degree of wiggle room built in. Cade Arbogast, who arrived as a walk-on, was given a scholarship this year. It was more of an unexpected show of appreciation shown by Musselman since he had an unfilled 13th scholarship to give. 

Since scholarships are renewed each year, it's possible this act of kindness had a certain degree of understanding behind it. It would be heart-breaking if that were the case, but that's the nature of the current NCAA system. 

Such a temporary agreement would bring the number down to 15 scholarship players. That's not an issue if Notae or Toney decide to pursue professional basketball or their chosen career path.  

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However, Notae feels like he's a season under Musselman away from proving he has potential NBA talent, and would face less focused pressure with so much talent rotating in around him. Toney proved a great deal over the course of the season also, so there's no way to gauge where his mind might be at the moment.

If both return, this is where it gets especially gut-wrenching, because now it's down to sitting down with kids and talking about helping them find other schools if they would like to continue playing. We're not going to name names or make assumptions as that would be unfair to both the kids and Musselman. 

The other possibility is that Jaylin Williams decides to leave for the NBA draft. This didn't seem to be a possibility prior to the NCAA tournament, but his play as rounds progressed provided him respect and notority. 

Numerous updated draft projections have him late first early second, which means there is a possible decision to be made. That decision could have a player or two delaying their own decisions as to whether they move on.

And seconds after we initially intended to publish this story, the first casualty was revealed on Twitter. Last year's lone scholarship freshman, Chance Moore, a Top 150 recruit, announced he would be the first to go.

But the reality is this. The low the Arkansas fans, staff and players felt when everything came to an abrupt halt Saturday night is nothing compared to what is being felt in the basketball facilities as members of the family that was formed this year is asked or decides to leave. 

But again, that's just the harsh reality of the current NCAA set-up.