Developmental Leagues Made Musselman's Job Harder As Of Thursday Night

High point in program history great moment, but came with warning signs on the horizon for Razorbacks, rest of college basketball

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jun 23, 2023 8:14 PM EDT

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Heading into Thursday night, the perception was that Arkansas coach Eric Musselman had the advantage over the G League when it comes to landing elite players. Unfortunately for the Arkansas Razorbacks, there may not be a college coach in America who still has an advantage over the G League and similar professional leagues.

The arrival of NIL was supposed to tip the scales in favor of traditional big time college programs with huge arenas and equally large fan bases. Why would a player choose a life of relative obscurity playing out of the national spotlight away from a university packed with beautiful women and heavy pocketed boosters, both of which are very aware of who the young man is and what he does? Who would pass up all the pageantry and tradition of college basketball with so many opportunities for brand building before heading off to the NBA?

The answer is probably every Top 10 player coming out of high school going forward. As the Washington Wizards geared up to make their pick at No. 8, only two college players, one of which was the Razorbacks' Anthony Black, had come off the board. The other five spots went to the French League, G League and Overtime Elite. While the Nick Smiths, Gradey Dicks and Dereck Livelys of the world theoretically went to class and dealt with fans on social media, the players who were chosen before them studied nothing but professional basketball.

In the short run, they may not have made as much money or had the life experiences their college counterparts got to take part in, but the extra millions they are making over the next three years makes up the gap in lost revenue and can pay for a lot of unique life moments.

By the time everything wrapped up in the early morning hours of Friday, a dozen players who never stepped on a college court got drafted. G League Unite alone put four in the league as official draft picks with their lowest going No. 47. It made more sense for Razorback forward Ricky Council to want to go undrafted to allow him to sign with the best possible match once the draft reached a certain point, but from a recruiting standpoint, being able to say that Arkansas also had four guys drafted would have made things a little easier.

Ten colleges had multiple players chosen with Arkansas and UCLA leading the way with three. That puts the best college programs for NBA development behind the G League. Arkansas can boast that its average NBA draft pick with its college leading three players was No. 24. That's a huge leap over the Bruins with an average pick of No. 37. However, if it starts getting broken down into actual contract money per program, the gap gets away from Arkansas in a negative way once the G League is factored in.

The G League collected picks valued at approximately $35.5 million. Meanwhile, Musselman's team brought home picks valued at roughly $30.5 million. That leads college basketball by a mile, which is a feather in the Razorbacks' cap.

However, Arkansas isn't recruiting against colleges as its main competition these days. Over the past year or so, and especially going forward, professional development and overseas leagues have targeted players the Hogs have in sight. The Razorbacks can't afford to have even the slightest slip in attendance, atmosphere or NIL contributions in the future if the team hopes to compete for players viewed as the best of the best.

If a money bleeding ESPN decides to fully take on the G League instead of a spot showing here and there, giving it equal spotlight to college basketball, then the writing may soon be on the wall for college basketball when it comes to landing the best players out of high school. As of this writing, that's still a future endeavor for the network, but if draft numbers keep driving high school's best players to the G League, that could get here faster than expected.

As this year's draft evidenced, it's a changing basketball world out there, and it extends well beyond what's taken place in the college ranks. Arkansas is alone at the forefront on the college side, but even the might Razorbacks might soon find themselves the David to developmental pro ball's looming Goliath.