Trevon Brazile-San Jose State — Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (2) celebrates after a play in the second half against the San Jose State Spartans at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 99-58. (Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports)

We Should Know Summer Little Early to Pick Next Year's Draft

After Anthony Black's rise, Nick Smith's tumble, Hog fans learned when to project

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jun 26, 2023 9:01 AM EDT
Original:
Jun 25, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It hasn't taken long for folks to start guessing where Arkansas players might land in next year's NBA Draft. Apparently, nobody's paying attention to what just happened Thursday night.

Last summer everyone had Nick Smith as a lottery lock and wondering if he could be the highest Razorback ever chosen, passing Sidney Moncrief's pick at No. 5 back in 1979. Logical folks probably didn't see that happening, but the hype was enough to have everyone excited and season tickets flying off the proverbial shelf.

Anthony Black sort of flew up the list pretty fast. Everyone assumed last summer he would be chosen in the first round, but it was Smith who was the projected lock to go early. That flipped hard as Thursday night dragged on. The hype turned to hope somewhere around 9 p.m. and the questions were, "why is he falling?" and "will he drop to the second round?"

Right now, Trevon Brazile is the only Hog to projected for next year's first round in a stab in the dark by

HawgSports' Curtis Wilkerson broke down the forward's chances in next year's draft over the weekend (hey, it's a summer weekend and nothing else is going on, so why not?). At least Brazile will have nearly a year to recover from his knee surgery that wiped out a lot of the year and adding to Eric Musselman's ever-changing roster drama. He is the most obvious choice, probably because the most is expected from him.

To be honest, check back in March and we can update you on how everybody gets through the season and is rising or falling in the eyes of scouts. That also includes Brazile, who could drop like a rock if he's not completely recovered from that knee injury last year. There are so many new faces, we have no idea how they are going to adapt to a new place.

But it's something fun to kick around during the summer. Outside of the frustration for the small core of die-hard baseball fans who are having fits over LSU having a leg up on Florida in the College World Series with that walk-off homer Saturday night (a lot of old-timers missed it live because it was so late), there's not a whole lot going on.