Wednesday's ESPN NBA Combine Broadcast Was Razorbacks Wall to Wall

Exposure never ceased as Arkansas was the special highlight at all times during coverage

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
May 18, 2023 4:54 PM EDT
Original:
May 18, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As Day 2 of the public portion of the NBA combine gets set to go, Arkansas athletic administrators have to be pleased with how things went down from a marketing standpoint on Day 1.

The day began with talk of Arkansas having four players at the combine. Then Jordan Walsh played in a scrimmage, Eric Musselman spent five minutes verbally pumping up his players at the analysts' desk before Ricky Council took the stage. Anthony Black snagged a long feature halftime interview before being prominently shown on the sidelines cheering on Council as he found his defensive stride in the second half. Even as the broadcast wrapped, talk was still about Arkansas.

From a fan's perspective, it was a full four hours of Razorback material. From a marketing and recruiting perspective, it was priceless. Even the graphics were about the Razorbacks.

We covered yesterday h ow things went for Walsh and what Musselman had to say about all of his players afterward. So, let's dive into what happened in the second half of the broadcast.

Anthony Black halftime interview

ON THE OVERALL ATMOSPHERE:

"It's been fun. There's a lot of good players in town. A lot of GMS, decision makers in the building. It's been cool to see everybody compete. It's been fun."

ON WHAT HE WANTS NBA EXECUTIVES TO GET OUT OF HIS TEAM INTERVIEWS:

"Really, just I am a different person off the court than I am on the court. I'm just showing them I am confident in myself and still working on my game getting ready for pro day."

ON WHAT HE GOT FROM HIS COLLEGE ATHLETE PARENTS:

"Just competitive spirit to be honest. Everything was a competition growing up. They just taught me losing wasn't cool. Just competitive spirit and stay humble and work hard, that's what they taught me."

ESPN then showed graphic about how Black was a stats leader in points, steals, rebounds, assists.

ON WHICH STAT BEST REPRESENTS WHAT HE BRINGS TO A TEAM:

"I feel like I do a little bit of everything, but I think my best attribute is just to make my teammates better. Just doing the little things to help the team win."

A graphic then flashed up showing all the Razorbacks at the combine and where they are projected, including Council at 41 and Walsh at 51.

ON SO MANY RAZORBACKS MAKING IT TO THE COMBINE TOGETHER:

"It's cool because coming in this was one of our goals was to make it here and get a chance to go in the draft. It's cool to see my teammates out here doing well and Coach Muss is down here as well. All of us talking to the coaches has been pretty cool as well."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT MUSSELMAN'S COMMENT EARLIER THAT NO ONE HAS STRONGER WORK ETHIC THAN THE ARKANSAS COACH:

"I'm a pretty hard worker, but Coach Muss is a real pretty hard worker. I don't know. I give it to him."

ON WHY HE CAME TO THE NBA INSTEAD OF STAYING AT ARKANSAS WITH THE NIL MONEY:

"A new challenge and playing in the league with a lot of good players. Getting the chance to share the floor with them and become one of the good players in the league."

Analysts commenting on Black during a game he wasn't in:

"When I was watching Anthony Black in the McDonald's All-American game, there was no way I was thinking that guy was a lottery pick. But you watch him play for Coach Musselman at Arkansas and you see it absolutely. The size, the ability to make plays. But, more importantly, he got him to defend at a higher level which of course is going to be very important in the NBA."

How did Ricky Council perform in his scrimmage?

Despite a first half where there were clearly a few nerves and a need to adjust to teammates that didn't fully understand his game, Council did nothing to hurt his status as a potential Top 40 pick and may have even helped is slightly in the second half.

Early Council got a chance at a run-out so he could show what makes him special and, instead, another player was further down the court, which meant the ball went to him for a soft lay-up instead of a Council highlight dunk. You could see the disappointment in his eyes because it was obvious he knew this was his chance to raise some eyebrows of the executives sitting in the stands.

He did manage to hit a mid-range jumper to get the Hogs off the goose egg in the scrimmages for the day. However, his big moment, which was probably more valuable than a highlight fast break, came as he went one-on-one on defense against Judah Mintz of Syracuse. He picked up Mintz on the inbound on the far end and hounded him all the way up the floor with quality footwork. Mintz, hoping to seize his own moment, tried to get away with a crossover near mid-court and Council made him pay. It was the first time either he or Walsh looked like Razorbacks. Black was on the sideline cheering him on. From that point on, the intensity went up for Council.

At one point, Council got a tough rebound on one end, went the length of the floor, drew a double team and kicked it out for wide open three that, unfortunately for his stats, didn't pan out. However, the big message of the day was Council is fearless and he can be a lock down defender. When he got chances to attack the basket, he did just that. He didn't force things, choosing to look for an assist if the shot wasn't there. When his teammates weren't there, he wasn't afraid to challenge much larger players for the shot inside. The one thing that would have helped was if he had made an open three he was able to pop out for when a teammate drew a crowd inside.

As for defense, he played hard all game. There wasn't a point where another player took advantage of him and scored. That is something that will go a long way with executives. HIs tape on offense will go a long way in demonstrating that with chemistry Council can put up points.

Fortunately for Council, he had the big defensive play to help executives remember him because everyone got overshadowed by Serbia's Tristan Vukcevic. The big man with the silky shot look like an NBA star playing against high schoolers, which had everyone buzzing. No one may have jumped up the board more in an hour than him. The mismatches he created and his smooth shooting that barely moved the net stole everyone's shine.