Trevon Brazile Starter Kit May Not Quite be Enough for Hogs to Pull Trigger

Portal needs not matching portal availability early on in cycle

Bucknell Bison center Noah Williamson (3) drives against Syracuse Orange forward Petar Majstorovic (right) during the second half at the JMA Wireless Dome. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There is no question Arkansas will need to go find at least one big man in the transfer portal in the coming days.

The only problem is not just any big man will do. Arkansas, and the rest of the SEC for that matter, has already proven that big lumbering paint cloggers or skinnier tall guys without proper quickness and strength aren't going to be viable options.

The Razorbacks have shredded teams with vaunted big men in the NCAA Tournament with Trevon Brazile and Jonas Aidoo, a pair of highly athletic bigs with the ability block shots from all angles, run the floor and hit shots beyond just lay-ups and dunks.

Those types of players are hard to find outside the SEC. It's why they both came over from SEC foes with Brazile coming in from Missouri and Aidoo coming over from Tennessee. However, Calipari, as much as he might want, can't rely on stealing athletes from conference members each portal season.

Early on the pickings are a little slim. Plenty of players with height have jumped into the portal, but almost none fit the bill.

Perhaps the only player who raises an eyebrow so far is Bucknell's Noah Williamson. It's always hard to tell a whole lot about big men coming from smaller schools because they don't play against players with the size and strength of a Malik Dia, Johni Broome or Collin Murray-Boyles on a regular basis, if at all.

Williamson averages roughly 18 points and eight rebounds per game as a Trevon Brazile starter kit. He isn't as quick and high flying as Brazile and his body will need to thicken up to become what Brazile has built himself into as of late to help him withstand the regular pounding, but the basic skills are there.

Williamson can play inside well with good footwork as he looks for an angle to power through his shot. He also has a nice stroke from the three-point line where he hits nearly one out of every three attempts.

Of course, with every player comes downsides. One of the more curious statistics from this past season is how few minutes he plays per game despite being someone who impacts the game heavily.

Only nine times did he exceed 30 minutes in non-overtime games. That's a major red flag.

Foul trouble is one possible culprit. He fouled out of three games and finished with four fouls in six of the Bison's 32 games.

That means in roughly one out of every three games, he either had to go sit the bench or was in serious trouble of having to do so. His lack of playing time could be the result of sitting a lot with early foul trouble.

Part of that could be because he tends to slap at times when trying to block shots rather than going up and blocking them out and away at a higher point like current Razorbacks.

The other concern is conditioning which is a must when it comes to playing in the SEC. Williamson has a decent burst when it comes to attacking the basket, but if his legs can't hold up for 35 minutes when needed against superior athletes, that could be a deal breaker.

The other thing that was surprising was how few blocks per game he produces despite playing against much smaller, often less athletic, competition in the Patriot League. He only averages one block per game.

To put that in perspective, Aidoo has nine blocks in his past five games while Brazile had a stretch where he had 14 blocks in three games earlier in the season. If Williamson has the athletcism needed to compete in the SEC, he should be having a field day with the competition he faces from Bucknell's schedule.

Perhaps the last strike against Williamson is he is a junior. Everything about his game visually suggests there's something there that could be molded into a quality inside player over time the way Bruce Pearl was able to shape Johni Broome into the force he has become today.

However, with only one season seemingly available to solidify his body and game, Calipari may pass simply because there's not enough time to help the young man from Latvia reach his true potential.

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