By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said he doesn’t anticipate any roster turnover as the Razorbacks begin building for the 2010-11 season. But Pelphrey also said Friday he knows of at least one player pondering an early move to professional basketball this offseason.
Pelphrey indicated that leading scorer Courtney Fortson is considering a jump to the pro game after his sophomore season. But Pelphrey said nothing is definite.
“Courtney and I have had discussions about how important it is to right now take care of the business at hand, which is school,” Pelphrey said. “And he’s doing that. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in terms of him looking at opportunities in terms of him playing professional basketball.
“Certainly that’s every young man’s right.”
Fortson was suspended for the first 14 games of the season, but returned to the lineup and averaged a team-high 17.9 points and 5.7 assists a game.
But the good also came with some bad. Fortson shot 36.1 percent for the field and averaged 5.1 turnovers. Most of his struggles came late in the season as well.
If Fortson returns he will be part of a backcourt with more talent and depth next season. Rotnei Clarke, Julysses Nobles, Marcus Britt and Jemal Farmer will return. Transfer Jeff Peterson is eligible. And signees Madracus Wade and Rickey Scott will join the rotation.
Pelphrey said he would like to see Fortson improve in a couple of areas if he is back with Arkansas next year.
“Those turnovers and continuing to do point guard-type stuff,” Pelphrey said of the areas of improvement. “Lead and almost, like, will, make, force your team to win.”
Coaching Update
Pelphrey wasn’t exactly clear on what Isaac Brown’s new role with the Razorbacks will be after reassigning the assistant coach to administrative duties this week.
“Outside of mentoring players and helping those guys develop away from the court, there will be a lot of administrative things that take place,” Pelphrey said. “We’ll have a chance to find out more as we go along. But I think that it is an opportunity for all of us to get better. … It is by no means something we’re terminating or letting go.”
All three of Pelphrey’s 2009-10 assistants — Brown, Tom Ostrom and Rob Evans — continue to work under contracts set to expire on June 30. Pelphrey said earlier this week both Ostrom and Evans will remain on his staff.
Brown’s reassignment does create an opening and Pelphrey said he is working on filling it. However, he said no serious had taken place as of Friday morning.
“I want to get a guy who can help us coach and recruit and do all the facets of coaching and find some way to make us better,” Pelphrey said. “Do I have names in mind? Certainly I do. Have I talked to anybody at this point in time? If I have, it’s been very preliminary.”
APR Talk
Arkansas’ low scores over a four-year period in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate may cost the Razorbacks’ at least one scholarship in the near future. But if it does, the Razorbacks won’t necessarily be limited to only 12 scholarship players for the 2010-11 season.
According to the NCAA, contemporaneous penalties “must be imposed by the institution at the next available opportunity, but not later than two academic years after the student-athlete’s departure.” So Pelphrey said he doesn’t believe Arkansas will be limited to 12 scholarships as he puts together the 2010-11 roster.
Either way, Pelphrey said the Razorbacks are working toward improving their four-year score, which was 888 last spring and well below the 925 cutline. However, he said it will take some time to correct the problems.
“There are some opportunities, potential pitfalls for losing a scholarship,” he said. “We are working very, very hard to do as well as we can with the individual APR score trying to impact the overall total.”
Sanchez Status
Michael Sanchez played in only four games this season, but Pelphrey remains optimistic the forward will be healthy for the 2010-11 season. Sanchez missed the final 23 games because of plantar fasciitis in both feet, which hurt Arkansas’ depth in the frontcourt.
“He had another treatment, another procedure, I believe within the last week of the season,” Pelphrey said. “We’ve had a chance to meet and talk. I think he’s getting closer to being able to do some things.
“But he’s given me every indication he wants to play and I believe he’ll do that.”
If Sanchez returns, he’ll join Marshawn Powell, Delvon Johnson and Glenn Bryant in the frontcourt. Arkansas has signed forward Marvell Waithe and are hoping to gain another big addition: Ricardo Ratliffe, who is the top junior college prospect in the nation.
