Musselman dealing with growing pains of young Hogs
Eric Musselman wants to see more growth out of his young team and soon.
Arkansas’ European tour included four games, all of which were played in Italy. The Hogs looked good against professional teams abroad, even with the youth.
For Musselman, the Eurotrip provided an opportunity to see who the third options were on the team and a chance to see where the team was in progression. With six freshmen and a sophomore transfer being key players in the rotation, experience and maturity can be a luxury.
And Musselman needs to see that transform into a necessity before the season starts in November.
“We find ourselves repeating ourselves a lot in practice,” Musselman said about the young players. “We’re not moving ahead, maybe at the rate that I want to because of having to repeat things. We’ve got to move the chains every week a little bit further. We can’t keep staying where we are.”
Arkansas is expected to be a Top 10 team when the polls come out in October or November even with all the youth. But Musselman is hopeful to see his group mature faster than that, even.
“When something gets taught, we’ve got to take it from the chalkboard to the practice to drills to live action,” Musselman said. “It can’t just go from the chalkboard to drills, then, when we go live, we fall back into other habits. We’ve got to grow.”
