The Arkansas basketball roster is seemingly finalized and mere months separate the Razorbacks from the 2023-2024 season.
With the close of this cycle's portal process, it is the quiet period of the offseason where college basketball fans just wait for the season to begin. To help pass the time, HawgBeat opened up its mailbag for reader questions to be answered on any basketball-related topic.
As a reminder: all questions on the HawgBeat premium forum, The Trough, are answered. Only a select few of the questions on social media are answered.
What's your expectations on Trevon Brazile's availability this year, and how optimistic are you about our chances for a basketball season that comes close to being "special"? - HawgBeat user @tirehawg
Brazile isn’t quite 100% yet, but he's getting close. He’s done a lot of non-contact work and rehab and such, but he should be back fairly soon.
I don’t really expect him to miss a beat, and honestly, he might be a better shooter when he gets back. One thing about injuries in basketball, especially knee/leg injuries, is that when players go no-contact but can be mobile, they get a TON of work on their shots. It starts with a heightened focus on form, then a ton of reps.
So I think his shot will be better, but I'm unsure of his explosiveness coming off an ACL injury. He was already a freak athlete before, but I think he might lose some, but hopefully not much of that.
Brazile should still be one of the best players on the team and at worst should start the season in a sixth man role like last year if he’s not 100% or fully integrated back yet.
Jeremiah Davenport seems like a similar player in some ways to Vance Jackson - can he shoot it like Jackson and can he do what it takes to regularly see the floor unlike Jackson? - HawgBeat user @zwall82
They’re similar in size and skillset, but Davenport has a much better attitude. He has a better chance of finding the floor than Jackson on that front, but he also plays on a deeper and better roster than Jackson did.
Davenport can shoot the lights out of the ball. He was a high volume guy at Cincinnati and he's probably a better rebounder than Jackson, as well.
I don’t think Davenport sees the floor a ton, but with a great attitude and so much experience, he could be a steady hand in the lineup like Trey Wade in the latter part of the season.
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