Men's College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Arkansas Razorbacks

The SEC is loaded this year as most teams used the transfer portal to their advantage and shored up their talent as well as their depth. Teams like Kentucky, Tennessee and Auburn built elite freshman classes while LSU, Arkansas (as usual) and Florida made key additions via the portal.

SEC slates are going to be high scoring and mega exciting all year long. For DFS players this is the conference that will command your attention, so keep that at the top of your mind as we go team-by-team through the SEC to preview the coming season.

In this one, Arkansas.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Arkansas Razorbacks 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 16-1 (13-4 SEC), second in SEC
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

Key Departures | Arkansas Razorbacks

Moses Moody (NBA draftee)
Justin Smith (playing professionally)
Vance Jackson (transferred to ECU)
Desi Sills (transferred to Arkansas State)
Jalen Tate (playing professionally)

Key Additions | Arkansas Razorbacks

Stanley Umude (transferred from South Dakota)
Au’Diese Toney (transferred from Pittsburgh)
Chris Lykes (transferred from Miami FL)
Trey Wade (transferred from Wichita State)
Kamani Johnson (transferred from Little Rock)
Jaxson Robinson (transferred from Texas A&M)

Returners | Arkansas Razorbacks

Davonte Davis (8.5 PPG/4.5 RPG/2.1 APG/1.2 SPG)
Jaylin Williams (3.7 PPG/4.7 RPG)
JD Notae (12.8 PPG/3.1 RPG/1.4 SPG)
Khalen Robinson (2.6 PPG)
Connor Vanover (6.3 PPG/4.5 RPG)

Arkansas Razorbacks Outlook for 2021-2022

Coach Eric Musselman was raiding the transfer portal long before it was the popular thing to do. He built some really competitive teams at Nevada via transfers and has brought that strategy with him to Arkansas. Being at an SEC program has also opened the door for some high-level recruiting, which has allowed Muss to blend both styles with success. The player I’m most excited about on this team has to be rising sophomore Davonte Davis or as the industry affectionately calls him, Devo. He was the lowest-rated freshman in last year’s class but forced his way into big playing time and was a key component to the Razorbacks tourney run. With Moses Moody gone, I am expecting Devo to take that next step toward stardom and feel he could potentially end up being a first-team all-conference type of player.

Jaylin Williams has loads of potential as well but went through some growing pains last year, which was to be expected. He is a versatile big who should see increases across multiple statistical categories. In a reserve role last year, he had a defensive rebounding rate of 23.4% and a block rate over 4%. Williams is on breakout watch with Devo Davis. JD Notae was a lethal scorer off the bench last year and should continue in that role once more. His shot rate was almost 30% by season’s end but it’s important to note he saw a dip in usage that correlated with the rise of Devo Davis. Notae would fall into the $4.5k range on DK often which made him a high-level value play more often than not.

The Razorbacks brought in a plethora of transfers as I mentioned above and it will be interesting to see just how DFS viable they become. Chris Lykes is a mighty mouse player standing at just 5-foot-7, but he can score with the best of them. If he is fully healthy now after losing most of last year to an injury he could flourish in this system. Lykes has averaged over 15 PPG in each of the last three seasons. I’m going to be keeping a close eye on Stanley Umude, the South Dakota star 21.6 PPG and 7 RPG a season ago. He was also top five in all of D1 in shot rate (35.5%) and usage rate (33.4%). It’s hit or miss when a player transfers from a lower major school to a high major though so there is no guarantee his game instantly translates to this level. He did put up a stat line of 24 pts/6 boards against Colorado and 25 points/11 boards/5 assists against Nebraska last year so there is a good chance he performs at a high level.

Au’Diese Toney put up some slate shattering games while at Pittsburgh and adds another piece for the defense to worry about. Toney is an underrated stat sheet stuffer that should do well with this program. Jaxson Robinson has looked better than expected so far during scrimmages and exhibitions making him a potential x-factor this year if he can keep rapidly progressing. The same can be said of former Oak Hill Academy product Khalen Robinson who couldn’t get healthy last year. The hype he has generated thus far is stratospheric and I’ll be monitoring him closely. Lastly, we need to talk about Connor Vanover. The 7-foot-3 rail-thin kid is actually a semi-sniper from long range and has some really good offensive games early in the year. The issue for Vanover is that his defense was atrocious which caused him to be glued to the bench after midseason.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

There are a lot of moving pieces here, but all signs point to a monster season from what will be brand favorite Devo Davis. The upside for this roster is massive with Khalen Robinson, Jaylin Williams and Jaxson Robinson barely scratching the surface of their ability thus far. Add in proven players from the transfer market like Toney, Umude and Lykes and you have yourself a team that could make another deep tourney run.