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Indiana has best player on court Thursday, Mar 20, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Pat Riley's scouting tour tells you a bunch about the skills of Indiana's Eric Gordon. Last week, the Miami coach attended a handful of conference tournaments, The AP reported, and zeroed in on freshmen prospects that included Kansas State's Michael Beasley, Memphis' Derrick Rose, LSU's Anthony Rudolph and Gordon. Riley's team is assured a spot in the NBA lottery and his trip was the first step in the process of studying draft options. Gordon will be the most talented player on the court Friday night when the Hoosiers play Arkansas in Raleigh, N.C., in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That is a given. What should concern Razorback fans is that Indiana's D.J. White might be No. 2 on the most talented list. Gordon and White were named second team All-American by Sports Illustrated, the first Indiana teammates to earn such a distinction in 25 years. Nobody questions Gordon's ability to score, and he is a fixture at the free throw line where he shoots almost 85 percent. In fact, before Kelvin Sampson bailed as the Indiana coach, he said Gordon was too unselfish. Gordon "can get to the rim any time, unless you double him,"?Sampson said. Nothing has changed since Sampson spoke those words. "There will not be only one guy guarding him," said Arkansas coach John Pelphrey. "That's not possible." At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Gordon will be a load for any of the Razorbacks. For Arkansas, the silver lining is that he has had 35 more turnovers than assists during the season and recorded seven-five-five TOs in late-season losses to Michigan State, Penn State and Minnesota. Gordon will get his points. It is the 6-foot-9, 251-pound White who could be the difference against Arkansas. Enabled by the antics of Gordon, White's shooting percentage is above 60 percent this year. It was 53 percent in '06 and 51 percent in '07. Gordon plus White does not equal great team, and team was the recipe for Arkansas' success against Vanderbilt and Tennessee in Atlanta. At the Southeastern Conference Tournament, every Razorback player who got on the court made a contribution against either the Commodores or the Vols or both. On Friday, it was Stefan Welsh and Darian Townes in the first half, 11 straight free throws at crunch time and second-half plays by just about everybody, including Gary Ervin's finish after five misses by his teammates. On Saturday, Charles Thomas and Townes were under control and super productive, and Steven Hill made THE shot. But, Vincent Hunter chipped in with his ONLY 3 of the tournament just before half and Michael Washington, who played only nine minutes, took an important charge with 6:28 to play. Sonny Weems followed that with his first basket of the game for 76-76. We're all guilty of honing in on the final minutes, but such opportunities can occur anywhere along the 40-minute way. Lou Holtz used to say that football games turned on a half-dozen plays or so, but that you never knew when those plays were going to occur - his way of saying play hard on every snap. Note some of the blown opportunities against Georgia: -Early in the second half, Dave Bliss threw the ball away, but Weems and Patrick Beverley both missed 3s when it was 38-30. -At 40-34, Welsh's brakes failed and Terrance Woodbury made a 3. -Thomas bumbled away a possession between two defenders and Woodbury made another 3 for 46-36. -Weems was short again and Sundiata Gaines made a 3. There will be similar moments on Friday night and the outcome will turn on the little things by those on the spot. The No. 9 vs. No. 8 is always a difficult draw in the NCAA Tournament because the winner faces the No. 1 seed in the bracket and the Arkansas-Indiana winner is in doubly deep because No. 1 North Carolina will be playing only a half-hour from campus. If the Razorbacks had won the SEC Tournament, they would still be playing in an 8-9 game, only as the better seed, and looking at UCLA, Memphis or Kansas. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
