NCAA Basketball: 10 early big winners from 2022 offseason

Arkansas Razorbacks

It’s hard to find a team with a better offseason than the Razorbacks. It’s a program coming off back-to-back Elite 8 appearances and under head coach Eric Musselman has become a nationally recognized program. And it’s paying off in both the transfer portal and high school recruiting trail.

Arkansas was able to land another five-star prospect in guard Anthony Black, who joins top-tier prospects, Nick Smith and Jordan Walsh to give them the No. 2 overall class, just behind the Duke Blue Devils. And yet they managed to do even better in the transfer portal, landing a total of five high-major caliber players.

Trevon Brazile is a 6’9 power forward from Missouri that started 25 games as a freshman and is viewed as a future NBA prospect. Jalen Graham is also a 6’9 forward with much more experience than Brazile and is a solid low-post scorer. Yet the biggest newcomers literally are a pair of twins in Makhi and Makhel Mitchell, both who are 6’10 and 250 pounds and true centers. They provide interior defense and capable low-post scoring and can bang against the likes of Johni Broome, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Charles Bediako in the SEC.

And the Razorbacks still weren’t done with the portal, recently adding Ricky Council IV, a 6’6 guard that averaged 12.0 ppg and 5.4 rpg and was the AAC 6th Man of the Year. There’s so much depth that the team will have to figure out how the lineups will work but even if Jaylin Williams doesn’t come from the NBA Draft process, has an argument to be the preseason No. 1 team for next season.