Eric Musselman is preparing Arkansas for next season both with and without Isaiah Joe.
With the early entry withdrawal deadline for the 2020 NBA Draft now pushed back to Aug. 3rd due to coronavirus, Joe has another seven weeks to decide whether or not he will turn professional or return to Fayetteville for his junior season.
“We have two plans,” Musselman said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast when asked if he was expecting Joe to return to school next season. “We have two depth charts. We have two different styles of play. We want to support Isaiah (Joe). He has a dream of playing at the NBA level. We want to help prepare him for that.”
The 6-5 Joe averaged 16.9 points last season as a sophomore and made 94 three-point shots. He is not projected to be a first-round pick in October’s NBA Draft.
Arkansas went 20-12 last season in Musselman’s first year in Fayetteville.
The Razorbacks are set to bring in a consensus Top-10 recruiting class featuring four four-star freshmen in Moses Moody, KK Robinson, Jaylin Williams, and Davonte Davis.
Musselman will also add three transfers who sat out last season in JD Notae (Jacksonville), Connor Vanover (Cal), and Abayiyomi Iyiola (Stetson) as well as three graduate transfers in Justin Smith (Indiana), Jalen Tate (Northern Kentucky), and Vance Jackson (New Mexico). Smith, Tate, and Jackson will all be eligible to play next season.
With or without Joe, Arkansas should significantly deeper and more versatile than it was a year ago.
“You’ve got to prepare both ways,” Musselman said. “We did it that way at Nevada and we had three players — Jordan Caroline and Cody and Caleb Martin — go through the NBA Draft process in my last year. You want your players to reach their dreams and reach their goals as quickly as possible, but you want to get them the appropriate information they need. We’ve got two different plans. Roles will change depending on what our roster looks like when Isaiah makes his decision.”
Arkansas is currently ranked 33rd in the ROTHSTEIN 45.
