FAYETTEVILLE -- During those 17 Arkansas years that Mike Anderson assisted Nolan Richardson one aspect separated great Razorbacks teams from the good.
Multiple point guards.
"The great teams we had, it seemed like we had two point guards out there," Anderson said.
The good teams, or less, featured one true point guard or sometimes none.
Take last year's Razorbacks, a good team that finished 22-12, including an SEC sweep of national runner-up Kentucky, yet not good enough to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Anderson retrospectively acknowledged the lack of a main man point guard overstressed Ky Madden, the team's most versatile guard and returning this season as a senior.
"Ky was our leading scorer and leading assist guy last year," Anderson told the audience the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/NWA Media Tip-off Luncheon Thursday at Walton Arena.
Adding two true point guards, junior-college transfer Jabril Durham and true freshman Anton Beard of North Little Rock, will allow Madden to capitalize on his versatility rather than be overtaxed by it, Anderson implied.
"I feel we have other guards who can complement him," Anderson said.
Madden will get more rest and play the point when paired with shooting guards Michael Qualls or Anthlon Bell or be the off guard with Durham or Beard on the point.
Richardson's greatest teams had one point guard definitely in charge at crunch time -- Lee Mayberry from 1989-1992 and Corey Beck, 1993-1995. Several others switched back and forth from point to off guard throughout their games.
Arlyn "Truck" Bowers, a hellacious defender, and Ernie Murry, both operated the point at times during Mayberry's tenure.
Roger Crawford was a senior combo guard off the bench for the 1994 national championship team while Clint McDaniel, initially recruited as a shooter, started with Beck as interchangeable terrors on defense and offensively interchangeable point and off guards.
"The national championship team we had Corey Beck and Clint McDaniel, and you had a guy like Scotty Thurman who was pretty skilled as well." Anderson said. "Multiple ball-handlers. That makes your team that much more effective, especially if you play uptempo basketball."
Anderson bragged on Durham, a 6-1 transfer from Seminole State (Okla.) Junior College: "I think he fits what we want in terms of a guy who can score and shoot the basketball, and he also can distribute the basketball and will get up and really guard."
Beard, 6-0, joins the Razorbacks as a true freshman but Anderson compares Beard to Beck, a savvy junior-college transfer when he arrived in Fayetteville: "He has that Corey Beck toughness."
If both point guard assessments prove just half what Anderson describes, the Hogs, with 6-11 All-American candidate Bobby Portis leading a deep frontline, and Madden and Qualls filling a variety of roles, could be on point to elevate from good to great.
Sports on 09/29/2014