FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas men's basketball Coach Mike Anderson would love one more shot at simultaneously playing big men Bobby Portis and Moses Kingsley.
No. 1, that obviously would mean that Portis, the SEC's player of the year and a second-team All-American as a sophomore, would have opted to return to the University of Arkansas for his junior year rather than turn pro.
Both Portis and three-year letterman guard/forward Michael Qualls ponder that option now.
No. 2, there seem situations for the 6-11 Portis and the 6-10 junior-to-be Kingsley, a two-year letterman and former AAU teammate of Portis on the Arkansas Wings, to serve the Razorbacks well as simultaneously employed twin towers.
According to many talk radio callers for much of this past season, playing the two together would cure about anything ailing Arkansas.
It didn't. Anderson started them four times together and paired them several other times with occasional success at best. Their big men pairings were small factors in the Razorbacks' 27-9 season.
Nevertheless, expect Anderson at times to pair them again presuming Portis returns.
Anderson was an Arkansas assistant when Nolan Richardson struggled intermittently pairing sophomore Oliver Miller and senior Mario Credit in a high-low post. But late that 1990 season Miller and Credit jelled in key situations and helped the Hogs ascend to the first of Richardson's three Final Four appearances.
By birth, Kingsley is a far less refined basketball player than Portis.
Portis played basketball all his life growing up in Little Rock. Kingsley moved as a high school sophomore from his native Nigeria to Mississippi and played one year at Huntington (W.Va) Prep.
But Kingsley, a former soccer player, seems even more athletically gifted and certainly a more natural shot-blocker. Kingsley blocked 38 shots in just 391 minutes this past season, second on the team to Portis' 50 blocks achieved in 1,076 minutes
Kingsley flashed big potential during Arkansas' loss in the SEC Tournament championship game to Kentucky, which is ranked No. 1 nationally and has advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. In just 10 minutes, Kingsley had six points with three rebounds. He was charged with a nebulous hanging on the rim technical foul call on a dunk that blunted Arkansas' last surge in a 78-63 loss.
Kingsley blocked three shots during the 60-49 SEC Tournament semifinal victory over Georgia.
"We saw right there at the end that Moses is going to impact this program," Anderson said. "It may not be from the offensive standpoint that Bobby does, but potentially I think he has got a feel for when you go against the Kentuckys and when you go against the Georgias, the North Carolinas [in the NCAA Tournament].
"We saw him playing above the rim. I am really excited about Moses."
Nothing will be more essential to Kingsley playing more effectively next season than playing more this summer.
"The offseason is going to be big for Moses Kingsley," Anderson said. "I really, really believe that. That next step, that's what we want to see with him."
Sports on 04/01/2015