Arkansas has been after highly recruited power forward De'Ron Davis for several years and the relationship has the Hogs in the hunt for his signature.
"I don't have a set top five or anything, but I'm pretty close to Coach [Mike] Anderson and they're still in the mix," said Davis, who played for the 17-under Colorado Hawks in Real Deal in the Rock basketball tournament in Little Rock this weekend.
Davis, 6-10, 235 pounds, of Aurora (Colo.) Overland, has more than 20 scholarship offers, including ones from Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Indiana and others. He has attended two of Anderson's summer camps, the last one in 2012.
"Because [of] the style of play," said Davis of his attraction to the Hogs. "My high school kind of plays similar to Arkansas and just the tradition they have there, the legacy they have there is pretty unique."
Davis, who scored 17 points and led the Hawks to a 51-48 victory over St. Louis Gateway on Friday, said he communicates with Anderson on a daily basis.
"Coach Anderson texts me everyday," Davis said. "He'll send me motivational stuff and seeing how I'm doing. That's who I'm mostly talking to."
He scored 16 points in the Hawks' 49-44 loss to 1 Nation Elite on Saturday and small forward Josh Jackson, who's rated the No. 3 prospect in the nation by ESPN. Davis is rated the nation's No. 7 power forward and No. 29 overall prospect by ESPN.
Melvin Watkins, Arkansas associate head coach, also talks to Davis.
"He talks about the tradition they have there, the 40 Minutes of Hell and all that," Davis said.
There's often talk of the importance of a practice facility and the impact it has on recruiting. For Davis, Arkansas' practice facility that's nearly completed is a signal of how serious the school is about basketball.
"That just shows you the school is really focused on their basketball team," Davis said. "They give it their all. Especially being in the SEC, in the South, big football town. When a school can build a practice facility just for their basketball players, it shows a lot and tells a lot too."
Davis is looking to make some unofficial visits and then hoping to narrow his list down to a top five soon but no later than his high school season.
"I'm trying to get everywhere I can this summer," he said. "This is my last time on the circuit so wherever my coaches can put together. I'll try and take some unofficials first and then get to he officials as soon as I breakdown my top five."
Video paying off
Arkansas Hawks 17-under forward S.K. Shittu, who is a sophomore and attends Rogers Providence Christian Academy, had two special visitors to his school March 30 when Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson and associate head coach Melvin Watkins stopped by.
"It was great to see Coach Anderson at my school," said Shittu, who moved to the U.S. from Nigeria in October 2013. "My teammates loved it. It's not all about me, it's about my team so I love it so much. I appreciate them for coming. I love it."
Shittu, 6-9, 196, has gotten more attention since Providence Coach Austin Bivins started sending out video of him in early March. He previously had scholarship offers from Tulsa and Central Arkansas but added offers from Oklahoma and LSU after the video along with numerous others showing strong interest.
He was the most physically gifted among the approximately 80 athletes at Arkansas' Elite Prospect Camp in August and has been on the Hogs' radar ever since. He lives with Bivins and his family.
Receiving an offer from the Razorbacks would be exciting for Shittu and potentially convenient.
"I think it would be great because my family my host family and my coach live close to the Razorbacks," Shittu said. "So I wouldn't be far away from them. if I get to it's going to be very great."
Shittu left his family so he could pursue a dream of playing in the NBA.
"It's been very great. I get a little bit of basketball experience right here and I'm loving it more everyday," Shittu said.
Being about 6,500 miles from his family is the biggest hardship for Shittu.
"That's the biggest adjustment for me," he said. "Every time I think about it, it's very hard. But playing basketball right here, it's something that makes me not feel the pain too much because I love basketball."
He takes advantage of modern technology to stay in touch with his family.
"I talk to my mom on Skype," Shittu said. "I use my coach's phone to call a lot of times, and I text my sister a lot [on] Facebook."
Shittu has changed his once slim physique by adding 10 pounds of muscle since August. For that, he credits his school's weight program, Providence and Hawks teammate Lukas Durasas, a junior from Lithuania.
"Every time I'm in the weight room, he lifts more than me," Shittu said. "Every time we get into the weight room, he always pushes me hard to lift even when I said I'm tired. He always pushes me to lift more."
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 04/05/2015