Coach's Take on Nick Smith Jr.: Q&A with Brad Beal Elite's Tim Holloway

Arkansas picked up a major commitment Wednesday night in five-star guard Nick Smith Jr.

He is immediately one of the highest-ranked recruits the Razorbacks have landed during the Rivals era and gives them one of the top classes in the country for 2022.

For more insight on what kind of player Eric Musselman is getting, HawgBeat reached out to Tim Holloway. As the president of Brad Beal Elite and an assistant coach in the organization, he has known and coached Smith for about three years.

Here is our conversation with him about Smith…

HawgBeat: Hey coach, we appreciate you taking some time to talk about Nick. First off, what’s the scouting report on him? What does Nick Smith bring to the table as a player?

Holloway: The funny thing about Nick is there probably isn’t a scouting report because he can score at all levels pretty much at any point. He can shoot it from deep, he’s got a great midrange, great pull-up game, and he’s aggressive enough to get to the bucket and get fouled and he’s extremely proficient from the line. You have to try to find a way to contain him because you’re probably not going to stop him.

I think probably the most underrated part of his game is his passing. If you’re going to double him or throw a couple guys at him or try to scheme him that way, I think that’s probably one of the most underrated parts of his game. Just a tremendous player.

I’m happy for Nick because I think the attention he’s getting is the attention he’s always deserved and he’s always played with that sort of chip on the shoulder, like, ‘I’m going to continue to improve. I’m going to continue to show people what I can do.’ And he’s never wavered in his work ethic to continue to get better. He’s never pouted over rankings or being overlooked or whatever. He just continued to get better, so it’s great to see a kid persevere and get better year after year after year.