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Arkansas fans came into the year expecting a lot from senior guard JD Notae.
On the heels of winning SEC Sixth Man of the Year, the Razorbacks' roster had a lot of turnover, especially in the backcourt. Notae played behind graduate transfer Jalen Tate, the first one-and-done in program history Moses Moody, and freshman Davonte Davis. Notae even split time with Desi Sills, who transferred to Arkansas State.
With Tate, Moody and Sills gone, Arkansas' backcourt was completely Notae’s and Davis’s to lead coming into the season. More than two-thirds of the way through the season, the rotation might be a little different from what fans - and even the coaching staff - expected.
Notae has taken control of the offense as most thought he would, but it’s been as the primary ball handler. A main topic of conversation over the offseason was who would take over the role Tate ran so well last season.
Would it be Davis, taking the next step and playing the position most-suited for him at the NBA level? Would it be Miami transfer Chris Lykes, who was a high-level scorer and player in the ACC? Would KK Robinson take the big step the other freshmen did after coming back from his injury?
Up to this point, none of those things has happened on a consistent basis, so Notae has run the offense with the ball in his hands. As a result, the 6-foot-1 guard is second in the SEC in scoring and leads the conference in steals. Notae isn’t just doing things well in two statistical categories, though.
On top of his 19.0 points and 2.4 steals per game, the Georgia native is stuffing the stat sheet with 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He’s also playing 33.0 minutes per game and maintains a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
It’s not just his stats that impress, though, it’s the context of how he’s been able to do it. Head coach Eric Musselman has praised Notae’s ability to score while being the focus of other team’s scouting reports.
“He doesn't flinch, man,” Musselman said. “He's steady. He is the focal point, obviously we know that, of other teams' scouting reports. He's a focal point defensively. But he really is so tough-minded that it's never really concerned me at all, even at the beginning of the year, how he would react. I think he likes playing in big moments. He has great, great, great internal confidence. I think he's done a great job. Same personality as last year.
“It's not often you can have a guy come off the bench one year, be your sixth man and then he's the leading scorer in the league the next year and you see zero difference in his personality - both behind closed doors in practice, and I see very little difference when he's playing in a game, either.”
Being the focal point of every team Arkansas has played hasn’t seemed to affect Notae, either, as he described how he’s adjusted to being the focus of the Razorbacks’ attack.
“Just being aggressive still, knowing they're going to probably scout me," Notae said. "Just letting it come to me. I’ve got guys around me that put me in position to be effective, so we do a good job with just having our spots and spacing the floor, just running our pick and roll game.”
Speaking to Notae’s consistency and confidence are his performances over the past few weeks. Over the first twelve games of the season, he was struggling from behind-the-arc, and in overall efficiency in his game.
While he was averaging 18.0 points, Notae also shot just 29.3% from three and 42.1% from the field while logging 34.1 minutes per game. Despite the team being 10-2 in that stretch, the Razorbacks lacked an identity and a consistent rotation, leaving Notae to shoulder the burden as the one consistent piece on the offensive side of the ball in terms of scoring and facilitating.
Since conference play started, Notae has been much better, largely due to the team finding its identity and buying into roles starting with the Missouri game.
The reigning Sixth Man of the Year is averaging 20.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 steals since SEC play began. His shooting percentages have skyrocketed from the first half of the season, too, as he is shooting 45.5% from the field and 35.0% from three.
He’s also only averaging 31.4 minutes per game, as foul trouble has kept him off the floor for long stretches in several games. Coming back into games cold hasn't seemed to impact him much, either.
“JD is just a baller, man," Musselman said. "I said something to one of the assistants at halftime (against West Virginia) because they thought that maybe he was going to be out of rhythm or out of sync. I laughed and said, ‘Well haven’t you played pickup ball and understand that if you lose you could sit for an hour and a half? Then you have to go out and try to win so you can stay on the court.’
“JD is kind of one of those guys that has that mentality of just, ‘Let me get on the floor and I’ll take care of it.’ He’s not a guy that I ever worry about that mentally he’s going to think that he needs warmup minutes or he’s out of sync or out of rhythm. He’s just a straight baller, and he just wants to play. I think he’s oblivious sometimes to some of the other things surrounding him to where he just wants to win his individual matchup and win the game.”
Despite playing so well, Notae still thinks there’s room for improvement in his level of play.
“I feel like I’m playing alright, but I feel like I can play way better," Notae said. "So we just gotta keep on growing, just keep getting better, keep working and just keep going game by game.”
Musselman actually started recruiting Notae while at Nevada. He felt the Jacksonville transfer could be the Wolf Pack's starting point guard and provide a much-needed scoring punch after the departure of Caleb and Cody Martin.
However, over the last few years, Notae has exceeded even Musselman's most lofty expectations.
"His growth, I don’t know if I’ve been around a college player and seen such growth in such little time," Musselman said. “I mean, he’s so much more disciplined on both sides of the ball. He understands offensively that you’ve got to get a shot on goal.
"He understands our offense. I mean the growth, I could go on and on, and I’d need...to hold up practice for an hour so I could go through all the things that he’s improved on. When he came here, he was an ultra-talented player who really needed to understand concepts on both sides, and he’s still learning.”
Even with all of his improvement and exceeding his coach’s expectations, Notae still hasn’t reached his full potential, according to Mussleman.
“To be quite honest, he’s still evolving as a point guard," Musselman said. "He’s a scoring point guard right now, but I think that he’s even going to get better and better at being a true point guard and understanding how to get some of the shots that he gets for himself, how to get those for his teammates.
"I think that’s the next part of his evolution as a point guard. But again, I can’t praise him enough for how much he’s grown as… Little things people wouldn’t know about, like when he stunts when the ball’s dribbled to him, when he cracks down and smashes if Jaylin Williams goes to take a charge, or to block a shot, how he smashes down on the other team’s big. From a concepts standpoint, he’s - like I’ve said - grown as much as any guy I’ve been around.”
Will all of that growth lead to Notae being named the SEC Player of the Year? The competition is as stiff as ever in the SEC, but the Arkansas point guard is right there at the top and in the middle of the race.
Multiple outlets name their own conference player of the year, as evidenced by there being three different players of the year in 2020 – Musselman’s first year. That year, Mason Jones was named one of the players of the year as he led the conference in scoring with 22.0 points per game and also one of the leaders in steals per game at 1.6.
This year, Notae has Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Auburn’s Jabari Smith as competition, along with Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr.
What it might come down to is each individual outlet’s definition for the award. Some outlets seem to put the emphasis on “best player on the best team,” while another might focus on the “most important player” to a team’s success. Additionally, there’s the chance that an outlet just awards the overall best player.
If any outlet this year uses the definition of “most important to team success,” the award should go to Notae. Arkansas is not the best team, nor is Notae the outright best player or most productive player in conference across all statistical categories, but Kentucky and Auburn would still have very good seasons without Tshiebwe and Smith, most likely.
The fact that Arkansas has turned its season around by moving Notae to a true point guard role and he’s playing better and more efficiently in spite of being the focus of opposing scouts, make him a contender for the award at the very least.
It should be a factor that outlets consider in naming the award’s recipient that Arkansas is playing the best basketball of the year and are on a seven-game winning streak since moving Notae to a full-time on-ball position.
Will he win the award? Who knows. But he has nine games left in the regular season to continue leading Arkansas to a better postseason seeding and to bolster his claim as the best player in the conference.
