Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman and his new-look squad will hit the court in Bud Walton Arena for the first time Monday when Rogers State comes to town for an exhibition.
Though his squad played four games overseas this summer and faced each other in the annual Red-White Game last Sunday, Musselman — a former NBA head coach — said he wants his team to still be in training camp mode for the time being.
"In my opinion, our team has still got to be in the training camp mode," Musselman said. "And then once the exhibitions break in the NBA, that’s when training camp ends and I’m kind of looking at it the same way. We’re in training camp mode until probably two days before our home opener."
The Hogs will have two exhibitions next week — Monday against Rogers State in Fayetteville and Saturday against the Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas.
Musselman said they won't do any sort of scouting report or look into personnel for Rogers State, who is a Division 2 school out of Claremore, Oklahoma. He did say they would look into Texas, but there is no film on this year's squad, so it will be limited.
As far as his own team goes, Musselman said there is still a lot to learn. He mentioned that he had a meeting with the staff Monday to talk about starting lineups, but that decision will take some time to make.
"We’ve had probably three meetings today to go through different starting lineups," Musselman said. "Might bring one or two players off the bench that are really starters so that we have some pop off the bench. Who starts, that might not be what the closing lineup is. But we’re still going through some stuff."
Like things normally go, whatever five players start the exhibition against Rogers State probably won't be the same five guys starting at the end of the year.
"In the past, sometimes we’ve tried to not change the starting lineup at all," Musselman said. "There’s been other years we’ve changed it up a lot. Not really sure where this kind of takes us. I’m sure whatever lineup we put out there Monday, that’ll change the next time we compete or some time in the next few games."
The Texas game will give the Hogs and opportunity to face the level of competition they will see in SEC play.
"A lot of them think that they’re gamers and when the lights come on that maybe practice isn’t as important as a game, so we’ll let them feel their way through that process Monday, then the Texas game, as well," Musselman said. "That’s why we’re playing Texas in Austin, is to get a good feel for the level of competition we’re about to encounter."
There is in-game tape from Europe and the Red-White game for Musselman and his staff to watch, but it's very limited. Since the middle of August, he's only been able to watch his players face each other.
After a while, there is little you can take away from a practice or an intrasquad scrimmage. Facing a team like Rogers State, though it is lesser competition, can help the Hogs to get film against an outside opponent.
"I think after Monday we’ll be able to break down more film for them and I think the more film you have from live competition, it’s a little bit easier to teach off of our own video," Musselman said. "I think when you watch practice video, it is what it is. But when you go against somebody else, it’s a little bit more eye-catching, maybe."
Last year's Arkansas squad barely squeaked out a 77-74 victory over East Central in its first exhibition. Musselman has not forgotten that stressful experience.
"We still have a ways to get better, but last year against a Division II team, really lucky to win, probably," Musselman said. "I thought Max Pendery did a great job with his team. They were well-prepared coming in here and that was a very, very close game last year. So we obviously grew a lot from that game until the end of the season."
Arkansas will see its first in-game action in Bud Walton Arena since the spring on Monday at 7 p.m. CT against Rogers State. The Razorbacks will then travel to take on Texas at its new Moody Center in Austin on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m CT.
