Trio of future Hogs play in McDonald's All-American Game
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For the first time in program history, Arkansas had a trio of future players in this year's McDonald's All-American Game played Tuesday in Chicago.
That gave fans even more reason to tune into the game and national analysts even more reason to talk about the Razorbacks and their No. 2 ranked recruiting class.
The announcers raved about the program for extended periods of time on national television, as the game aired on ESPN. Cory Alexander was one of those announcers and pondered how good of a class Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman put together.
“How about that recruiting class at Arkansas?” Alexander asked. “Three five stars… Musselman has three burger boys coming in next year,” referencing the picture Musselman posted to Twitter with three McDonald’s burgers symbolizing the three All-Americans.
ESPN National Recruiting Director Paul Biancardi chimed in, as well, saying “The Muss bus had its oil changed and is refueled and ready to go after back-to-back Elite Eights.”
In addition to remarks on the class as a whole and the state of the program, the announcers gave a lot of time to the three signees, as viewers learned of Black’s day trading on the stock market, Jordan Walsh starting a shaved ice business at his school, and Nick Smith Jr. wanting to start a family compound in Little Rock.
The analysts also talked about each player’s game briefly, alluding to Smith as one of the superstars of the 2022 class, Black as one of the best passers in the class, and Walsh as an incredible athlete.
The trio of Arkansas signees didn’t disappoint in their primetime performance, either. All three played on the West team, with Smith and Walsh starting. Black came off the bench and had a lot of time on the court.
Nick Smith Jr.
Smith showed a little bit of everything in the All-Star game Tuesday. He played on-ball a majority of the game and really did a great job creating for teammates and getting to the hoop.
One of the best plays of the night was an alley-oop thrown from NBA range to teammate Mark Mitchell. The most impressive parts of his performance, though, were his on-ball defense and his speed. Smith looked like the fastest player on the floor, sprinting down the court in transition and scoring with ease. He had a few highlight plays, including this one:
The 6-foot-5 guard was impressive with his defensive footwork and ability to stay in front of whomever he guarded, especially considering the talent level in the McDonald’s All-American game.
Even more impressive was that Smith was praised for his leadership throughout all the practices in environments with other top players.
Smith finished with eight points, an assist and a steal in 23 minutes, 50 seconds of playing time.
Jordan Walsh
Walsh had a tough showing in the McDonald’s All-American game, but he did show some flashes of what got him there in the first place.
He made some athletic plays on defense and drives to the basket, but most notably a crafty put-back layup off an offensive rebound late in the first half. The biggest thing Walsh needs to work on is his confidence in his own game around players at his skill level.
At 6-foot-7, Walsh has great size and athleticism to compete with anyone in the country, though his game remains a little unpolished. Even with somewhat of a raw skillset, he has enough skills to make an immediate impact.
Walsh’s court vision was on display as he threw some great passes to cutters for assists. His outside shot form is solid, so even though he didn’t make any jumpers Tuesday, an off-season in Fayetteville should have him making them at a decent rate.
Even without the jump shots, Walsh finished with four points, three rebounds and an assist in 15 minutes, 36 seconds.
Anthony Black
The most recent addition to the 2022 class had perhaps the best showing of the night. Black was dynamic at the point guard spot, displaying great court vision and patience with the ball.
In fact, with around 14 minutes left in the first half, he made the best pass of the night with a beautiful lead pass in transition splitting two defenders where only his teammate could catch it. After another one of the guard’s assists, Biancardi praised Black’s game as being easy for his teammates to play with around him.
Additionally, Black found himself inside the paint on the defensive side of the ball, fighting for rebounds and blocking out in an All-Star game. Despite being one of the “lower” ranked players of the class in the All-American game, Black outshined a lot of guys ahead of him in the rankings, finishing with a final stat line of four points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal in 17 minutes, 1 second.