Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

12/23/2010 at 12:01am

Sylvan Hills 6-foot-3 guard Archie Goodwin is considered one of the nation's top prospects for the Class of 2012 and has the scholarship offers to show for it.

Rivals.com rates Goodwin a 5-star recruit, and Arkansas Wings' Ron Crawford says Goodwin will be the state's most highly recruited player since Little Rock Central product and NBA All-Star Joe Johnson. Goodwin said he appreciates the accolades coming his way but admits he can't spend too much time thinking about it.

"It's good to have people complimenting me instead of being negative," Goodwin said, "but I don't pay too much attention to it."

Goodwin and his teammates played in the inaugural Arkansas Hoops Challenge on Saturday at Little Rock Hall's Cirks Arena. Class 6A Searcy defeated Class 5A Sylvan Hills 73-68 despite 36 points from Goodwin. Searcy's 6-foot-8 Jamal Jones scored 27 points in the win. Jones has signed with Ole Miss.

"This game was very important for us," Goodwin said. "We played out of our classification. It lets you know where you're at and what you need to improve on the most."

As far as the individual matchup with Jones, Goodwin felt it will be very beneficial to him as the season progresses.

"It was a good matchup with Jamal. He showed me he's a lot better than I thought he was," Goodwin said. "That is the first time I had ever seen him play. He shot the ball pretty good. That was a good challenge going against a guy who is much bigger than me. I didn't know he was that good, but he's very athletic and can jump. It was a good experience and I'm glad I was a part of it. I did alright going against a kid who is going to Ole Miss, but I could have done better. My goal is to get a lot better."

Goodwin has offers to such schools as Arkansas, Kentucky, Kansas and most of the other national powers. Despite that and the high recruiting ranking, Goodwin felt like playing in this event was good for him.

This showcase was very important for me [as far as exposure]," Goodwin said. "I got seen by a lot of coaches and I'm just letting them know I'm still working hard.

At this moment, I don't have a Top 3, Top 5 or anything, but I will after the season."

Goodwin was asked about being swarmed by reporters after his game and if the constant attention from the media is a distraction.

"I don't pay any attention to it [media attention]," Goodwin said. "I would rather have it than not have it. A lot of people don't get it. I'm just glad to answer questions for people."

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One of the more interesting matchups of the day saw Jonesboro Westside's 6-11 Hunter Mickelson pitted against Van Buren's Hooper Vint, matching two 6-foot-11 players.

Mickelson, who has signed with Arkansas, had 18 points in the game including 14 in the second half despite battling foul trouble much of the game. Vint had 11 points and generally held his own against the 4-star Mickelson, who had offers from across the nation before casting his lot with the Razorbacks. Westside won the game 57-47.

"I thought I did all right," Mickelson said. "I started off kind of shaky in the first half. I think we're all as a team getting better. As a whole, we're 12-1 and I think I'm averaging about 20 points and 10 rebounds."

Mickelson has always had the height necessary to play in the SEC, but now he's adding weight to his frame.

"I'm at 205, 210 now," Mickelson said

Mickelson said the chance to play against a talent like Vint will only help him get better this season.

"Hooper is a great player, Hooper is a good challenge," Mickelson said. "We just tried to figure out something on offense and defense to contain him. It's a good challenge. In my conference there's not anyone as tall as me so it was good to come here and play someone my size."

When Mickelson committed to the Razorbacks, he said getting the pressure off and devoting all his energy to his senior season was one of his goals.

"After I committed, I was just looking forward to the day I signed," Mickelson said. "Since then, I've just been trying to help my team get back to state again."

While his goal is to try and help Westside repeat as Class 4A state champion, he admits to being impressed with what Arkansas' John Pelphrey is doing this season. Mickelson is also looking forward to the future when he and the other four highly-touted signees in this class get to Fayetteville. All the recruiting services have Arkansas among the elite recruiting classes in the nation.

"They're doing good," Mickelson said. "They work hard and these guys up there are a good staff. It's all coming together for them. Any time there is that much hype there is going to be a lot of high expectations and everybody thinks we're going to be the greatest, but it's going to take time, but there will be big expectations. Us coming in there is going to be a break-in period for us, but those guys up there have been playing and we're going to have a lot of help. Most of them have been through two or three seasons in college so we're going to be good.

Vint hasn't signed with a school yet and is still working hard to put together the best senior season he can. Vint was also very complimentary of Mickelson.

"It was a great challenge, he's a great player, Vint said. "I played all right, but I didn't do so well in the second half. I've got to get better.

"We're 4-5 so we're just looking to get better."

Vint said he has made strides during AAU this past summer to improve his game.

"I have improved everywhere," Vint said. "I've gotten stronger and everything like that."

Vint said it isn't one particular thing that he needs to show the most improvement in to get the offers he hopes comes his way in the spring.

"I need to work on everything - shooting, the post, running the floor and just everything," Vint said. "UALR, Nebraska, Colorado, Tulane, Houston and Missouri State are all showing interest in me."

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A couple of other touted juniors in the state who played Saturday in the first contest was Pulaski Academy 6-3 guard Dusty Hannahs and Strong Huttig 6-5 forward Stetson Billings.

In the game, Hannahs had 35 points, including seven 3-point shots. Billings had 13 points. For Hannahs, he was hot on Saturday with his shot falling from all over the court.

" My jumpshot was on, the last two games it really hasn't been on," Hannahs said. "My jumper was on pretty well. Every miss I had felt good so I had just had a shooter's mentality, attacking the rim and scoring any way I could."

Hannahs said since his strength is his shooting, he can't let a few misses at the beginning of a game hamper him.

"If I miss the first couple of shots, the next make it all goes away," Hannahs said. "You have got to have a short-term memory. That's my philosophy."

Hannahs said he is constantly working on his game to make improvements and patterns his game after a Golden State Warrior, Stephen Curry.

"I don't know, I get on the floor and shoot 500 or so shots and keep getting deeper and deeper so I feel comfortable everywhere," Hannahs said. "I have always been able to shoot, but I'm working the hardest I have ever worked on all aspects of my game. Stephen Curry is the player I watch the most. I need to work on my penetrating and just get better at that and be an all-around scorer."

Hannahs played with the Arkansas Wings 17 and under team much of the summer, but wasn't with them when they won the national championship in Orlando, Fla.

"I had been with the team the entire year." Hannahs said. "But I went to the Peach Jam with the 16's so I went to Orlando with the 16's. That's my team and I love them. I was going to stay with them, but I was hurt a little bit bit. Coach Crawford and I figured out what was best."

Hannahs has offers from Southeast Missouri, Louisiana Tech, Clemson and UTEP.

"I love the SEC and the West Coast," Hannahs said when asked if any other teams were drawing his interest.

Billings said the game will help Strong Huttig later on, but he was disappointed in Saturday's 62-46 loss.

"I think I am getting better every time we play," Billings said. "I learn from my mistakes and just get better. We didn't play our best game. I think we can do a lot better on defense and our outside shooting. I need to work mostly on getting my team involved in the game and on my jumpshot. It's coming around but it's not where I want it to be. I still have a lot of work to do. Playing a game like this will help us a lot to show us what we need to work on."

Otis Kirk has covered Arkansas recruiting for more than 30 years. His regular features and message board posts can be found at HawgSports.com, a member of the Rivals.com network. His Recruiting 360 column appears on ArkansasSports360.com every Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

Tagged: Stetson Billings, Strong Huttig High School, Sylvan Hills Bears, Pulaski Academy Bruins, Jonesboro Westside, Ron Crawford, Cirks Arena, Little Rock Hall High School, Van Buren Pointers, Otis Kirk, Rivals.com, Hawgsports.com, Hunter Mickelson, Archie Goodwin, John Pelphrey, Hooper Vint, Jamal Jones, Dusty Hannahs, Ole Miss Rebels