Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

2/21/2012 at 4:40pm

Image by Mark Wagner

Arkansas could have used forward Marshawn Powell this season.

His T-shirt wet with sweat, Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell was walking away from the practice court just as his teammates were headed that way for practice Tuesday. Powell had been walking stairs on Bud Walton Arena's concourse as part of his rehabilitation of the torn knee ligaments that have kept him sidelined this season.

Powell completed that task and was headed to do more rehab work in the training room. Arkansas’ healthy players were waiting on a women’s practice to end so they could prepare for Thursday’s game against Alabama.

Perhaps Powell would watch the final portions of practice, depending on when his work with athletic training personnel was complete. Sometimes he's been finished in time to make that happen.

This scene was just the latest reminder of the absence of the Razorbacks’ best player.

Powell, who was declared out for the season prior to the team’s third game, dutifully sits behind the bench at each home game. He has even been to a road game or two this season so he didn’t feel totally isolated from the Razorbacks.

There have been times Powell has offered words of encouragement to his teammates, “counsel” as Coach Mike Anderson calls it. That’s the extent of what Powell has done — what the can do — for Arkansas this season.

“It’s been as good as it can be,” Anderson told us Tuesday when I asked how Powell’s season had been going. Surely missing the year and watching the team’s struggles have been tough on Powell.

We know his absence is getting tougher on the team.

Prior to a stretch that has seen the Razorbacks lose four of their last five games, including the worst loss in Bud Walton Arena history, it looked like Arkansas might actually do more than just survive without Powell. Florida’s 98-68 victory on Saturday eliminated any real conversation about Arkansas as a NCAA Tournament team, but that only means that was actually a conversation to begin with.

That any of us — and we’re not just talking fans, but national media, even — were talking Big Dance is remarkable considering Powell hasn’t been available. Despite not having an athletic, 6-foot-8 scoring option and very little inside production, Anderson still has  the Razorbacks just a game out of the SEC Tournament’s No. 4 seed with four games remaining in the regular season. With the way they have been playing of late it seems much more likely they remain in the No. 8 or 9 range where they sit now.

Still, it’s hard to believe they have been good enough – without Powell — to be as close as they are to a potential bye in the SEC Tournament’s opening round. In case you’ve forgotten just what he meant to the team, Powell was averaging 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game after beginning the year as a pre-season All-SEC second-team pick.

Think the Razorbacks couldn’t use him shooting 71.4 percent right now? Of all the issues we’ve seen from the team this year the lack of a consistent inside threat has been the most consistent weak spot.

No doubt Arkansas would love to have that sort of production down the stretch.

Powell can’t help the team on the floor. But here’s hoping a few of the current Razorbacks take the same approach Powell did his freshman year.

Late in a 2009-10 season that started promisingly then veered off the tracks for the Razorbacks, Powell declared himself as the team’s leader. He then went out and scored 26 points with eight rebounds against South Carolina in a 92-79 victory.

Powell’s challenge of teammates’ leadership seemed brash at the time, but it was needed and gave them a temporary boost. Powell, who doesn’t always say the right thing, but isn’t afraid to talk, also backed up his words in the short term.

Unfortunately, teammates didn’t follow his lead for long that season.

Arkansas needs a couple of guys to follow it now. Leadership doesn't have to come from the team's two seniors or one junior. Freshmen are very capable of providing what this team needs in toughness to push through bad stretches.

BJ Young appears poised to fill the role of productive freshman leader down the stretch. He scored 31 against the Gators in a losing effort and looks the least fatigued of anybody. Young seemed a bit offended when asked if he was getting tired.

But Young needs help. He needs the help that Powell’s teammates didn’t give him in 2009-10. Arkansas must have other players to step up as they try to avoid another late-season collapse.

There was a point against the Gators where Young had 29 points and his teammates combined for 25. As Powell can attest, that approach won't get a team far late in the season. One really good freshman isn't usually all a team needs.

So far the Razorbacks have managed to exceed expectations without Powell on the floor this season. Why stop now?

Tagged: BJ Young, Mike Anderson, Bud Walton Arena, Marshawn Powell, Arkansas Razorbacks