Eric Musselman opens up on goal of going beyond Elite Eight

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater08/01/22

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The expectations for Arkansas’ program under Eric Musselman are sky high right now. After two straight Elite Eight appearances, the Razorbacks brought in the No. 2 class in On3’s 2022 Consensus Basketball Recruiting Rankings. Pairing them with what’s left of last season’s roster and five transfers has those in Fayetteville expecting another step towards the Final Four. While Musselman is excited about his roster, he says there’s a long way to go before that.

Musselman discussed Arkansas’ season outlook during a press conference ahead of the Razorback’s trip to Spain. He says the road to reach a Final Four will be challenging because of their path to get there and the unknown of how his team will respond.

“To make an NCAA Tournament is hard. This is the most challenging schedule we’ve ever had since I’ve been here. We’re gonna be really challenged,” said Eric Musselman. “The thing that I can’t answer right now is what happens when adversity hits? Because it’s going to hit.”

Musselman’s team lost multiple key contributors from last season, most notably Jaylin Williams and JD Notae. While all their new pieces are skilled, their first tastes of either SEC hoops or college basketball in general will be no walk in the park. Their schedule already includes an appearance in the Maui Invitational, a neutral site game versus Oklahoma and a trip to Waco to face Baylor. That doesn’t even include home and homes versus Kentucky and Alabama and trips to Auburn and Tennessee during the SEC season.

As of now, Musselman doesn’t know what to expect from his team. He says he and his staff are doing their best to prepare their team for the season ahead of them.

“Those are all things I can’t predict. There are things that we can talk about (and) things we can address before they happen…You always want to lay out all the hurdles that your team can run into prior to them happening. It doesn’t do any good to react once they happen,” said Musselman. “I want the team to be prepared. This is also the youngest team I’ve ever coached by far…We have our work cut out for us.”

Eric Musselman has proven he is capable of taking Arkansas to that next level. His roster is more than ready from a talent perspective to get there too. Experience and a tall task of a schedule will make that road even tougher, though. Musselman doesn’t want anyone to pump the breaks but recognizes the hurdles his roster will have to leap to get to Houston this March.