Trevon Brazile 'completely different' heading into final season at Arkansas
Trevon Brazile is one of Arkansas’ key returners from last season, and has looked the part through the first few weeks of offseason workouts.
The Springfield, Missouri, native looks leaner, stronger and more physical now than he did last season, and head coach John Calipari said his redshirt senior forward doesn’t even look like the same person who was here last year.
“TB, I wasn’t focused on him today but he has played so well that he’s not even the same guy,” Calipari told reporters Wednesday. “How about he smiles? Like I’m just happy to see him smile. Like dude went three quarters of a season and he never smiled. Now you can tell he’s happy.”
Brazile has every reason to be happy, too. He finished last season on the highest possible note. He averaged 6.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists across 34 games last season, but stepped up toward the end.
The high-flyer picked up serious steam during forward Adou Thiero’s injury hiatus from Feb. 22 to March 26, with seven double-digit point performances in 7-of-9 games played. In that span, he averaged 11.3 points and 9.1 boards per contest.
Brazile shot a team-best 60.0% from the field last year, plus 36.4% from distance. It sounds like he’s built upon that over the offseason, as well.
“I tell you, he’s playing the best ball since I’ve coached him, but I don’t know prior to,” Calipari said. “I will tell you that if he’s the guy I’m seeing, you’re talking about someone that, if we have one or two like that, if we have two like that then this thing is on. He’s that good.”
Physical changes for Brazile
The most notable thing about Brazile on Wednesday was his build. He looks bigger and stronger, which will hopefully allow him to be more physical in the paint.
“I think I probably added about 10 pounds,” Brazile said. “I’m just out there playing, I feel good playing. I don’t really pay attention to all that.”
New Arkansas forward Nick Pringle said Brazile’s athleticism, as well as his shooting, stuck out to him.
“Crazy athlete,” Pringle said. “He started shooting the ball a lot more, I mean he really just plays the game. He plays it simple, makes the right decisions. But mainly he’s a driver, athletic, he was a good player the past few years in the SEC.”
This is Brazile’s fourth offseason at Arkansas and second under John Calipari, and he said the main difference between this year and last for him is the speed of the game.
“I’d say the game’s slowed down a lot for me,” Brazile said. “I’m just more comfortable out there. Two summers ago I didn’t get a summer, I was recovering from the ACL. Then last summer I feel like I had a good summer.
“I just feel good this summer. It’s not really any different for me, I’m just going out there and playing.”
Brazile’s three-point shot still a threat
One thing that stuck out during Wednesday’s open practice was his three-point shooting. He didn’t have a ton of volume last season, just 1.9 attempts per game, but he was hitting them at a high clip during practice.
That three-point shooting hasn’t been an emphasis by Calipari, Brazile admitted, but if he can develop into a consistent shooter from deep, it will add another layer to an Arkansas team hoping to improve on its Sweet 16 appearance from last season.
