BURN THE HORSE
We just saw this on Arkansas Sports 360:While UALR has secured one spring signee in 6-foot-5 guard/forward Taggart Lockhart, the Trojans have to lament the big one that got away. No question Hooper Vint, the 6-11 center from Van Buren, was No. 1 on the UALR wish list, but Vint chose Texas-El Paso on Wednesday, the first day of the spring signing period.No doubt UALR wanted Hooper Vint (he visited campus last weekend and was offered a scholarship). But to say he was the No. 1 target this Spring probably isn’t accurate.
Once UALR signed James White in the fall and got a commitment to sign from Michael Javes in the winter, UALR’s needs drastically shifted away from big men. If Vint had signed with UALR instead of UTEP, UALR would have had to delete somebody from the roster.
That’s because UALR needs guards. One hole was plugged this week with the signing of Taggart Lockhart. The other remains open. At the top of the board appears to be Ron Baker of Scott City, Kan. He visited UALR last weekend and is visiting South Dakota State this weekend. He’s expected to make a decision after that. Baker was named first team all-state in Kansas and scored the game-winning basket in the state championship game. UALR’s coaches have been back-and-forth to Western Kansas several times this year. Baker has apparently turned away other schools (Wichita State among them) in the recruiting process because UALR and SDSU were the first schools after him.
Vint said in an interview this week that UTEP has a young team and he thinks he can step in and play immediately there. It’s not clear that would have happened at UALR. Marlon Louzeiro and Gus Leeper both played solid minutes down the stretch last season and a healthy Courtney Jackson and Eric Kibi should also be contributors. UALR’s already signed White, who appears to have the ability to compete for minutes. Javes has consistently impressed those who have been able to see him this year. And of course there’s Will Neighbour, who is expected to earn immediate minutes. Could Vint have beat out that group for minutes next season? Maybe. Most high school players believe they can. But he didn’t take that chance.
But UALR has already secured enough height to compete. Now it needs another sharp-shooter. As was written on Monday, the biggest loss for UALR concerning Vint is the time it spent recruiting him. Assistant Coach Joe Kleine, and really the entire coaching staff, has been to see him dozens of times in the past four years. And adding a local kid, especially one who is 6-11, would have been nice.
