Brazile Puts College Basketball World on Notice in Explosive Return

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas was able to get off to a running start to the regular season on Monday with a dominating 93-59 victory over the visiting Alcorn State Braves. Even though they struggled at times, the Razorbacks did get to the Sweet 16 once they figured some things out rotation wise without one of their best players. With a healthy Brazile, they likely would have avoided a team like Kansas or eventual national champion UConn due to better seeding.

Thoughts of last year and what could've been shouldn't linger too long in the back of the minds of current Razorbacks. After all, Eric Musselman has assembled what looks to be a special squad. During the first half of Arkansas' first game against Alcorn State on Monday, former Razorback Manuel Watkins mentioned a conversation he had with Brazile while rehabbing his injury. 

"I wondered what we could've done or where we could've been if I played," Brazile said. 

A lot of folks whether fans, coaches and media pondered it as well. Brazile mentioned he could have possibly been drafted as his draft stock was skyrocketing through the first nine games that saw him average 12 points and six rebounds. The former Missouri transfer rocked quite a few rims during his abbreviated season including a dunk of the year nominee in the Razorbacks season opener against North Dakota State.

Before the start of this year's college basketball season, Brazile was honored with a Jersey Mike's Naismith Award nomination which included 49 other players looking to be named the best player in the sport. The 6-9 forward was also named to the Karl Malone Award watch list for the nation's best power forward. Other notable players included are Grant Nelson (Alabama), Kyle Flipowski (Duke), Coleman Hawkins (Illinois), and Drew Pember (UNC-Ashville).

Although opening night was cut short for Brazile following an ejection for leaving the bench on a technical foul against the Braves, he was electric with multiple dunks. Two of them should contend for dunk of the year — posterizing multiple brave men wearing purple and gold. Arkansas' star player finished the night with 13 points on 4-5 shooting and knocked down all four free throws. 

The Razorbacks missed out on a lot of electric dunks a season ago with Brazile and company. However, he displayed his unique skillset early on against Alcorn State with a huge dunk early on splitting a pair of defenders on his way for a hammer dunk.

Then, a few moments later before halftime, Brazile saw another opportunity to put another defender on a poster while catching a pass in the paint from Cincinnati transfer Jeremiah Davenport. Without hesitation, he leaped in the air from six feet with a dunk that drew an awe from a quality crowd inside Bud Walton Arena. 

If there's one part of the game that this Razorback team has for them is their exceptional length. That not only impacts how teams choose to defend certain Hogs in the post but also how athletic they are during runouts in transition.