The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal wrote a nice story about UALR signee Devonte Smith

SPC

Really nice story about UALR point guard signee Devonte Smith in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

CLICK HERE

Signings of Smith, Hill add to UALR's future hoops roster

Yesterday's signing of South Plains College (Texas) point guard Devonte Smith and Homewood-Flossmoor High School (Chicago) power forward Maurius Hill puts UALR at 15 scholarship players for the 2013-2014 season.

The NCAA allows men's basketball teams to have 13 scholarship players. UALR has until the start of the fall semester (in August) to get to 13.

Here's a look at where UALR stands for the next four seasons.

UALR officially signs Maurius Hill

The paperwork is in. UALR has signed Marius Hill.

More tomorrow.

South Plains' point guard Devonte Smith signs with UALR

The national letter of intent from South Plains College point guard Devonte Smith has been received by UALR. He is one of two players expected to sign with the Trojans on the first day of the spring signing period.

Smith’s arrival brings both experience and depth to UALR at point guard. The 5-11 guard from Oklahoma City, averaged 7 points and 5.5 assists this season for South Plains. As a freshman, he was the point guard as South Plains, featuring future Ole Miss sharpshooter Marshall Henderson, went 36-0 and won the junior college national championship.

While more of a traditional point guard (he had 13 assists and just 1 turnover in a victory over New Mexico Military Institute), Smith can also provide scoring. He had 26 points (with 6 rebounds and 5 assists) in a victory over New Mexico Junior College.

His commitment was made official via Yahoo!/Rivals last week.

Out of high school, ESPN’s recruiting expert Dave Telep described him as a “high octane, creator, and facilitator type.”

UALR is scheduled to return sophomore point guards Josh Hagins and John Gillon. However, Gillon showed last season he was more than capable of playing at the shooting guard position. Some of UALR’s best minutes last year came with Hagins at the point and Gillon at the 2.

UALR is also expected to sign Homewood-Flossmoor power forward Maurius Hill.

UALR's Lockhart, commitment Smith were once all-star teammates

UALR junior Taggart Lockhart and South Plains' Devonte Smith, who is expected to sign with UALR in the spring signing period (which begins on Wednesday), were once teammates. They played for Team Oklahoma in the Faith 7 All-Star Game after their senior year of high school.
http://www.wset.com/story/14888679/oklahoma-tops-texas-in-faith-7-basketball-bowl

They also opposed each other in another all-star game:
http://claremoreprogress.com/sports/x2057654688/Ex-Zebra-Caudill-sparks-East/print

And both were all-Oklahoma selections:
http://blog.newsok.com/highschoolsports/2011/03/29/obi-emegano-devonte-smith-ryan-spangler-highlight-oca-all-state-selections/

Here's a look at UALR commitment Maurius Hill

It appears UALR will add two players this week

Devonte Smith and Maurius Hill

It appears UALR will sign two players during Wednesday’s opening of the NCAA’s Spring Signing Period for National Letters of Intent.

UALR has two commitments at this point. The first came from high school power forward Maurius Hill, who played at Homewood-Flossmoor in Chicago. The second came from junior college point guard Devonte Smith.

UALR stacked up well against similarly experienced teams last season

Freshman Josh Hagins

We heard stories all season about UALR’s inexperience. But how did the Trojans stack up against the nation’s other most inexperienced teams. The answer is pretty well.

UALR finished the season as the nation’s 13^th most inexperienced team by Statsheet.com, which uses a system that tracks the minutes played by class of every Division I player. UALR’s rotation last season included two juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen.

Of the top 20 most inexperienced teams, only six finished with a winning record. That list was topped by Michigan, which is headed to this weekend’s Final four. Charlotte and Kentucky were the only others in that group to win 20 games. The other three were UALR at 17-15, Hartford at 17-14 and St. John’s at 17-16.

The other 14 teams finished with losing records, including Louisiana-Lafayette at 13-20. UALR and ULL had identical experience ratings last season.

How did UALR stack up against like programs? Again, pretty well. UALR was one of only four out of the 20 most inexperienced teams to have a winning record in conference play. UALR was 11-9 in Sun Belt games. Hartford was 10-6, Kentucky 12-6 and Michigan 12-6. As a point of reference, Louisiana-Lafayette finished 8-12.

Statsheet.com’s numbers state that freshman average 18.5 percent of the minutes across Division I. UALR’s freshmen played 41 percent of last season’s minutes.

Juniors and seniors combine to average 58.3 of the minutes. UALR’s juniors and seniors played 28 percent of last season’s minutes.

UALR has the possibility of losing only one player from this year’s team in senior Ted Crass. In addition to those scheduled to return, UALR had two freshmen, one sophomore and one junior sitting out as redshirts last season.