When Arkansas guard Trevon Brazile went down last December, it was plain to see the knee was seriously injured. It was a bad one you knew when it happened. It was about five feet in front of me against NC-Greensboro. We talked about that briefly Thursday after practice.
"I knew it was hurt immediately," Brazile said. "I've been at 100 percent for a couple weeks now, but the goal is not to be 100 percent, it's to be above that. The last few days or week or so just getting the mechanics right, but I've been feeling great."
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman doesn't have a fixed date for the return and they simply don't want to do anything at this point to jeopardize one of the key players they are expecting back.
"The target date is probably two and a half weeks, but that target can move," Musselman said, calling it a moving target. "The one thing I think the medical staff has done a great job and TB has done a great job is having patience throughout all this. He did play live last week. Not with our team necessarily, but we did do 3-on-3 work. Our staff talked to a lot of NBA people about how they go about it. So, I'm happy with where he's at."
He hasn't experienced any "full contact" practice yet, which is basically 5-on-5 against teammates. The guess is how that goes will have a lot to do with setting a plan with a fixed date in mind for him to come back.
"He's going to have an adjustment period probably the first month of the season," Musselman said. "I don't think we can expect a guy who has been out that long to just come in and have three and a half weeks before your first game. He's going to be a guy just like our team we hope come March he's taking it up another level. We'll see with each month him getting better and better, and he's already pretty good."
Admittedly, the Hogs are tired of just running drills in practice all summer and into September. That's one of the reasons Musselman moved the start date of the Red-White Game dramatically forward. Hopefully, all of that has led to a lot of team chemistry with all the new faces coming in.
We have great team chemistry, that's what makes us dangerous," Brazile said. "Every day we hang out a lot as a team. Last year, maybe we didn't hang out as much. But this year we hang out a lot and have great team chemistry."
Arkansas will host its annual Red-White Game at Barnhill Arena on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Doors will open an hour prior to tipoff. Tickets are not required for the event and seating will be general admission on a first-come, first-served basis.
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