Time Had Come: Musselman Not Talking About Devo Leaving

It probably wasn't Arkansas' Davonte "Devo" Davis' intention to steer his basketball career into a ditch in August. Before the end of January, everybody could see that's where it was headed this season.

Just before the start of Arkansas' game with Kentucky on Saturday, Razorbacks basketball sports information guy Mike Cawood sent out a simple e-mail that cleared up what everybody had been buzzing about most of the afternoon. It was the talk around Bud Walton Arena as soon as we got in about 3:30 or so.

"Arkansas senior guard Davonte Davis has stepped away from the program," was all the release said. No stats or anything else from the Jacksonville, Ark., native that was in his fourth year with the program. After being sidelined for the second half against Ole Miss on Wednesday night, Musselman may have just figured it was time.

There was no leadership coming from the guy with the most experience coming back. He'd been the leader throughout two Elite Eight runs and a Sweet 16 appearance. There were high hopes from everybody he would provide the stability to get things coming together. That really didn't happen.

The result has been a 10-10 record so far this year. Musselman hasn't had a .500 record in college. He's clearly not been really covering up the fact this hasn't exactly been a pleasant first 20 games into the season, either. Nobody was going to get him talking about Devo, either.

"Yeah, whatever Mike said. Thank you," Musselman said later. He wasn't backing a fraction of an inch off that answer, either. Apparently there was an impression the previous answer was a suggestion to rephrase the question. "I think I’m just going to stick with Mike’s thing, thank you,"

Even a second attempt at trying it a different way about him having the option to return made things even clearer: "I’m just going to stick with Mike’s thing. I appreciate the job you’ve got, and that’s what it is."

That's probably about where it should have been left. Devo had his moments with the Hogs over his time. That was dulled somewhat with some erratic technical fouls or apparent disinterest in what was happening. The quick view is that probably where it should be left.