NCAA Basketball: Razorbacks lose SF Michael Qualls to NBA
The proverbial other shoe dropped for the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday when small forward Michael Qualls announced his decision to forego his senior year to take a shot at the NBA.
On Tuesday SEC Player of the Year, sophomore power forward Bobby Portis, announced he was entering the 2015 NBA Draft now leaving the Hogs without their top two scorers from this year’s 27-9 squad.
Qualls was a frequent ESPN Sports Center daily Top 10 Highlight reel contributor known for his great athleticism and high soaring dunks. As a sophomore the Shreveport, Louisiana native averaged 11.6 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds. During his junior season he took the next stop forward bumping up his average to 15.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest.
The announcement came via Twitter with Qualls writing, “My time at the University of Arkansas has not only helped me grow as a basketball player, but also as a man and I’m very thankful for the guidance the coaching staff and everyone at the university has given me over my three years. After sitting down with my family I felt the best decision for is to continue my basketball career as a professional. I’m ready to provide for my family and my son.”
Qualls continued writing, “I can’t say thank you enough to the Razorback fans. Coming in as a kid from Louisiana they embraced me from the start like I was one of their own and have always shown me an amazing amount of support. That means a lot to me and I’ll forever be a Razorback.”
The Razorbacks have now lost four key contributors to the 2014-2015 team with Ky Madden (9.6 points) and Alandise Harris (7.6 points) using up their college eligibility and Qualls and Portis (17.5 points) testing the NBA waters. Freshman guard Nick Babb also left the team since the end of the season transferring to Iowa State over the weekend.
Arkansas has two key 4-star commitments in their 2015 recruiting class, Columbia, Missouri point guard Jimmy Whitt and Huntington Prep power forward Ted Kapita. With Qualls, Portis, and Babb no longer on the roster, Arkansas can add three more recruits to next year’s squad during the spring signing period.
Written by Ryan Wright
Photo credit: foxsports.com; No. 24 Michael Qualls goes up for a two-handed dunk.