What does Josh Cohen’s transfer to Arkansas mean? Nothing yet
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, himself a subject of speculation about his return to the Razorbacks in 2024-25, knows he will have to rebuild his roster in Fayetteville next season, assuming he does stick around.
The process began Friday when UMass forward Josh Cohen committed to Arkansas out of the transfer portal. The former Minutemen big was a first-team All-Atlantic 10 player last year, averaging 15.9 points and 6.8 rebounds.
But he makes just the seventh player on the roster as things stand with the Hogs right now. Arkansas will ultimately have 13 players on the roster, meaning things are not even close to finished yet.
Arkansas fans – in the real word and in the media – celebrated Cohen’s commitment as a “big get” and a “good one” for the Razorbacks. They did the same last year with every single player Musselman brought in from the portal, too. That team just finished with the worst record Arkansas has had since 2009-10.
The hope from Hogs faithful is that Cohen, who started his career at St. Francis (Pa.), would come close to duplicating his stats at UMass. It’s possible he does, of course, but the Northeast Conference and the A-10 are not the SEC, even if the SEC was not nearly as good this year as other power conferences. Cohen was barely ranked inside the top 50 among available players in the portal, too, mind you.
Right now, he joins a team that includes Khalif Battle, Tramon Mark, Trevon Brazile and Baye Fall as the only returners from last year. Isaiah Elohim and Jalen Shelley are also going to join the team as freshmen. If Arkansas gets the Brazile from two seasons ago, the Battle from the final month and Mark maintains, that’s a tremendous start toward a climb back to the top of the SEC.
That’s also working under the assumption that all four of the returnees end up staying and keep their names out of the portal, too. Throw in the six other roster spots Musselman has left to fill, and all we’re saying is slow the roll on the giddiness of the last week for Arkansas basketball.
