Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Dederick Lee, a combo guard from Clarksville in the class of 2013, is the first oral commitment for Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson. But Lee was so surprised by the offer, he found himself speechless for a bit on an unofficial visit.

"I didn't say anything when Coach Anderson offered me," Lee said. "I didn't want to [say anything] crazy since we were in his office. I didn't want him to think I was weird or something."

It's highly unlikely Anderson thought of Lee (6-foot-2) as weird. Lee, who averaged 27.5 points in leading Clarksville to a Class 4A state title, can play both the point and shooting guard. Clarksville Coach Tony Davis feels that Lee is a natural shooting guard, but also very capable of playing the point as well.

Lee isn't the only sophomore in Arkansas who could possibly draw interest from the Razorbacks. Fayetteville center Tyler McCullough is 6-9 and a natural center that likes to play in the low post and could be a 7-footer by the time he is a senior. Siloam Springs' Payton Henson (6-8) is also a very good prospect that plays for the Arkansas Wings 16-and-under team and helped them to a state championship in their classification a few weeks ago. Henson, however, is an avid Oklahoma Sooner fan so it will be interesting to see if either the Razorbacks or the Sooners eventually extend him an offer. Little Rock Hall power forward Bobby Portis (6-9) is another sophomore who is very talented and expected to be highly recruited.

Outside the state is New Albany (Miss.) power forward Moses Kingsley (6-9) who plays for the Arkansas Wings 17-and-under squad. Kingsley had 9 points, 22 rebounds and 8 blocked shots in a 60-54 win over the Arkansas Soldiers in a state title game.

Arkansas is showing interest in Kingsley, who is athletic enough to play in Anderson's system at power forward. He and McCullough would be a nice inside combination for Arkansas or some other program.

Arkansas is also giving Brooklyn (N.Y.) Christ The King point guard Isaiah Lewis (6-3) plenty of interest.

Arkansas and others are also recruiting New York and looking hard at Queens Parkways College Prep forward Jordan Washington (6-7). A couple other out-of-state prospects on Arkansas' early radar for 2013 are Lancaster (S.C.) guard Sindarius Thornwell (6-3) and forward Jalen Norman ( 6-5) who Anderson was showing interest in when he was at Missouri. Norman, who is from Nixa, was considered one of the best in that state in his class.

Lee, Washington, Lewis and Thornwell are all four-star recruits according to Rivals.com.

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In the Class of 2012, Sylvan Hills guard Archie Goodwin now has at least 20 scholarship offers. Goodwin has said the hiring of Anderson has helped the Razorbacks with him, but Kentucky, Kansas and most other national powers are still in hot pursuit of the five-star.

Rivals.com rates him the No. 9 player in the Class of 2012 in addition to the five-star status. Goodwin has a chance to become the most highly-recruited player in the history of the state. He helped lead Sylvan Hills to a state runner-up finish last season and said recently the fact they didn't win state makes him even more hungry to win it this coming season. While Sylvan Hills finished No. 2 in the state, Goodwin scored 16 points to lead the Wings on Sunday to the 17-and-under State AAU title.