Beverley Brings Back a New Look

No. 21 in your program, Patrick Beverley

Outside of knowing he wears No. 21, fans may find it hard to recognize Patrick Beverley when this Arkansas Razorback season begins, and that starts with the hair. He's trimmed the length back so much on his head he looks five years older. A summer abroad may have made his game advance that much, too.

"Man, yeah, Patrick, he's gotten a whole lot better. He's doing stuff off the dribble I've never seen," Razorback teammate Sonny Weems said. "[The summer] helped him a lot. He's [NBA] material. In a year or so, you'll be looking at Patrick getting his named called in the draft."

Beverley led the USA Basketball Under-19 amateur team in scoring and to a silver medal finish and 8-1 record in the world championships in Serbia this summer. When other players were taking a night off here and there, particularly in the finals loss to Serbia, Beverley was being lauded by his coaches for bringing his game every time out. His 13.0 points per game, 3.2 assists per game and 3.4 steals per game (a team record 31 total in nine games) averages all led the all-star team of top collegians, but what Beverly says he got most out of his time with the USA team was "leadership and mental toughness."

Beverley added, "The hostile environment we were playing in, the fans were pretty rude. It was probably the worst I've ever been in playing basketball. We had a lot of young guys and somebody had to step up and take charge. I was able to do that.

"I was glad I had a chance to play for my country, and to represent Arkansas very well. I appreciated the chance and I feel like I played well to help me going into this year."

The sophomore guard from Chicago has landed on both major watch lists for honors this season: the John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy, which are awarded to the nation's top player. He's also a preseason first-team All-Southeastern Conference pick. Last year he was the league's newcomer and freshman of the year as well as second-team All-SEC in ranking among the SEC leaders in nine of 13 statistical categories.