PROVIDENCE — Boogie Fland didn't have to return to the floor for the Razorbacks this season.
A projected NBA Draft pick in April, the freshman point guard could have continued to sit after his January 22 thumb surgery and wait until the Draft Combine and individual workouts with prospective NBA teams. Honestly, it's likely that no one would blame him. But that's not the choice he made.
News broke last Saturday when Seth Greenberg said on ESPN that first-year Hogs head coach John Calipari had texted him saying, barring a setback, Fland would be available for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which we now know will be Thursday against the 7-seed Kansas Jayhawks in Providence, Rhode Island.