Will Neighbour's legacy at Little Rock

One of the most heralded recruits to arrive at Little Rock in recent years, Will Neighbour's tenure here was one of frustration and versatility. It was frustrating because he was never quite able to achieve what we knew he could because of health issues. It was versatile because the program has not in recent years (perhaps never) had a player who could do as many thing well as he did.

Personally, my expectations for Will were not realistic. He had been advertised as a guard who grew quickly into a big man and retained many of his guard skills. Perhaps so in passing, but his ball handling never was good enough for him to play at the small forward position as I had hoped, where he would have hopelessly mismatched the opposition. Instead he was for the most part a post player, far too often having to play out of position at the center spot.

Two of the things that impressed me most about Will were his willingness to become what the team needed, and his ability to bounce back from injuries and a sub-par junior season. After the loss of Michael Javes, he took on the role of the principal rebounder, and did a more-than-satisfactory job. After his outside shooting slumped badly in his junior year, he bounced back this past season to be back among the conference leaders and to gain a place among the best 3-point shooters in school history.

No, Will Neighbour never did quite get over the hump to the level of play that we had hoped, but his career was outstanding and he was a sterling representative of the school, both on and off the court. He will be sorely missed, and those of us who were privileged to watch him play will always remember him as one of the all-time Trojan greats.