FAYETTEVILLE -- If the University of Arkansas basketball team is going to make a run in the NIT, the Razorbacks will have to do it without their best player.
Daniel Gafford, Arkansas' 6-11 sophomore forward from El Dorado, has declared for the NBA Draft, will sign with an agent and won't play in the NIT, UA Coach Mike Anderson announced Monday.
The Razorbacks (17-15) play at Providence (18-15) in a first-round NIT game at 8 tonight in Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.
"[Gafford] could have left last year and had an [NBA] opportunity, but he came back, developed and got better," Anderson said.