The Arkansas Razorbacks endured a turbulent first season under new head coach John Calipari. That was to be expected: It’s difficult to rebuild an entire team from scratch, which is effectively what Cal did upon landing in Fayetteville. He brought in a nice collection of Kentucky holdovers, but otherwise relied on the transfer portal and recruitment to flesh on his roster. Arkansas was a whole new team with a whole new scheme and a whole new level of scrutiny.

Hiring John Calipari to lead your basketball program takes guts. It’s the easy choice on paper — he’s probably the biggest name in college hoops — but he also brings a lot of baggage, as Kentucky fans will gladly remind you. He does not have a flawless track record, especially in recent years. It can be difficult to find a method to his madness at times.

Still, despite some early bumps in the road, Arkansas heads into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed, having survived the most talent-rich and competitive conference in college basketball history. The SEC was a bloodbath, but Cal pulled out several impressive wins — including a W on the road in Rupp Arena against his former team.

The Razorbacks are a popular upset pick against 7-seed Kansas in the first round, with a chance for Cal to face old rival Rick Pitino in the second round if both Arkansas and St. John’s advance. Arkansas’ chances just got a nice boost over the weekend, when Calipari announced, out of the blue, that freshman guard Boogie Fland is expected to suit up for their March Madness opener.

Arkansas’ Boogie Fland revival could impact the NBA Draft picture

There has been controversy around the decision to bring Fland back, and not only because Cal announced the news with Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament fate hanging in the balance. The freshman guard performed well leading up to a broken hand in mid-January, but Arkansas’ season really took off after Fland went down. That’s not necessarily a direct cause-and-effect situation, but reinserting him into the rotation threatens to disrupt a delicate balance.

Cal has eased those concerns, however, as Fland will not be stepping back into his usual role out of the gate. Arkansas is expected to work him in slowly, unless Fland proves too impactful to leave on the pine.

“The greatest piece of it was Boogie saying to me, ‘I don’t want to screw them up,'” Calipari told reporters. “‘I just want to help.’ And I said, ‘Well, you may play 10-15 minutes, but so what?’… It’s not really changing anybody’s role or what’s going on. We just have an eighth man.”

Fland averaged 34.1 minutes prior to the injury. We should expect nothing of the sort in March. Still, there are profound NBA Draft implications, especially if Fland performs well and Arkansas can reel off a few wins. Before his extended absence, Fland was hovering around the lottery on a lot of boards. He’s a skilled pick-and-roll operator with a potent pull-up jumper, offering a skill set just about every NBA team covets on the perimeter.

If Fland can earn his way to a more robust role and leave his imprint on March Madness — especially on such a tight turnaround — expect NBA scouts to take notice. The Calipari guard tree has a lengthy track record of success at the next level. Fland is still 18 years old with impressive feel for the game and an immediately translatable skill set. He’s one of the better passers in the draft and his 3-point acumen can put stress on a defense. He is currently projected as the 27th pick to the Brooklyn Nets in FanSided’s latest mock draft.

Don’t be too shocked if Fland’s return ends up boosting his stock in a real way.