It didn’t take long for Black to delete this point guard assessment as he likely realized folks were taking it the wrong way. Black didn’t mean this as a specific slight against Fland as a Razorback last year playing alongside “TB,” or Trevon Brazile. More likely than that, Black wasn’t criticizing anybody in particular but simply pointing out the obvious: none of Arkansas’ primary ballhandlers through the last two seasons have also looked fully comfortable as a distributor.

That includes El Ellis, Devo Davis, DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis, too. 

Still, none of those others entered the program with as lofty of a reputation as a “real” point guard.

As a freshman, Fland actually surpassed Black from an individual standpoint when averaging 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists in his freshman season. But then went through a similarly frustrating episode of injury/trying-to-play-through-injury/getting indefinitely sidelined as Nick Smith Jr., Black’s backcourt mate at Arkansas.

Both Fland (thumb) and Smith (knee) both suffered persistent injuries that kept them out for many weeks at Arkansas. Both players suffered slings and arrows from some fans who felt they were sitting out to preserve their draft stock instead of putting on the line for their teams. 

Both talented guards tried to come back at the end of the season, playing limited roles in big upsets of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. But neither looked anywhere close to their normal selves. 

Smith, a central Arkansas native, never publicly vented about the negativity he got while sitting out for so long. “He knows he’s not delivering,” sportscaster Mike Irwin posted. “He’s hurting. He’s an Arkansas kid and he loves that Hog as much as any of you. Give him some space and he might just find himself before this season is over.”

Fland, meanwhile, didn’t grow up as a Razorback fan. He didn’t have lifelong friends around him in Fayetteville, nor a family he could easily visit just down the interstate.

Still, Fland recalls, things started well in Fayetteville. 

“When I was on the court, everybody loved me,” said on his YouTube channel. “Everybody calling and texting me saying, ‘Oh you’re gone [to the NBA draft] this year,’ ‘Keep going’ and this and that.”

Temperature Plummets around Arkansas Basketball

Then, in January, things turned cold. 

“As soon as I got hurt and wasn’t able to do what I do in the court, nobody checked in. Nobody texted me like ‘You good? How’s your hand?’”

A bit later, he added: “I didn’t get that same love and support that I got when I was on the court than when I was off the court. I feel like that was one of the toughest lessons for me, because it just goes to show the love wasn’t real.”

Here’s where Fland, frankly, probably would have felt more supported attending St. John’s closer to his home. In that scenario, even if he’d suffered the same injury, he’d have been surrounded by friends and family. 

As it was, he felt somewhat betrayed by certain Arkansas basketball fans and hangers on who only wanted to be around in the good times.

Just like with Nick Smith Jr., though, all of that is behind him now.

Smith, despite that single, rough season in college and getting cut by the NBA team which drafted him, is now bouncing back in a big way. He racked up 25 points to play the hero in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Monday night win vs Portland.

Fland, too, may be on the cusp of a turnaround coming out of Florida’s loss to Arizona. 

“God has a time for me,” he said on his channel. “He has a different journey for me.”

“I just learned to embrace it and try to understand where He’s coming from and try to look at the different picture, try to look at things in a different way instead of in a negative way.”

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Boogie Fland talks about the fake love at 13:30 below:

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More coverage of Arkansas basketball and Boogie Fland from BoAS…

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  I am a U of A graduate, former Democrat-Gazette reporter, and author of “African-American Athletes in Arkansas: Muhammad Ali’s Tour, Black Razorbacks & Other Forgotten Stories.”

  Preview the book here: https://amzn.to/2SEpQdf