PARIS- RNN Sports has highlighted Paris seniors who are moving on to play college sports in the 2023-24 school year. For the small 3A school in Western Arkansas, the Eagles athletic department has produced a proportionately large class of players who will be playing next year at various levels of collegiate competition.
Eagles basketball player Sam Muldrow is part of that list that also includes Jayden Wells, Mason Bradley, and Brailey Forst. So, for the small town of Paris, this is a big thing and is very exciting to the Big Blue Nation of fans that have followed them for several years.
Sam Muldrow, a three-year starter at Paris, will play next school year at National Park College in Hot Springs. Sam started one game in his ninth-grade year, and subsequently started every game from that point forward.
After playing for four different head coaches at Paris in his career, the hard-working Muldrow made the most of his high school opportunities to further his career to play at junior college.
The opportunity to play at junior college keeps his career alive, but also gives him the chance to play with Division I or II talent that may have had injuries or academic challenges that prevented them from being recruited at a higher division school. That opportunity will allow Sam to transition into more of an outside shooter and develop his body for a transfer opportunity later.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit with Sam on the phone to talk about his high school career, his parents’ support, and the opportunities that await him in Hot Springs. Sam’s interview, along with the other Paris athletes that I have conducted over the past school year was once again a delight to do, and as much as I have always been impressed with Sam as both a person and as a basketball player, our interview impressed me even more of him.
We began our conversation by talking about Sam and his class of basketball players having played for four head basketball coaches. When I asked him about what that was like, Sam started by saying, “It was definitely tough. Having to adjust to a new coach every year and a different coaching style, different plays, and it was also hard personally for me. I would develop a personal relationship with a coach and then he left. I wouldn’t say I was upset with him; he has to do what he has to do, but it was just tough. It’s hard to deal with; but I am a hard worker, so I was able to get through it.”
That work ethic has propelled Sam into an opportunity to play at the next level when he enters college. But in high school, Sam also shouldered an expectation to score every night to give his team a chance to win. Sam carried this expectation with class and determination. I asked him what carrying this expectation felt like for more than three years in high school, and he graciously responded by saying, “Yes, I felt that every night. Not to sound cocky or bitter, but the truth was that if I wasn’t putting up a certain number of points in scoring, then, we had a big chance of losing. There was a bit of pressure there, but I felt prepared, and I put in a lot of work. I felt prepared to do that every night.”
And from my observation of covering Sam and the Eagles over the past four years, there seems to be a fine line between being a scorer and being an unselfish teammate who is always willing to distribute the basketball to another player who may have an open shot. Sam did this naturally his entire high school career. When I asked him about being both a scorer and a distributor of the basketball, he replied by saying, “I’ve always wanted to get my teammates the ball. I’m not the type to take a lot of bad shots, shooting it every chance I get. I believe in getting my teammates involved, as well.”
Sam’s unselfish play was always obvious to Eagles fans. His play always appeared to focus on the team winning the game versus how many points he could make individually. He was always a team player for the Eagles.
A seemingly large number of Sam’s points were scored by him slashing to the basket and taking the ball inside for the shot. In doing so, Sam took a lot of contact every night. When I asked him about the toll this took on him throughout each season, he shared, “Getting to the basket was always my main way of scoring, running the floor and getting to the basket. I played against physical defenses, and it was definitely tough. Now, going on to the next level, I will have to develop a jump shot from outside way more because of the size I will face in college. But I think I will still be able to get to the basket.”
Before our interview, I asked Sam’s coach from a year ago at Paris High School, Andrew Tencleve, for any comments he may have on Sam’s play and contributions in high school and his moving on to play college basketball. Coach Tencleve responded by saying, “Sam produced for us all season and not just in terms of scoring. He also led us in rebounding and created several turnovers on defense. All year, opposing teams had to find ways to account for him since he created so many mismatches. What’s impressive about him is how even keeled he always plays; never too high, never too low. He’s had the goal of playing college ball for a long time. He’s an incredibly hard worker, and it tends to pay off for players like him that work hard and have a motor. College coaches see that and value that, so I don’t think anyone can ever count him out of anything.”
Moving forward into his college playing career, Sam hopes to make the most of his opportunities to play at National Park to develop as a player and have a transfer opportunity later to a larger program. Sam added, “My plan is to go there (National Park), develop, and play against great competition. Junior college is often times like Division I, Division II players that maybe, couldn’t make the grades, or whatever for a four-year school. They go to a junior college, so I will be playing with them. I think it is a great decision for me to go there to develop as a player. But yes, my goal is to transfer to a four-year school and see where it takes me.” Sound thinking on Sam’s part, and I wouldn’t bet against him and his chances to eventually end up in a Division I or II program in one to two years.
College coaches have projected Sam to play more of a guard or outside shooting role than he did in high school. Sam added, “Believe it or not, I had a bit of a different role in travel ball than I did in high school. That’s where I got most of the looks from college coaches who watched me play. My stepdad and coach (Roy “Chuck” Ludgood) would let me play whatever position I wanted to play. A lot of times I would run as a shooting guard and definitely shot the ball on the perimeter; I shot the ball a lot more. So, in college, with the size difference, it is different than high school. I’m big enough to play forward in high school, but to play in college, I would be able the height to play point guard or shooting guard positions. So, I going to be counted on to be a guard, probably a combo-guard who can run the point, but I will definitely be counted on more to score and not a pass-first point guard.”
Sam has played travel ball since the sixth grade. He and former Eagles player Jesse Wells played together both in travel ball and for the Eagles. Sam and Jesse played on the same travel team from their ninth-grade years of high school until the two graduated. Sam said, “We were on three teams together. The last team we played on was the one my stepdad coaches, and we played the most together on that team.”
Sam is both realistic determined about his abilities and his opportunities to play college basketball. He shared this by saying, “I know I can get to that level someday (Division I or II).” And I completely agree.
College coaches began to show an interest in Sam his junior year of high school, or admittedly, some interest at that point. But same candidly shared that most of his interest occurred late in his senior year. “I would say that most of it (college interest) was at the end of this season. I had some looks my junior year and into that summer, like getting invited to college camps. My stepdad was a huge help because he runs a lot of AAU tournaments, and he knows a lot of college coaches. He would contact them and would send them video from games and then they would invite me to tryouts and that is how I got most of my looks from college coaches. A lot of other guys would get looks from others just sending video to colleges, but my stepdad would send me to the tryouts and the workouts at the colleges, and I would go in there and play against college players. And that was really tough at first. It (playing in college) will be really tough because the speed, size, and quickness of the athletes is tough to play against when you are used to playing against high school players. Going to one of the tryouts, one of my firsts, there was a big guy from Paris, France, and while I was guarding him, he bumped me with his shoulder, and I flew backward. I have never been hit that hard in games. It was definitely a wake-up call for me.”
Academically, Sam is considering a career path that will incorporate his love for sports. Athletic training, physical therapy, strength training, etc., are all possible options he is considering starting next fall. Sam share, “I will probably end up studying like sports medicine, or like a physical therapist, or a strength and conditioning coach. I would love to be a basketball athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach all in one.”
So, as our conversation ended, I came away more impressed with Sam than I ever have been. And his tribute to his family was both touching and right on the mark. Sam’s stepdad, Roy Ludgood, and his mom, Nikki Ludgood, have supported Sam and his dreams all the way. When I asked him about his family’s support, Sam shared, “It (their support) has been huge. Especially Chuck (Roy Ludgood) coming into my life. As soon as he found out that I wanted to play college basketball, he told me that it would be the hardest thing I would ever do. He told me that I would have to continue to work hard, and he set up so many opportunities for me and that has been a huge blessing. He instilled a lot of confidence in me. I’ve had confidence issues in me my entire life, and he has just helped me play with a lot more confidence. And my mom, she supports me no matter what, but she is on me when I have a bad game. She’ll definitely tell me about it, but that is a blessing as well. I need someone like that to keep me levelheaded. Also, my real dad (biological father) lives in Las Vegas right now, but he has been a huge blessing as well. He watches every game online, and kind of like Chuck, he has instilled my work habits, working hard. My dad is one of the hardest working people I know. He has also helped me be more confident. He told me if I wanted to make this happen (play college basketball) I would have to stay grounded and would have to work harder than anyone.”
Carrying the high expectations of fans and friends can be both a blessing and a burden for high school players. Although the intentions are often positive and not meaning to hurt the player, it can be a burden and sense of pressure on the athlete who is expected by many to play in college after their high school careers. I asked Sam about this, having played high school ball in a small town where everyone closely followed him and expected him to play in college. Sam responded by saying, “Seemingly every game I played I would have someone come up to me and ask where I was going to play at, even if I didn’t know yet. There was definitely and expectation that I felt, which I would say was my fault because I had let everyone know very early on that was my goal, but yes, there is definitely some added pressure when you have people asking you all of the time.”
But knowing Sam the way I think I do, he will turn that experience into a positive and will use it to prepare him for even greater pressures that come with playing in college. Facing fan criticism, hostile playing environments on the road, etc., are all things that Sam is looking forward to and will be used as more motivation to play even harder and to be successful. In short, Sam is a winner both on and off the floor, and he will be successful in college due to his great work ethic and character as a person.
And by the way, I am going to add one last point about Sam. Sam is both an excellent student in the classroom as well as on the court. Sam was an honor graduate and is not going to junior college because of he had grade issues in high school. Sam, from our conversation, is going there to develop his body and to transition his basketball skills to play the combo-guard position and to shoot the outside shot. There is certainly no stigma attached to going to junior college, but I want to make sure that in this story I do not mislead our readers into thinking Sam is going the junior college route because of academic issues. Junior college is a great place for many student-athletes for a variety of reasons, and Sam’s choice to attend National Park is a very good decision in this writer’s opinion. His time at National Park could set him up for even bigger opportunities that could come his way over the next one to two years.
On behalf RNN Sports, I want to thank Sam Muldrow and his high school coach, Andrew Tencleve for their time in contributing to this story. Sam, just like the other three members of his graduating class that we have talked to over the past year, are great student-athletes and will represent themselves and the Paris community with pride over the next 4-5 years as college players. We wish them all nothing but the best of success, and we can’t wait to follow them and share their accomplishments with our readers as they play out their lifetime dreams.
Congratulations to Sam Muldrow and his family, Roy and Nikki Ludgood on both raising a fine man and for supporting him for so many years as he has worked to fulfill his dream of playing college basketball!
