Boogie Fland injury update: John Calipari offers news on Arkansas guard's status for NCAA Tournament

Arkansas guard Boogie Fland has been cleared to return to the floor for the Razorbacks. But how much he’ll be in the mix in the NCAA Tournament remains to be seen.

Coach John Calipari plans to use him in some capacity. But just how much and where remains to be seen.

“He was good today,” Calipari told reporters at the team’s NCAA Tournament site. “His hand was bothering him a little bit, so he went light. I’m trying to think of the rotation. Like how am I going to do this?”

Boogie Fland hasn’t played since Jan. 18 against Missouri. He suffered a season-ending hand injury, but the length of Arkansas’ campaign — reaching the NCAA Tournament — has made a return feasible.

Getting back a freshman guard who was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game would be huge. Huge.

Of course, there’s the matter of how to work Boogie Fland back in while not upsetting the apple cart. The Razorbacks have won five of their last seven games, including a pair of wins against ranked teams.

To that end, Fland himself has been the ultimate teammate. Calipari explained.

“It was a great story when he came and said, ‘Look, I’m going to be able to go but I don’t want to hurt the team, they’re doing some good stuff,'” Calipari said. “Then he said, ‘If I can help this…’ I said, ‘Yeah, you can help us, we only have seven guys.'”

In any case, Boogie Fland will be available against seventh-seeded Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The game is scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. ET tip on Thursday.

“So now it’s how we rotate this and how we slide him in is going to be really important,” Calipari said. “And I’m telling him just go be you. Don’t worry about making shots, shoot balls. And if they go they go, if they don’t they don’t. Do some of the stuff you did before you went down.”