Josh Cohen feels the love during official visit to Arkansas

UMass priority transfer Josh Cohen left his official visit to Arkansas impressed with what he learned about the program, fan base and what Fayetteville has to offer.

The 6-10, 220-pound forward has accumulated over 1,600 career points and is coming off a first-team All-A10 season with the Minutemen where he averaged 15.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

A Lincroft (N.J.) native who has spent his college playing days in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Cohen was did not know what to expect when he hopped a flight to Northwest Arkansas, but it did not take long for him to feel right at home.

“I was very surprised when I came out here,” Cohen said. “I didn’t think Fayetteville was like this. It’s a really great city with great people.

“I’ve been welcomed. I was welcomed on the plane, and ever since I’ve stepped off here it’s been a great experience. It really has.”

Unsurprisingly, Arkansas’ passionate fanbase left its mark before his flight landed at XNA Tuesday morning.

“They were saying they were a huge, passionate sports fans here in Arkansas, and they would love to have me,” Cohen said.

“We were flying by the stadium and everyone was opening their windows, pointing out their windows and showing the stadium was right there. You could see the energy and the passion of these people. It’s unbelievable.”

From the moment Cohen set foot on campus, however, it was down to business as he sat with Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman for multiple hours to discuss his plans to have the Hogs still playing this time next year.

“He showed me the vision of his program and what he believes it can be,” Cohen said. “A lot of coaches in the recruiting process are telling you, ‘Hey, we can make the NCAA Tournament, this, that and the third.’

“He wants to go win a national championship. He wants to be back in the Elite Eight and going to the Final Four. He’s an elite coach with elite passion.”

Musselman’s message and getting a taste of what Arkansas has to offer in terms of resources wound up being two of the things that stood out most to Cohen.

“The highlight of the trip is definitely meeting with Coach Muss and understanding and getting a gauge on what Arkansas basketball is and being able to see the arena, the facilities,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it. It’s definitely at a pro level. I’m excited.”

As far as a decision timeline is concerned, Cohen will begin an official visit to Notre Dame on Thursday and reevaluate from there.

“Coach Muss. He’s an elite coach,” Cohen said. “The other thing is, at Notre Dame, they have an elite coach, too. There’s some other schools I might visit, might not visit.”

While initial reports had Cohen pegged for visits to Xavier and potentially Penn State, it appears the Razorbacks and Fighting Irish are the two school who have emerged early in his recruitment.

“I couldn’t give schools an honest opinion of where I was until I went to Arkansas and Notre Dame,” Cohen said. “From there, I’m just going to kind of start making decisions and start seeing where I’m going to go.”

As Cohen weighs the next chapter of his basketball career, he made it abundantly clear that one thing is at the top of his priority list: Winning…

“In this decision, it gets hard, right? You get put in spots where you’ve got to learn in 2-3 weeks where your next home is going to be.

“Right now, it’s more of seeing all these different places and understanding and getting a gauge of what coaches and players want to do and get a feel of campuses and stuff like that.

“Those kinds of visions would happen if I were to commit and come on campus. Then it would start the process of, ‘OK, how can I help? How can I lead the locker room?’ That’s one thing that I’ve done the last couple of years.

“Ever since I’ve become a leader and become a captain, my teams have won, so especially this year at UMass, we won at a high level, and I don’t plan on stopping that. Wherever I go, I want to win and do anything that it takes.”

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello has Cohen ranked as the No. 13 available transfer, and On3.com currently has him listed as the fifth-best center in the portal.