As fans begin to look back on what was a historic season for the UCA men’s basketball team, it’s impossible to do so without reminiscing on one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of the program.
After suffering an injury prior to his junior year after two stellar seasons at Central Arkansas, Camren Hunter took an opportunity to take his game to the next level and transferred to the University of Wisconsin.
When a combination of injuries and roster competition limited him to playing just over twenty minutes across his one season as a Badger, Hunter decided that it was time for another change.
That’s when UCA and coach John Shulman came calling about a potential homecoming for the Bryant native.
Hunter said that early conversations with Shulman started off as “a joke at first” but quickly evolved into a legitimate recruitment.
Hunter said, “The conversation was very brief. Shulman had one goal, I had one goal, and that was to win… I came back to Conway on spring break, I met the whole staff and we sat down and talked at The Patio Cafe, and got down to the nitty gritty. Things like who they had, what they needed, and what they wanted me to come here and do, and it was very simple. They just wanted me to be me.”
Individually, Hunter smashed the expectations set during early conversations with the coaching staff. The senior guard finished top-twenty nationally in scoring averaging 21 points a game on over 50% shooting from the field, in addition to 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game as he took home the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year award.
While this output puts him amongst the greatest individual seasons in UCA history, Hunter’s most impactful contribution came in the form of helping drastically change the trajectory of the men’s basketball program at Central Arkansas.
Despite the school having just one winning season in 20 years at the Division 1 level, Hunter helped lead the Bears to a 22-11 record, coming within five minutes of the school’s first ever NCAA tournament appearance.
UCA fell in overtime 93-88 against Queens in the Atlantic Sun championship game, however Hunter would go down swinging as he scored a Central Arkansas record 49 points in the loss.
Hunter spoke about the shock of falling just short, saying, “I never once thought we were going to lose, until we actually lost. That’s kind of my mindset, so I just want people to know that I gave everything I had.”
Looking back, it didn’t take very long for anyone who spent much time around the program this year to notice the unique bond between Hunter and Shulman, especially in the latter stages of the season.
Hunter spoke on the relationship between he and Shulman, saying, “Shulman heard how I was, like I don’t trust easily, so the first thing he did was try to gain my trust. I also had to gain his trust, he’s the same way I am. He understands me probably better than any other coach outside of Mike Abrahamson at Bryant or Coach [Brock] Widders. That’s the first head coach in a while who genuinely got who I was as a person, and so I understood him.”
Hunter’s future is still in limbo, as he and the program are awaiting a ruling from the NCAA that could potentially give him an extra year of eligibility. Regardless if Hunter has played his final game or not, his message to the next generation of hoopers in the central Arkansas area remains the same.
Hunter said, “Just dream… I had two offers coming out of high school, most people said I wasn’t good enough for the D1 level…What people say you can and can’t do does not mean anything. If somebody’s telling you that you can’t do something, it’s because they’re probably scared to try to do it.”
It remains to be seen if we will ever see Camren Hunter in a Central Arkansas jersey again, but the memory of his leadership and determination in helping shift the trajectory of the UCA men’s basketball program this season won’t be soon forgotten.