• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Feb 10, 2010 - Page: 1C

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Courtney Fortson can be as wildly unpredictable as he is exciting to watch.

Will the sophomore point guard for the Arkansas Razorbacks dart for the basket, pull up and shoot, or dish to a teammate for an easy bucket?

All are possibilities for the 5-foot-11 North Carolinian who was rated one of the nation’s top 10 point guards his senior year in high school. His 20.2 point per game scoring average and six assists per game average this season attest to that.

But there is another question.

Will Fortson play or will he be in trouble? Already, Fortson has been suspended twice in his career, including a suspension to start this season that led to his missing the first 14 games after he was one of five Arkansas players present at a party where a woman accused three players, not including Fortson, of raping her.

No charges were filed, but all five players served various lengths of suspensions for violating the team’s code of conduct. None were out longer than Fortson, whose long suspension came after a crude comment he made about the situation on Twitter, according to the Northwest Arkansas News. He returned one game before the start of Southeastern Conference play.

For a player so wildly unpredictable, his return to the Razorbacks seems to have made Arkansas more predictably successful.

Arkansas (12-11, 5-3 SEC) comes into tonight’s home game against last-place LSU (9-14, 0-9) having won four straight games to take over sole possession of first place in the Western Division.

The wins include victories over the West’s favorites, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, plus an overtime win Saturday over Auburn.

And there’s no doubt Fortson, the reigning SEC Player of the Week after he averaged 25.5 points and 6.5 assists per game in wins over Georgia and Auburn, is the main reason for the recent surge.

“Courtney is a very good basketball player,” said his coach, John Pelphrey. “Obviously, he helps us.”

As good as Fortson has been, LSU coach Trent Johnson credits Pelphrey for keeping the Razorbacks together. Pelphrey has had his battles with Fortson, suspending him last season just before a big game against Kentucky, then making a comment that Arkansas “deserves a disciplined program.”

Then came this season’s suspension that, combined with the other suspension and a foot injury that has sidelined sophomore forward Michael Sanchez, led to a depleted roster. But all the suspensions and off-court disciplining by Pelphrey seem to be paying dividends for a division leader.