With so much negative on the discussion board about the football team, lets take a minute to praise our basketball hogs.
Veterans are playing like veterans. Freshman are good, but obviously still need work that will come with experience.
My favorite part of last night were the 28 assists! This is how our boys are going to win. A lot of SEC teams have that stand out player/players, while our boys aren’t getting recognized by most. The way to combat that is to play like a team and continue the “we hogs” mentality. Last night was a good start.
Quick turn around against a legitimate tourney team that beat Vandy ATS last year… But yes, MA has done a fantastic job, this team is better than last yr’s team. Kingsley on his best day wouldn’t match-up with Gafford…
Kudos to Mike Anderson and staff for assembling a team blessed with talent and with more gifted kids on the way. One of Jeff Long’s best moves as AD, in my opinion, was bringing Coach A home and back to the land of Razorbacks.
Great start!! 2-0 and they are looking good defensively. Love having Barford and Macon in the backcourt. Gafford is impressive as well. The steeper challenges are coming quick but the two teams we just beat soundly will be in the march madness discussion.
we appear to be way better defensively and on the glass so far. Barford and Macon could be the best backcourt in the SEC, they give us 2 guys who can make tough shots in the clutch. Gafford looks to be as good as advertised, if he can give us 10pts and 8rbs a game we will be very tough. Thompson is what he is, a remarkable passer, good rebounder and post defender. we have the look of a Nolan team, lots of 6’7’’ athletes coming in waves. the X-factor could be C.J. Jones, if he can be a reliable 3pt shooter we will thrive. we need Thomas and Cook back though, especially if Gafford continues to foul at will, the added depth will be needed.
im excited for the season, especially in the improved SEC. hopefully we are in for another NCAA run.
While I was very encouraged with the teams play over its first two home games and why wouldn’t I be after what we all are having to endure with the Football season, I believe we will learn a lot more about where these guys are after we see how they compete in the Phil Knight Invitational.
It hasn’t hurt us to this point, but for those two senior bone heads to have gotten suspended could eventually cost us a game or two, due largely to lack of depth and foul trouble that could’ve been avoided with the two of them added to the front line rotation.
I do believe this team has better overall talent and athleticism than last years squad, but much of that talent is real young so we’ll see just what type of win/loss record they can build for there NCAA resume with a pretty challenging non-conference slate and a much deeper SEC conference this season.
However, for anyone to start talking final four and comparing them to Nolan’s Championship team or the final four teams with Day, Mayberry and the Big O is completely premature and I don’t wish those lofty expectations placed on this roster.
Not saying it couldn’t happen, but in the NCAA tourney each game is about matchups and seeding matters in order for those matchups to be slanted in your favor, so this team needs to win more games than it did last year to end up with a better seed in the Tourney if in fact they do get there.
Maybe you haven’t been watching but last year we WON 26 games…do you expect an undefeated season or something? Cheer up…we’re blowing teams out by 28 points!!!
I’m not saying that this years team isn’t talented and exciting to watch play, but I’m just wanting folks to pump the brakes a bit until we’ve played the real meat of the non conference schedule before you think this could be an elite eight or a final four squad.
And no, I don’t expect an undefeated season, but f history tells us anything then we will need to win at least 30 games or more to be seeded high enough in the NCAA tournament to realistically make that type of deep run. Check it out if you have a moment, since the triplets trip to the final four until present the only years we advanced as far as the elite eight we won a minimum of 30 games.
As for the overall makeup of the team, it’s my opinion that we are very good at the guard spots with Macon and Barford and we have some very good young small forwards. I just wish that we had at least one more big man in the front court rotation that could make an impact on both ends of the floor. Trey is what he is and that’s ok against some teams and Gafford has a very high ceiling, but as we’ve seen he has much to learn when it comes to playing savy vets that can bait him into fouls. I’m sure he will get better with more experience and he will eventually be an all conference player as long as he stays for 3 or 4 seasons.
After we play competition like Oklahoma, North Carolina and Minnesota and possibly Michigan State in the Phil Knight Tourney along with Houston, Minnesota and OK State we will all know a great deal more about what our expectations can be. Not after two two home game blowouts against what some consider to be good mid level D1 programs, but not NCAA blue blood programs loaded with 4 & 5 star recruits.
your right we’ve played 2 very good teams for their respective conferences but we’ve not played a power 5 conference school yet. our upcoming nonconference schedule will definitely provide the opportunity to show the true mettle of this squad. i would think this team can and should be compared to the team of Portis and Qualls last season and a similar or better showing should be attainable. i could be proven way wrong or right, next week will tell us alot about the hogs, if we go to Portland and win 2 games or more id call that a success. its imperative that we get Thomas and Cook back soon or attrition will start setting in soon. i dare say i’d put our starting backcourt against any in the country
Hogs lucky to beat FS tonight after lackluster second half or I should say last 3-4 minutes of second half. They had a 17 point lead that got cut to 6 before they put it away. Freshman saved their “bacon”. I think they will have a difficult time getting back to the Big Dance this year.
Yeah it seemed like they had been reading their own headlines this week. The team came out unfocused jacking shots up from all over and missing, settled down and got a comfortable lead only to get complacent and let Fresno get back in it at the end.
While the finish left something to desire for our team, it was far from lucky. For 35 minutes, our defense was great and shut down one of the top 3 point shooting teams in the nation. It wasn’t until they got desperate that they starting chunking 3’s and made a couple. In short, I think this is still a tournament team, our young men just had a very off night, with the exception of Beard and Gafford.
I think you should consider that it wasn’t long ago the hogs lost leads late. This team won this game! We will learn a lot about our hogs this next weekend. PK80.
Unlike you I believe the hogs are going to make the Big Dance.