First, we will never win a tip with Bailey… The best 5 players on this roster RIGHT NOW are CLEARLY Barford, Gafford, Macon, CJ Jones, and Dustin Thomas, they need to be on the floor together to start games.
The best backups are Bailey, Beard, Thompson, Cook, Darius Hall, Osabuohien… IF NOLAN’S starters showed no energy like that, he would bench all 5 within the first 3 mins to get their attn…
That loss tonight will kill Arkansas’ tourney hopes, short of something drastic changing things. And if Barford and Macon can’t even lead this team into a field of 64, and no worse than a 5th place finish in the conference, then they’re never making a NBA roster I can guarantee that. Maybe they’re looking ahead to Minn next Saturday, I don’t know why though, they may not even beat the CSU RAMS THE way they looked tonight…
Gafford needs to continue coming off the bench. He’s getting in foul trouble in every game and now every team sees it. He’s still learning his role on the team, so Thompson is the best option to start the game. Same goes for C.J. Beard was actually one of our leading scorers last night and is a consistent double digit scorer who plays good defense. Jones has improved greatly with his defense, but still is doing better coming off the bench. I’m fine with either Bailey or Thomas starting. Bailey is an energy guy who will bang down low. Thomas is the classic blue collar player, which I like.
And one loss isn’t going to kill our tourney hopes. Houston will rise in RPI and shockingly Arkansas only dropped from 7th to 13th in RPI after last night, per CBSSports. Arkansas still has one of, if not, the hardest non-cons in the SEC this year, so that bodes well for us with RPI and tourney selection committees. We still have a big game against Minnesota that fans need to show up and show out for.
Like I’ve stated, it’s one game albeit a very bad game. However, it better serve as a wake up call because we can’t afford a non-conference loss at home in short order to Minnesota and expect that this team will win at least 12 conference games which is probably what it would take to get them safely into the NCAA Tourney.
They will lose road games in the SEC it’s just a matter of how many and at the same time can they win at least 7 of their home games? Time will tell.
The RPI will only be to our benefit if we win more of those top RPI games than we lose when the NCAA selection process is underway.
Hopefully, this game at Houston is the exception, but most top 25 teams don’t get run out of anyone’s gym in such a lopsided manner.
Can you imagine UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State going down to Houston and getting beaten as badly as we did yesterday? I think not, even if they get beat they don’t by plus 25 points.
Oh, and as for NBA prospects on our roster, we have only 1 that will ever be drafted and he’s a freshman.
“Hopefully, this game at Houston is the exception, but most top 25 teams don’t get run out of anyone’s gym in such a lopsided manner.
Can you imagine UNC, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State going down to Houston and getting beaten as badly as we did yesterday? I think not, even if they get beat they don’t by plus 25 points.”
Happens all the time. I seem to remember not that long ago, a MA Razorback squad demolishing #2 Florida and I believe that Florida team went to the Final 4. It happens a lot more than you’ll give credit to.
Gafford needs to start, if he can’t stay out of foul trouble, then he can sit, and watch his NBA dreams smashed, the bottom line is, he plays withe confidence in the paint, and can score consistently in the paint. Thompson is a terrible defender, he has an avg to poor offensive game, he can pass okay, but he even threw a cpl of those away last night. And what game are you watching CJ Jones committed 5 fouls in 7 games…LOL… That’s pretty good for anyone-anywhere. If the NCAA selection committee has to look at entering a 6th or 7th SEC team at large, as opposed to a small conference team from the AAC, with a much better record. You can bet your boooty, they most certainly will consider what that team in the AAC (picked to finish 7th) did to Arkansas last night. And why show up as fans, I’m not even going to watch that game next Saturday, that Arkansas team last night isn’t beating Minnesota and lil Pitino. The arena will be half full as it should be after that game on the road last night. You want a full stadium, earn one. And you start your 5 best players, that’s it, that’s all. You can have all the blue collar workers in the world, but blue collar guys didn’t win Arkansas a NC in 1994, Williamson and Thurman did.
Yes, Gafford is confident and that’s awesome. He just needs to work on his self control, which is the cause of most of his fouls. When he does that, then he definitely should start, until then, he needs to come off the bench.
I didn’t say a thing about Jones and fouls, so I don’t know where you were going with that. He doesn’t commit a lot of fouls, that’s great.
And Houston beating us at the beginning of the year doesn’t facilitate the idea that they’d jump ahead of us during the selection process.
And if this game just ruined the whole season for you that you won’t watch or attend the game, then you were never a fan to begin with. You are a bandwagoner who only shows up when things are going well. So you can go watch someone else. Plus, the seats will be more than half full, I can guarantee you that.
Oh, I see, because you don’t agree with my opinion it’s “ridiculous drizzle” and I am a “bandwagoner?” What’s your mental capacity the 6th or 7th grade, I’m entitled to my opinion without being attacked personally, maybe you shouldn’t participate in online forums, if you can’t participate in such forums, without insulting others, as you seem to do quite frequently on here.
I respect your opinion on Gafford, but someone needs to jump ball to start the games, and Bailey isn’t it. And if Gafford gets in foul trouble, then we’re doing exactly what you say anyway, so what’s the point? I stand by my opinion, that they should play the best players. He seems like a smart enough kid to figure out fouling out is going to hurt him with NBA scouts… And I don’t agree with your opinion that Beard plays great defense, were you watching that game, they were shooting right over him all night, 3 after 3 after 3 after 3… Obviously you need more height at that position, so I stand by my opinion to start CJ Jones, for two reasons, his offensive game is way better, and he’s a legit 6’5 guard, and Beard barely towers out at 6 ft. And of course this loss could hurt us on selection Sunday, saying not means you’re either in denial, or you simply don’t understand the process.
After posting last night about my fears for this team going forward, I remembered something about the 1994-95 team. They were runners-up in the NCAA tournament that year, losing to UCLA. And even though they had most of their team back from the championship the year before, they managed to get blown out in three games, all on the road … by 24 at UMass (ranked #3 at the time), by 18 against unranked Alabama, and by 21 at unranked Mississippi State. There were a couple of other losses in the upper teens as well. So, I stand corrected. Last night could very well indeed by a “bad night”, and in no way indicative of the season’s possible success.
You are making statements as if they are fact, hence why I responded the way I did. If it’s your opinion, state it as such. And it’s not name calling to call it exactly what it is. You basically said after last nights game you weren’t watching. That’s the definition of a bandwagon fan. I just call it like it is.
What’s the point? Keeping on the bench, he can see how the opposing team is playing and adjust his game accordingly. He’s starting to develop this but it’s not perfect yet.
And I didn’t say it couldn’t hurt us, I said it doesn’t automatically jump them ahead of us. Based on how RPI, it’s better for us if Houston keeps winning and so if we do well in conference, it would look like a good loss(if there is such a thing). So I’d be careful about accusing me of not knowing how the process works.
I need to state what is obvious, okay, it’s my opinion, that I forgot more about basketball than you will ever know, and would likely beat you 21-0 or 33-0 shooting nothing but 3’s, in less than 4 mins… If he hasn’t studied an opponent on film, knows in advance what they like to do, then a couple more mins on the bench isn’t going to help much, if at all. And I said it could hurt us on Selection Sunday, I never mentioned how we would be perceived in accordance with Houston. There is no way a 24 pt loss in a half empty stadium is going to be a good loss dude…LOL… It is what it is, Arkansas’ best chance is to improve, and try and get a win on the road against a quality team to make up for it…