Thornwell wanted to put SC on the map, came back for his senior year and did what he promised.
This is what I had expected Portis to do. He had made all the right statements about emulating his idol Corliss, taking Hogs back to the glory days and having his name in the rafters just like Corliss. Arkansas was perfectly set up for a Final Four last year with Portis, Kingsley coming into his own, shooters like Bell and Hannahs, a true PG in Durham, a scorer and extraordinary athlete in Qualls, plus Beard, Williams and Thompson on the bench. It was all there for the taking.
The last time a player let me down like that was Joe Johnson leaving early, but at least he did not make any promises. I can imagine his Mike Anderson felt. Instead of a Final Four, Mike ended up on a hot seat.
Well, you can’t really knock Portis. Of course he wanted to put Arkansas back on the map, but he also wanted to improve his family’s situation. He had a story out on him and all that he went through, and honestly he made the right decision for his family, you gotta take that first round guaranteed money. Thornwell was never a guaranteed first round pick, so it’s much less of a risk for him. Even after this great year he’s having he’ll at best be a mid-late seconder rounder according to mock drafts.
I think a more comparable situation would be Macon to Thornwell. There’s been a lot of discussion lately if Macon will come back. And Macon has been letting everyone know since day 1 he wanted to put Arkansas back on the map. He’s currently not any any mock draft boards, him coming back to go alongside the 5 other seniors we have coming back plus the top 20 class we have coming in and it could be a special year like South Carolina is having this year. But, if he decides to leave early, I still think we’d be a tourney team with Barford, however I think Macon will be the difference to make a deep run.
Big difference was Portis was projected as a potential lottery pick and Thornwell is considered a mid-second after an SEC POTY season.
I get the promise aspect, but very rarely do players pass up the opportunity to jump when they’re thought of as a first-round lock. Still wondering what caused Robert Williams to do it. His potential was such a big part of what made him attractive as a prospect in this draft, so it’ll be interesting to see how his stock rises/falls after another year.
At this time Thornwell is a more skilled player than Portis was then. Also he has a solid group of players with size and skill around him; better than AR did then. AR’s recruiting was dismal until this last year when we got commitments from those coming next year and after. We were lucky that the patch-work of JR college transfers worked good this year. That bought MA time. Portis did the right thing for himself to take the money and head for the bank. Meantime we must continue to recruit our best players, keep them at home and build the program to where we like it to be.
I don’t know any facts about Bobby’s family situation back then, but I think the responsibility of taking care of a family is a huge burden to put on a kid. Personally I think barring a death or an illness of a parent it’s never the responsibility of a kid to take care of a family. I feel that the adults involved should step up take care of their own business and encourage the kid to make decisions that would best benefit them.
A degree and two more years of BB would have set him up that much better. All and all I appreciate everything he did the two years he was here.
Disagree. In Portis’s junior year, we would have had Portis, Kingsley, Williams, Thompson and Miles in the front court. That is more size and skill in the front court than SC this year. Plus Qualls who is more like Thornwell. And in the backcourt we had shooters like Bell and Dusty, who were among leaders in SEC and Durham as PG, among leaders in the SEC in assists. Plus Beard and Whitt. That is a lot better group of players than SC in terms of size and skills.
As far as recruiting classes, Portis/Kingsley class was #15 in some services. Portis was a 5-star and Kingsley was a 4-star. Beard and Whitt were four stars. It is not as dismal as you make it sound.
Disagree. Kingsley wouldn’t have played in dual lineups with Portis consistently, it would have been more like their SO year, and Moses wouldn’t have performed the same. Williams got in trouble - gone. Qualls blew his ACL, remember he was injured at the combine prior to the ACL injury. He would have blew his ACL in pickup games (more than likely). Last year was a MUCH weaker class than this year in terms of NBA guys. I believe BP should have waited for one more year because:
New CBA - new rookie scale last year. If I’m not mistaken he would have got more money, even if he went the same place.
Weaker class - more than likely, he himself wouldn’t of had to improve in order to go higher.
It would have been to his benefit to leave. For those saying “a degree,” BP has the money to finish when his playing career is over. Look at the guys who have done that the last few years. I have a Masters and am working on my Doctorate and I will probably never make as much as BP will in the three years of his rookie contract.
What was good for AR, isn’t necessarily good for the kids. Make millions of dollars for several years, and you have the money to finish degrees. If your family is struggling (I have no clue about Macon’s family, but Bobby’s was a topic of conversation on these boards) then Europe is an option and a few good years overseas could help you land in the league.
Well, I am projecting the results based on “what if” Portis had stayed. If Portis had stayed, Qualls would have stayed and not blown out his knee trying to make money. I am assuming Williams and Beard would not have got into trouble. Also, yes Kingsley and Portis would not have played together as much, but Kingsley would have improved and just like Kingsley and Thompson played together this year, Mike would have felt Kingsley was more ready and would have played Bobby and him together some. Regardless the other poster was saying the team would not have had size and I am pointing out it did.
Further, I am not debating whether or not Bobby made the right decision for himself. I am just pointing out that it was in conflict with his own declarations and that I have right to be feel let down by Bobby.
Yeah, if everybody had stayed and stayed out of trouble, Arkansas would have been more talented last season that USC is this season. Really, no contest.
PG - Durham (historic assist rate), Beard (with a full summer of work)
SG - Bell, Hannahs, Whitt
Wing - Qualls, Watkins, Whitt
PF - Williams, Kingsley, Thompson, Miles
C - Portis, Kingsley, Thompson
That’s a really good team, especially considering another year of seasoning for Portis and Qualls. They would have had postseason experience as well. That team wins the SEC last season.
Qualls was injured before the workout that blew out his knee. He skipped events at the combine because of it. His knee was “sore.” If he would have stayed, he didn’t think it was serious enough to prevent him from working out, he would have injured it in the “pickup game/scrimmages” that we hear about.
As for Williams, he was a SR, with Qualls gone the team was looking at him and Bell as SR’s. Even if Portis stayed, he was supposed to be a leader, since Qualls would have still gotten injured, Jacorey would have still screwed up. The funny money issue would of still happened. Hitting the bouncer would have still happened. Arguing with his girlfriend and knocking her down would have still happened. Portis returning would of had no bearing on Williams.
As for Kingsley, Moses said last year, he played better because Bobby left. He knew he had to be the guy in the middle. If Bobby stayed Moses wouldn’t have developed last year, he would have been similar to his Sophmore year.
The only thing that would have changed had BP returned (and I’m playing the what if), would have been us going to the NIT. This year would have been what was impacted. Qualls would have redshirted and returned this year. 3-4 games better, Kingsley from last year would have been on this team instead of last year’s, again I believe another 2/3 wins on top of Qualls. So, between 5-8 wins better this year. If Bobby would have stayed his JR year.
That’s an illogical argument on Qualls. I think getting ready to work out for NBA teams carries a lot more motivation for taking risks with your body than wanting to play a pickup game. The staff shuts him down if he’s still a Razorback. Was something structurally going wrong with his knee? Who knows? However, the staff was going to be a lot more cautious when his next game wasn’t for months than Qualls was going to be when he was trying to move up to the first round of the draft.
That team won 16 games and lost 8 by two possessions or less, as was. They wore down at the end of the season due to the lack of depth. You think adding a first-round NBA draft choice to the mix just gets then to the NIT? That’s really pessimistic.
At the end of 2014-15 season, I had us penciled in to make a deep run in the last year’s NCAAT with the roster that you listed above. In fact that is exactly what Portis said after the loss to UNC. With a few breaks like SC got this year, like a Villanova loss and a terrible shooting night for Duke, it could have been a Final Four.
Yes. Not sure how you think BP by himself was worth 7 wins or more. He was good, but not great. I think he was worth 5 wins. That would have put us at 21 wins. Our SOS wasn’t anything to crow about, so yes, the NIT. Could Portis’ name been enough to maybe influence the committee to let us in with 21? Maybe. Now, as for Qualls, I don’t know what was wrong with him, but yes he was injured at the combine. That was before the work out. So, yes he would have pushed himself and blew it out. You also, aren’t taking into account Moses last year wouldn’t have been the same player had BP returned (said by Moses himself).