Arkansas’ composure, unselfishness and chemistry blew me away tonight: http://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2018 … -state-74/
Maybe I missed it, but one point that wasn’t called out. The vast majority of guys showing out are FRESHMAN or 1st year players in the system. I keep expecting a little more freshman type of shell shock.
I really wonder what the ceiling is for this team on the season. I guess physically they could wear down, but Mike seems to have a solid rotation to avoid that to this point. Fun team to watch who looks like they like playing together.
At some point in the season, they will face some kind of adversity. But freshmen play so much AAU ball and against so many great players prior to entering college that many are better prepared for what they find there. This team seems abundantly prepared and bought into the Mike Anderson system.
We are witnessing the difference when a pure PG like Harris is running the team instead of combo guards like Madden and Beard. A pure PG plays on pure instinct and doesn’t have to be constantly reminded what to do which at times can lead to unforced errors. Hogs have not had a pure PG since when…
This is why I am so upset about Justice Hill’s football fantasies to split time in two sports. Justice is a pure PG and why Mike offered him so early and stayed with him over McBride. I wish Mike stays firm with him(which he won’t) and make him pick one sport over the other.
Harris and Hill combo will be lethal. They are the only two pure PGs on scholarship right now.
I am hoping logic will prevail.
Hill is the Arkansas Football Gatoraide Player of the Year. If the kid wants to play football and or basketball more power to him. Go for it.
There you go! Maybe he’s THE ONE.
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I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but do want to make this point. We’ve all heard the Darrell Royal line about “if a dog is going to bite, he’ll bite as a pup”. Never was a better example of that than our 1992-93 team that featured newcomers Cory Beck, Dwight Stewart, Corliss, Scotty, etc.
I’ll never forget when they went to Arizona for an early December game against the powerful Wildcats under Lute Olson. This was in the days when most games were NOT telecast, and this game wasn’t. I remember it was on a weekend, because I had to go with the wife to do some Christmas shopping while the game was going on. It was only our 3rd or 4th game of the year with all these new guys after the May/Day crew had departed, and I was just hoping we’d stay within 10-15 points of Arizona. Of course, we beat them - ending something like a 40 or 50 game winning streak they had at home. That’s when I knew that this group was going to be something special. I knew about Corliss - we all did. But I didn’t know how good the others were.
All of that is to say that this group may or may not be a "special’ group, but indications are they they are at least a pretty good bunch. I’m excited to see them continue to grow this season.
Sure Hill can do anything he wants. I am just stating my feelings and I have no power over him. If he plays Football and Basketball, that is 3 1/2 months with the basketball team and rest with the football team. That is unfair to basketball program which has only 13 scholarships instead of 85. If he wants to play football, he should do that and release his basketball scholarship. I will be disappointed but also happy with that and whatever he does with the basketball team is gravy.
I thought someone stated that you cannot play football on a basketball scholarship. If that is true, this is a mute point.
That game was televised on ARSN stations. Paul Eells and Bill Rogers were the announcers. Still have it on VCR tape.
HOG1 in Colorado, it appears as of last night that we are developing real quality depth on this team (which I was afraid that we were lacking earlier), which you noted above. If these guys continue to develop, I agree that “physically wearing down” is certainly much less likely. As you also mentioned, freshman shell shock (and just plain old freshman mistakes) has not reared it’s head, and perhaps (as noted by another poster) this is due to the hardening developed by playing at the AAU level. I too am having great fun watching this team play, even when it’s well past my bedtime as last night. Heck, when was the last time that I saw rebounding this good at Arkansas (or this many blocks, or so few turnovers, or so many assists, or quality contributions at all 5 positions, or etc.)? And certainly let us not forget to mention that for so many young players the defense at this early point looks better than I can remember for years. I’m going to try to just take one game at a time, but I sure like what I’ve seen so far!
I was living in DFW (still do). No TV of the game here; glad you got to see it. Still, seeing it or just hearing the score, the message was the same.
At FBS schools (FCS is a little different), there is a hierarchy for athletic scholarships.
For men it is:
- Football
- Basketball
- Everything else
If a multi-sport student is on an athletic scholarship, their scholly is counted against the highest sport in which they compete. If they play two sports OTHER than football and basketball, the athletic department determines which sport their scholly gets counted against.
For the women, they have:
- Basketball
- Everything else
Is the “highest sport” determined based on the perecentage of the season in each sport that the student athlete participates in?
No, the moment he steps on the football field for a game, he is on scholarship with the football team. Not a practice, but a game.
Everything being the same I would completely agree, but of course everything is not the same and there are many types of pure PG’s.
Philosophies and systems, and styles and tempos, and defenses etc… all require different qualities for there pure PG to be effective for their particular needs for PG.
Having said that. Harris attacks and finds well. Picks his spots well for shots, pushes tempo well, which out side of defending is THE MOST important quality for this systems pure PG, but they all do that pretty well when they bring the ball up court as PG’s. Defense and tempo have been up where they should be. Gotta maintain. This whole team shares well, which has been huge, hope that continues. Uptempo full court, uptempo in half court has been good,
Hill certainly has the attributes to fit in with this team.