Coach Anderson continues to sub Chaney for Gafford and let Bailey and Gabe start and play more. It doesn’t make sense. Bring Gabe in for Gafford. I know we have a very short bench, but watching Bailey and Gabe play this first half is just damned near comical. Missed dunks, stepping out of bounds and who knows what else. You have a potential excellent player in Chaney sitting over there. If I were Chaney, I would start to get frustrated about playing behind those 2. Chaney and Gafford together are a pretty solid front court twosome.
There must be a method to Coach Anderson’s madness, but I don’t see it. What is the answer here?
Will next season be Coach Anderson last if he fails to make the tournament next year? I do not see a significant amount of basketball skill on the floor.
I have a question, is the recruiting at Arkansas that hard or do we need some new life on the staff to help recruit ? Something has to change or MA will not survive for long at this rate, if Gafford leaves at the end of the season next season looks suddenly bleak from where I’m standing. WPS
Interesting because I read some posts on here that say Gafford isn’t that good, has no post moves, is soft, is lazy, doesn’t work on his game, never practices FTs, will not play in the NBA, etc.
I think this team is going to be very good next year.
I think it’s very possible that Joe and Jones could be the highest scoring duo in the SEC next year. Both of these guys are averaging 14 PPG in their first year playing D1 basketball, they are just going to get better, you could argue right now they are the best shooting duo in SEC. And Harris I expect will lead the SEC in assist next year, we’re seeing him adjust to SEC play, he’ll be really good next year, I expect him to hit the off-season hard and improve on shooting. And Chaney, we’ve already see the flashes, he has a chance to be a very special player for us. Then I really like Sills and Embery-Simpson, both of those guys are dogs on the defensive end and we’ve seen them both show flashes of being able to put up good shooting numbers. I think next year they’ll be much more consistent.
As long as all 6 of those guys return, I think we have a sure fire tournament team, and I’m still optimistic for them this year in making the tournament. This stretch we are in right now is absolutely brutal. We’re playing 4 teams in a row with a top 30 NET. We won’t have a more brutal stretch for the rest of the season.
We just haven’t been able to sign the super talented tall players on a consistent basis. Gafford was an exception, largely because he was in-state. We do a very good job of getting guards, and of late, there have been very good ones in-state. We have a young team, as evidenced by having only one upperclassman on scholarship, Bailey. And, as athletic as he is, his precision and smart play leaves us scratching our heads. But, we still only start one Freshman, Joe, who is our best scorer from outside, so his inexperience hasn’t exactly been the problem. Sure, Jones is playing his first D1 ball, but he has college court experience. Harris has one year of college ball plus a year in the Arkansas system. I like our Freshmen subs–Chaney, Emery-Simpson, and Sills. They will turn out to be good players in time, assuming they stay four years. Recruiting another 6-10 or bigger player, with D1 talent, has to be our focus for now.
We outscored Tennessee in the second half. I know, that sounds lame given that we were down 21 at the half & they seemingly couldn’t miss. Once again, it was free throws that did us in, not so much our poor shooting, but Tennessee’s excellent shooting of a LOT of attempts. I don’t think it was the refs calling a bad game either. We just couldn’t match up against an experienced, talented team.
Gabe and Ibby are on this team because of more talented players deciding to leave the program late.
Revisionist history to act like they were first choices or something like that.
When parents/kids put a coach in that situation that late in the spring because they are not happy/spoiled, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis are not going to be available
I am sure tired of getting us manhandled by bigger stronger opponents. It has been that way throughout Mike’s tenure.( Who I respect) Is it because he can’t or won’t recruit more muscle? I personally think it’s because he won’t because of the style of play he like’s. I may be mistaken. However, if you look at other teams we play, they don’t have a problem recruiting muscle. If it is because of the style we play, then Mike needs to adjust his thinking. Our national championship team , despite 40 minutes of hell, had plenty of inside strength. Mike only has Gafford and Cheney thus we get creamed on the boards and inside the paint. I go to most all the games and it sure gets old watching us get pummeled in the lane game after game after game.
One thing you have to remember, Corliss Williamsons don’t walk through the door everyday, where all Nolan had to do is say, “You wanna?” and Corliss said, “Sure do,” and next thing you know he’s at the UA. Recruiting “men” is not easy. Everybody is after them, and these days state boundaries don’t mean a whole lot to many players. Eighteen-year-olds know absolutely nothing about the great Razorback past because they weren’t even born when it happened. To them, BWA is just an extra-large basketball arena that stands nearly half-empty at most games. The grass is greener (and in some instances, the money, too) at other programs.
Even with 6’7” Corliss on the team, we usually had at least 2 more 6’10”+ players that could play a significant role and not get pushed around or get beat on defense.
We just haven’t had enough adequate bigs to keep a good rotation throughout a game.
Yes Gafford & Chaney both on the floor gives us our best matchup. Also run the risk of both getting in foul trouble or both fatigued at same time. Then we’re stuck with Bailey, Gabe & company.
Dudley and others. Don’t you think it’s time the coaches take some responsibility for losing players every year? We seem to want to call them babies or have meddling parents. It always seems to be the higher ranked kids too. I’ve noticed some players get pulled quicker than others.