To have a remote chance of getting into NCAA, AR must at least finish 4th or 5th, knowing only three made it last year. At this time, we are with the bottom dwellers at 1-3 (AR, Miss, LSU, TN, AU, TAM, MO). Immediately above us are GA 3-1, M. St & AL 2-1, Van 2-2. The three top teams: KY, FL 4-0; SC 3-0. We need at least twelve wins to be one of the top five. We have one win and eleven to go. The remaining games are 14. Seven at home and seven on the road. At home, we have MO, LSU, AL, VAN, O. Miss, TAM, GA. Ask yourself can we win all this? Logically we should. M. St showed us this is not logical. A younger inexperienced team showed us they were more talented and better prepared. Eat our lunch on the board 41-29, and 15 offensive rebounds. And shot 12/26 threes at 46%. The seven on the road: TAM, VAN, MO, LSU, SC, AU, FL. The possible road wins can be TAM, MO, LSU, AU. If we win all home games and these four, we may be on the discussion for NCAA. If we have another screw up like MS ST, forget it. Wait another year until more talent comes.
Probably not happening. This team has two glaring holes: their three point defense is abysmal and they give up too many easy baskets to players driving the lane. I don’t see them improving in either of these areas so therefore I don’t see them winning another 11 games in conference.
I don’t see us getting there. The 1-3 record is hard enough to overcome. What the loss to MSU told us is there are probably several more losses to come. If we don’t make the tourney, I’ll probably join the camp of those calling for a change at the top. I won’t do it with any enthusiasm. I really like MA & believed he could get the job done, but after 6 seasons, I’m no longer confident. It’s too early to give up hope, but it’s not too early to recognize the odds are long against us.
We need to get extremely hot is we make the Tourney and to do that Mike needs to find his starting 5 and stick with it.
You can jack with the line up before conference play, but he should have it figured out by now.
I doubt it but I have some hope that we will. If this year’s class wasn’t enough, what good will it do to wait till next year’s class. Besides that, they will be freshmen so will have to wait another year for them to develop.
Otherwise, if Mike doesn’t do it this year, let’s give him another two years so the 2017 class will have time to develop. And, who knows, perhaps the 2018 or 2019 will be even better. That implies we should give Mike another 3 or 4 years to turn things around.
Perhaps, even better, instead of thinking about replacing Mike, let’s accept that recruiting more than a an occasional outstanding basketball player to Fayetteville, is no longer possible, regardless of who is coaching and that being in the middle of the SEC is our destiny.
The two glaring holes you speak of should be addressed today against Mizzou,along with rebounding issues. There comes a time when the coach has to decide,my guys are not hustling on defense or they cant play this style of defense. Once you figure out the answer to that question you know what direction to head in to fix the problem, but first and foremost you have to recognize the root of the problem. To make no changes and expect different results is the definition of… we all know that answer. I’m looking forward to the game today against MU in hopes of seeing a change in this ball team. WPS
Last year’s quality recruiting changed everything for MA. In my opinion, this year’s problems rests with its big men. They are not defending, scoring & rebounding as they should (Moses doing his part to a degree, others not). This will be alleviated by the coming of: Daniel Gafford 6-11, 223 Center; Khalil Garland 6-6, 190, G; and Darius Hall 6-7, 210 CF. These guys can change the dynamics of a team. Mike has more coming the following years 2018,19. Quality talent doesn’t have to have a lot of experience ie KY, MS St etc. If he starts winning, all the past will be forgotten.
It depends. It’s interesting that everyone thinks we have to go on a monster run, but as of Thursday, even after the MSU loss, Lunardi still had us in as an 11.
It’s a tossup at this point. Lots of work to do.
We are 1 game off of where we should be at this point (although many had Tenn as a loss). MSU is considered a bad loss by many (me included) and they are 12-4, 3-1.
If we at TAMU or Vandy we are back on track in terms of expectations.
A win at TAMU seemed highly unlikely in preseason. Right now they are 9-7, 1-4 and reeling.
Win that game and Hogs are right in the mix.
I’m not happy with things and I am not as sure as I was about this team but there is a lot of basketball left and if they beat the teams they should and some tossups they will have a solid shot.
There is enough games left for AR to work its way up the ladder. MU win moved AR from bottom to middle with TN & Van at 2-3. Next game at TAM could become a critical game from the standpoint of confidence. We have never won there, they are struggling, and we have the incentive. Win that, followed by LSU, another struggling team coming, we can get on the roll. We are hopeful.
I think Beard needs to be locked in as the main distributor, Moses has to stop forcing his scoring, Barford has to get comfortable in half court, and we have to improve rebounding. If we do those things we will be much better because we are losing possessions on lost rebounds, Moses is turning the ball over/losing possessions, and the offense needs Beard, Barford and Macon together.
We need all you mentioned plus the intensity and sense of urgency we saw in in the MU game. We have little room for mishaps if our goal still is the NCAA.