We've played the top 2 teams in the league on the road + led Miss State...

[GuvHog]

No facts. Show me a program that's not a consistent winner. You keep talking about drop off but notice how well each program was kept in tact. I'm talking cold numbers, and 3 straight trips to the NCAA at 2 different schools with 2 second rounds, sweet sixteen, and Elite 8, as well as a regular season conference crown in a tough Confrence USA.. talk facts man. Not agenda.

I already did talk facts but you keep ignoring them. Mike didn't build those programs. He had most of his success at those schools with teams that included a number of players that were recruited and signed by the previous coaches.

[razorback1829]

I already did talk facts but you keep ignoring them. Mike didn't build those programs. He had most of his success at those schools with teams that included a number of players that were recruited and signed by the previous coaches.

Now you're not giving the man credit for the job he did. You're impossible man. Find a new hobby. Agenda driven people like you are the worst.

[GuvHog]

Now you're not giving the man credit for the job he did. You're impossible man. Find a new hobby. Agenda driven people like you are the worst.

I'm just stating facts. I like Mike and want him to have great success at Arkansas but facts are facts. Both the UAB and Missouri programs declined the last 2 years Mike was at both schools.

[Hog Fan...DOH!]

I'm just stating facts. I like Mike and want him to have great success at Arkansas but facts are facts. Both the UAB and Missouri programs declined the last 2 years Mike was at both schools.

Duke went to the Sweet 16 in '16, but only the round of 32 last year.  Coach K is clearly declining as a head coach.  Can you identify the facts versus opinion?

[razorback1829]

I'm just stating facts. I like Mike and want him to have great success at Arkansas but facts are facts. Both the UAB and Missouri programs declined the last 2 years Mike was at both schools.

Not making it to the second weekend of the NCAA is not regression. Regression is not making it and gong to the NIT. They were an 9 seed that year. Yea talk to Hog fans about "regression" and they start spouting foolishness like this to fit an agenda. Period. For those perspective schools (and right now should be with us) that should be exactly what the bar should be. To make the tournament. When you haven't been consisntly over that last 20 so years, you don't get to talk about "regression" cause CMA didn't make it to the sweet sixteen or beyond, or didn't win a conference title. You know nothing about this game.

[The_Iceman]

Most of that game (should've won that one)... Throw out the LSU game. BE RATIONAL and let the dust settle.

I love how you just throw out the LSU game. The record books won't do that, neither will the selection committee.

[Hawg Red]

We haven't played well enough in conference play to throw anything out. It would be different we were performing well and just had a bad game and dropped a couple of closer games. But there's a troubling product being put on the court right now. You can't throw out a 20-point loss on our home court. It's inexcusable to lose by 20 on your home court to anyone. We've won our 3 conference home games by a combined 8 points and our average margin of defeat on the road in conference play is almost 10 points. We've been pretty consistently hanging on a home and not playing well at all on the road. The two outliers are the 20-point home defeat (LSU) and the 3-point road loss (MSU). You can't throw one of those out (LSU) while given serious consideration to the other (MSU).

The Hogs are an underwhelming SEC team with a lot of questions to answer right now. The home schedule gets considerably tougher about a month from now when our last 3 home games are A&M, Kentucky and Auburn. We're going to need to start playing considerably better at home or we're at great risk to slip up against OkSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. We're just hoping and praying for a road win or two at this point. But there's no benefit of the doubt at this point. We used that up when we got waxed by Houston on the road.

[Hog Fan...DOH!]

But there's no benefit of the doubt at this point. We used that up when we got waxed by Houston on the road.

After that loss Arkansas climbed to #22.  So... you are incorrect.  There are 12 regular season games left plus the conference tourney ... every team left on the schedule is pretty good.  There is plenty of time for Arkansas to puzzle it together and play better.  There's also lots of benefit of the doubt remaining.   

     

[popcornhog]

Neither game was even close....moral victory!!!  Life champions!!!! Participation ribbon!!!!!

I don't follow. Who suggested anything about moral victories or participation ribbons?

Everyone on this board shares one goal: national championships.

[GuvHog]

Duke went to the Sweet 16 in '16, but only the round of 32 last year.  Coach K is clearly declining as a head coach.  Can you identify the facts versus opinion?

Comparing Mike Anderson to Duke's head coach is just plain stupid. Stop embarrassing yourself.

[GuvHog]

Not making it to the second weekend of the NCAA is not regression. Regression is not making it and gong to the NIT. They were an 9 seed that year. Yea talk to Hog fans about "regression" and they start spouting foolishness like this to fit an agenda. Period. For those perspective schools (and right now should be with us) that should be exactly what the bar should be. To make the tournament. When you haven't been consisntly over that last 20 so years, you don't get to talk about "regression" cause CMA didn't make it to the sweet sixteen or beyond, or didn't win a conference title. You know nothing about this game.

WRONG. When a team makes it to the Sweet 16 one year, then only gets to the second round the next year, followed by a year where they get eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at UAB). When a team makes it to the Elite 8 one year, then gets only to the second round the next year, followed by a year when they are eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at Missouri).

[niels_boar]

The defense is a mess.  Before conference this team was #43 in Pomeroy defensive efficiency.  We are now #110.  That both shows how bad we have been in SEC play but how much better we were in nonconference.  However, those revelling in our current struggles might want to consider that the defense was an even bigger mess this time last year.  We were #150+ in Pomeroy defensive efficiency.  We finished #76.  The Hogs had to be a top-50 defense over the last two months to move up that much.  Whether the staff finds a defense this bunch can play remains to be seen, but you can't assume that this team can't improve significantly on D.  They have been better this season, and this team has more naturally gifted defensive players in the rotation this season than last.  I'll say I'm tired of seeing the bigs protect the rim without anybody in sight to rotate down to cut off the dish to the big they left.  Issues like that are correctable, though.

The offense is on an upswing.  Putting a gigantic 1.3+ ppp on Ole Miss wasn't trivial.  They had been defending fairly well in SEC play. USC and UF had trouble cracking 1.0 ppp against them.   Auburn and A&M (at full strength) couldn't do better than 1.14 on their homecourts.  Fans shouldn't ignore that this team has been powerful on the offensive side all year.  We're still top-25 in Pomeroy offensive efficiency, better than we finished last season. 

Furthermore, Hall playing consistently well on both sides of the court and Jones getting back in the fight may allow CMA to balance the minutes better.  If the O gets revved up again, just being not terrible on D could create a sea change in results.  Right now, it's low-hanging fruit to improve the D.  The rats might want to get a life preserver and tether before they jump ship, just in case.

[USChog]

Arkansas has looked pretty bad lately. Poor defense and leaving open shooters. But yes, if we had the MSST win and didn't lay an egg against LSU we would have a different outlook on the rest of the season. However, that is not the case. So we are where we are. Make the tournament and people will be happy.

[Hog Fan...DOH!]

Comparing Mike Anderson to Duke's head coach is just plain stupid. Stop embarrassing yourself.

I asked you to identity what part of my post was fact and what was opinion. 

I did not compare and contrast Mike Anderson and Coach K. 

In an earlier post I did compare Norm Stewart's and Mike Anderson's winning % at Mizzou.  I stated, a fact, that Mike's % is higher than Norm's.  It's also a fact that Norm's name is on the court up there.

In my opinion, Arkansas has underachieved this year, but has the time and schedule to get things going and be a dangerous team in March.  It's also my opinion, that based on Mike's factual winning percentage and history, that he is a coach capable of getting this Arkansas ball team headed back in the right direction.   

[niels_boar]

WRONG. When a team makes it to the Sweet 16 one year, then only gets to the second round the next year, followed by a year where they get eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at UAB). When a team makes it to the Elite 8 one year, then gets only to the second round the next year, followed by a year when they are eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at Missouri).

UAB hadn't won an NCAAT game in 17 years before CMA showed up.  He beat a #1 seed, a #6 seed, and a #8-seed in his tenure there.  Power conferences noticed that, which is why he was hired away.  Heck, White got the UF job without ever taking La Tech to the NCAAT period. UAB has only been to the NCAAT twice in the 10 years since he left.  Listen to yourself.  You are criticizing CMA for not making UAB a perennial SS participant. That's U....A.....B.  For goodness sake, Bama and Auburn would love to have had those three years recently.

[Hawg Red]

After that loss Arkansas climbed to #22.  So... you are incorrect.  There are 12 regular season games left plus the conference tourney ... every team left on the schedule is pretty good.  There is plenty of time for Arkansas to puzzle it together and play better.  There's also lots of benefit of the doubt remaining.   

So, we have yet to win a true road game this season, but we still get the benefit of the doubt? Uh. How about that?

Of course we can still turn it around. In no way have I stripped them of that. But I don't think many reasonable minds are continuing to give them the benefit of the doubt, particularly when it comes to playing on the road, at this point. They just simply aren't playing well enough. We can't assume (aka benefit of the doubt) that it will just get better going forward like we did after getting blown out by Houston. It has to actually happen at this point when the team is 3-4 in conference and lacking any true road wins. Rubber meets road time. You want to tell me I'm wrong? Fine. I just don't think what you're throwing back at me is very logical.

[RyeHogFan]

The thing that is most concerning for me is our inability to put teams away. The strength of our team is supposed to be in wearing teams out in the second half, but instead it looks like we are the worn out ones.   Time and time again we see double digit leads quickly vanish as we have to scrape and claw to win, and in some cases like against MSU, we don't have the ability to come back once the lead is relinquished.

I'm concerned that by the time we finish this 3 game road stretch in conference against a good Georgia team, a much improved A&M team since they got Robert Williams back, and a LSU team that shellacked us at home, we'll be sitting at 3-7 in conference with little to no chance of finishing above .500

[razorback1829]

WRONG. When a team makes it to the Sweet 16 one year, then only gets to the second round the next year, followed by a year where they get eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at UAB). When a team makes it to the Elite 8 one year, then gets only to the second round the next year, followed by a year when they are eliminated in the first round, that's regression (Mike at Missouri).

You're embarrassing yourself. Stop it. Or keep going lol. I don't care, just saying when you take UA freaking B the NCAA tournament, and win a Regular Season Confrence Crown, and manage to make them a perineal tournament team, that's not regression. Even at Mizzou, no regression in making the tournament. You're hilarious though. Keep going.

[GuvHog]

You're embarrassing yourself. Stop it. Or keep going lol. I don't care, just saying when you take UA freaking B the NCAA tournament, and win a Regular Season Confrence Crown, and manage to make them a perineal tournament team, that's not regression. Even at Mizzou, no regression in making the tournament. You're hilarious though. Keep going.

Sure I'll keep going because stats and facts don't lie. I don't ignore them like you are doing though.

[Kenny Dowell Loggains]

HA!  What a trash thread.  See where we are come NCAA tourney time.  As a matter of fact, see where we are in 2 weeks!  1-3 at best over this stretch.

Maybe Mike can fix it, but nothing shows me that they will.

[TheOtherColombia]

I asked you to identity what part of my post was fact and what was opinion. 

I did not compare and contrast Mike Anderson and Coach K. 

In an earlier post I did compare Norm Stewart's and Mike Anderson's winning % at Mizzou.  I stated, a fact, that Mike's % is higher than Norm's.  It's also a fact that Norm's name is on the court up there.

In my opinion, Arkansas has underachieved this year, but has the time and schedule to get things going and be a dangerous team in March.  It's also my opinion, that based on Mike's factual winning percentage and history, that he is a coach capable of getting this Arkansas ball team headed back in the right direction.

Norm did it for 32 years...Mike did what 5?  Cannot in anyway compare the tenures to each other. 

[TheOtherColombia]

Mike did regress at Missouri, his conference record the last three years were 12-4, 10-6 and his last year 8-8.  Is that not a pattern showing regression?  Guv might not be all there all the time, but he is absolutely correct that Mike was regressing at Missouri. 

[HogBreath]

The thing that is most concerning for me is our inability to put teams away.

What's concerned me the most is opponents having no problem putting us away.

[HogBreath]

Mike did regress at Missouri, his conference record the last three years were 12-4, 10-6 and his last year 8-8.  Is that not a pattern showing regression?  Guv might not be all there all the time, but he is absolutely correct that Mike was regressing at Missouri. 

In most cases, yes, that would be regression.  But for CMA, it just shows how much tougher the league became due to his raising of the bar all around the conference.

[ParkerSchnabel]

Duke went to the Sweet 16 in '16, but only the round of 32 last year.  Coach K is clearly declining as a head coach.  Can you identify the facts versus opinion?

He CANNOT. I read this thing a while before posting here. His opinions are ALWAYS the popular ones here. His "agenda" is to be liked here.

Sad.

[bkjbearcat]

No, you're wrong as I have proven. He didn't build a program at UAB, it takes more than 3 years to build a program. His 5th year at Missouri, the only team he had there that was made up entirely of his own recruits, tanked on the road in conference play winning only 1 road game against what was then a horrible Iowa State team.

MU fans would tell you, the team quit on MA in his 5th year.

[razorback1829]

Sure I'll keep going because stats and facts don't lie. I don't ignore them like you are doing though.

You still have not given one fact. And the fact that his team coming back was gonna have another year under their belt, with Otto Porter... yea that's regression. Like I said look at the facts that matter. 3 NCAA appearances at 2 schools is strong.

[Atlhogfan1]

MU fans would tell you, the team quit on MA in his 5th year.

That isn't acknowledged here.  Ignore his last team collapsed the final few weeks. 

[bkjbearcat]

That isn't acknowledged here.  Ignore his last team collapsed the final few weeks.

MU fans always bring that up every time they play Hogs/MA. The reason for the collapse that season is because they quit on him that season. Without Hogs offering him the HC job who knows what would of became fo MA at MU. Not saying Mike would be fired after that 5th year, but you could see his time at MU coming to a end soon.

[Atlhogfan1]

MU fans always bring that up every time they play Hogs/MA. The reason for the collapse that season is because they quit on him that season. Without Hogs offering him the HC job who knows what would of became fo MA at MU. Not saying Mike would be fired after that 5th year, but you could see his time at MU coming to a end soon.

Well he did have scholarships unbalanced after that next season and 0 recruits.  No guarantee he was getting Otto.  Long term totally unknown there.  Haith made a mistake trying to fix it with transfers.   

[LZH]

I wonder if guys constantly make excuses in their personal lives like they do on here.

[mckinneyhog5]

A winning program is 3 straight trips in 4 years, a conference championship in 2004, and a Sweet Sixteen at UAB.

3 straight tournament appearances in 5 years, a conference tournament championship, and an Elite 8 appearance at Missouri.

Admit your wrong sir. I'm right on point. All facts.

So, you're saying 7 years is long enough to produce a sweet sixteen or conference champ?

[Beavthompson]

Hooray!! We throw out the LSU loss and Arkansas is now a TOP 50 program. We on the up and up. I lost faith when we started using oxygen deprivation training.

[bkjbearcat]

So, you're saying 7 years is long enough to produce a sweet sixteen or conference champ?

If MA was the HC his worshippers say he is then yes. It is long enough.

[razorback1829]

Well he did have scholarships unbalanced after that next season and 0 recruits.  No guarantee he was getting Otto.  Long term totally unknown there.  Haith made a mistake trying to fix it with transfers.

He had a scholarship for Porter, and would've had him if the Hogs never came calling. There was a lot of inner turmoil with that team that they got figured out for the next season.. which would have happened whether MA was there or not. Also not mentioned. Was a very talented team who MA knew he had a final four potential with. You should talk to him about it one day if given the opportunity.. he still lights up about that team.

[razorback1829]

So, you're saying 7 years is long enough to produce a sweet sixteen or conference champ?

Well let's look at the team he inherited, plus the fact he was handicapped by APR so he couldn't get the incoming guys out. Why do you think Jeff Long basically gave him the first 3 years? It was a mess. Culture, losers who were used to disfunction. It was a dumpster fire. The kids that came for Pel were promised things that MA was not even interested in.

[20gauge]

Only one of those players stayed the full 4 years. Don't act like MA didn't have room to get enough of his guys in here. He failed to do that, period. It does not take this long to build a basketball program.

We should be further along, we should be legitimate contenders to at least win the SEC by now. But we are out of the running basically every year by the end of the first 3 weeks of Conference play. Ranked for a total of 7 days.

[razorback1829]

Only one of those players stayed the full 4 years. Don't act like MA didn't have room to get enough of his guys in here. He failed to do that, period. It does not take this long to build a basketball program.

We should be further along, we should be legitimate contenders to at least win the SEC by now. But we are out of the running basically every year by the end of the first 3 weeks of Conference play. Ranked for a total of 7 days.

Again you have no facts. Just throwing an echo in the wind huh? Who did we have for middle the first year? We had young freshmen that really weren't that good, except for Young and Madden who panned out. Go down the line.. Sanchez, Waithe, Powell (no went down), sophomore Mardracus Wadeband Rickey Scott? 😂😂😂  Those were young guys who couldn't be filtered out because of the APR rules that we were saddled with that had to be fixed. Y'all are delusional man. Agenda driven. Just give the man credit that's all I'm sayin.

[20gauge]

Again you have no facts. Just throwing an echo in the wind huh? Who did we have for middle the first year? We had young freshmen that really weren't that good, except for Young and Madden who panned out. Go down the line.. Sanchez, Waithe, Powell (no went down), sophomore Mardracus Wadeband Rickey Scott? 😂😂😂  Those were young guys who couldn't be filtered out because of the APR rules that we were saddled with that had to be fixed. Y'all are delusional man. Agenda driven. Just give the man credit that's all I'm sayin.

Those are facts that I stated. You act like he had to climb Everest and the cupboard was completely bare or something. We are watching guys win with other coaches players now and turning programs around quickly. All it takes is one or two good players.

My only agenda is to hopefully watch this team be relevant in the landscape of NCAA basketball again. You may think we are. I do not. You and others feel we are on the edge of something great. I do not, there is nothing pointing to it as of yet. Don't give me look at the recruiting. It's decent not world beating.

I can give MA credit for cleaning up the APR, running a clean program and winning games. No issue with that at all.

However this program is absolutely not where it should be. We are still close to 7 years in and next year will be our 3rd rebuild under MA. There's a reason our roster is filled with transfers and Jucos.

We should be better than we are by now. We shouldn't have to complain about refs. We shouldn't have to worry about the draw we get. We should be the ones getting upset not having to pull an upset.

So if you are fine with the excuses continue on. I demand better because I know this program is better than this.

[GuvHog]

Those are facts that I stated. You act like he had to climb Everest and the cupboard was completely bare or something. We are watching guys win with other coaches players now and turning programs around quickly. All it takes is one or two good players.

My only agenda is to hopefully watch this team be relevant in the landscape of NCAA basketball again. You may think we are. I do not. You and others feel we are on the edge of something great. I do not, there is nothing pointing to it as of yet. Don’t give me look at the recruiting. It’s decent not world beating.

I can give MA credit for cleaning up the APR, running a clean program and winning games. No issue with that at all.

However this program is absolutely not where it should be. We are still close to 7 years in and next year will be our 3rd rebuild under MA. There’s a reason our roster is filled with transfers and Jucos.

We should be better than we are by now. We shouldn’t have to complain about refs. We shouldn’t have to worry about the draw we get. We should be the ones getting upset not having to pull an upset.

So if you are fine with the excuses continue on. I demand better because I know this program is better than this.

I give Mike full credit for running a clean program and getting some good wins but Pelphrey is the one who cleaned up the APR. He inherited the APR problem from Heath and was facing losing multiple scholarships in one year but improved it to the point where the Hogs only lost 1 scholarship in 1 year.                                                   

[razorback1829]

Those are facts that I stated. You act like he had to climb Everest and the cupboard was completely bare or something. We are watching guys win with other coaches players now and turning programs around quickly. All it takes is one or two good players.

My only agenda is to hopefully watch this team be relevant in the landscape of NCAA basketball again. You may think we are. I do not. You and others feel we are on the edge of something great. I do not, there is nothing pointing to it as of yet. Don't give me look at the recruiting. It's decent not world beating.

I can give MA credit for cleaning up the APR, running a clean program and winning games. No issue with that at all.

However this program is absolutely not where it should be. We are still close to 7 years in and next year will be our 3rd rebuild under MA. There's a reason our roster is filled with transfers and Jucos.

We should be better than we are by now. We shouldn't have to complain about refs. We shouldn't have to worry about the draw we get. We should be the ones getting upset not having to pull an upset.

So if you are fine with the excuses continue on. I demand better because I know this program is better than this.

It was much worse than you can imagine. Real "dumpster fire" as they say. People who have no inkling of what was going on want to act like they know. It's just laughable to me.

[20gauge]

     

I give Mike full credit for running a clean program and getting some good wins but Pelphrey is the one who cleaned up the APR. He inherited the APR problem from Heath and was facing losing multiple scholarships in one year but improved it to the point where the Hogs only lost 1 scholarship in 1 year.                                                   

You are correct. But such a mess we had to recover from. There were decent not great players here to work with and a good coach would have

[GuvHog]

You are correct. But such a mess we had to recover from. There were decent not great players here to work with and a good coach would have

After his first year as head Hog, Pelphrey was left with 4 scholarship players and 2 walkons on the roster, plus an APR that was a mess thanks to Heath's recruiting.

[porkinsons disease]

It was much worse than you can imagine. Real "dumpster fire" as they say. People who have no inkling of what was going on want to act like they know. It's just laughable to me.

Can you tell us how bad it was? I have no clue and would like to know. i think others would too.

[niels_boar]

CMA's biggest problem at the start was that he got saddled with a backcourt that was a bunch of role players and a frontcourt that had one SEC starter, who immediately got hurt, and he couldn't clean house because of the APR.  He also had to take the Arkansas-heavy recruiting class that was massively overrated and turned out to have only one legit All-SEC type talent, who made a mistake in leaving early.  Ross not qualifying hurt as well.  The two guards that he got in the next class were Bell and Wagner.  Given what was on campus, he needed more immediate help, but any guards looking at UA  saw Young, Madden, Wade, Nobles, and Scott already on campus.

Here is the roster from the first year in order of minutes played his first season:

(what they would have been on an NCAAT team)
Wade (solid depth, starter if talented enough at other positions)
Nobles (good backup PG)
Scott  (not in rotation)
Young (starting PG but with flaws)
Madden (wing depth as frosh)
Mickelson (depth at best as a frosh)
Sanchez (not in rotation)
Abron  (spot minutes at best as frosh)
Waithe (not in rotation)

He won 18 games and beat two ranked teams at home with that rotation, which started the whole road narrative.  It didn't occur to anybody that they overachieved at home and did exactly what a team whose frontcourt is Sanchez, Mickelson, Abron, and Waithe should do on the road, which is lose a lot.  He had frontcourt players struggling to shoot 40% after Powell got injured.  Ross would have helped.  It took him four years to get to the NCAAT, but it has taken Pearl four years to do better than 11th in the SEC.  Howland isn't going to make it in three years either, barring a major win streak, with Adidas buying him players.

Hogville had coach envy when both Pearl and Howland were hired.  Here is how they finished in the SEC in their first three years:

Anderson - 9th, 7th, 5th
Pearl - 13th, 13th, 11th
Howland - 11th, 12th, -
Martin - 12th, 13th, 11th

[Atlhogfan1]

CMA's biggest problem at the start was that he got saddled with a backcourt that was a bunch of role players and a frontcourt that had one SEC starter, who immediately got hurt, and he couldn't clean house because of the APR.  He also had to take the Arkansas-heavy recruiting class that was massively overrated and turned out to have only one legit All-SEC type talent, who made a mistake in leaving early.  Ross not qualifying hurt as well.  The two guards that he got in the next class were Bell and Wagner.  Given what was on campus, he needed more immediate help, but any guards looking at UA  saw Young, Madden, Wade, Nobles, and Scott already on campus.

Here is the roster from the first year in order of minutes played his first season:

(what they would have been on an NCAAT team)
Wade (solid depth, starter if talented enough at other positions)
Nobles (good backup PG)
Scott  (not in rotation)
Young (starting PG but with flaws)
Madden (wing depth as frosh)
Mickelson (depth at best as a frosh)
Sanchez (not in rotation)
Abron  (spot minutes at best as frosh)
Waithe (not in rotation)

He won 18 games and beat two ranked teams at home with that rotation, which started the whole road narrative.  It didn't occur to anybody that they overachieved at home and did exactly what a team whose frontcourt is Sanchez, Mickelson, Abron, and Waithe should do on the road, which is lose a lot.  He had frontcourt players struggling to shoot 40% after Powell got injured.  Ross would have helped.  It took him four years to get to the NCAAT, but it has taken Pearl four years to do better than 11th in the SEC.  Howland isn't going to make it in three years either, barring a major win streak, with Adidas buying him players.

Hogville had coach envy when both Pearl and Howland were hired.  Here is how they finished in the SEC in their first three years:

Anderson - 9th, 7th, 5th
Pearl - 13th, 13th, 11th
Howland - 11th, 12th, -
Martin - 12th, 13th, 11th

Perhaps if he had been recruiting at Mizzou, he wouldn't have been saddled with anything when he got the Arkansas job and his first full class would have been better as well.  He spent that last season at Mizzou watching Otto and that's it. 

The Anderson road narrative goes back before he became our coach.  His last B12 team lost 7 road games in the B12. 

I hold Arkansas basketball to a higher standard than I would AU, MSU or SC.  Thought MA was going to be held to one too the way he was touted for those 9 seasons he spent at UAB and Mizzou. 

[EastexHawg]

He gave us one of our best seasons in 20 years and could still easily give us another one this year.

We could lose the next four games and people would still say, "I think this team is about to go on a run.  Just get to the tournament and then...anything can happen!"

At what point does reality set in?

BTW, I won't beat around the bush about it like you claim others do.  Mike Anderson is a mediocre coach.  I look forward to the day he is sent packing and we (hopefully) hire an outstanding coach.  Until then, talking about whether Lundardi thinks we can get in the tournament is about all this program has to look forward to.  Or...to which we can look forward, if you prefer Snobanese.

[20gauge]

After his first year as head Hog, Pelphrey was left with 4 scholarship players and 2 walkons on the roster, plus an APR that was a mess thanks to Heath's recruiting.

Again correct. My sarcasm is pointed toward the so called mess MA has had to fix.

[J-Five]

Its never as good or as bad as many think. People over react to every game. Nature of fandom. For whatever reason some just don't like Mike. Sure they say they do. But they don't. Streetball. No adjustments. No fundamentals. Translates to stupid guy can't coach.

He got the job here out of luck. There was no merit whatsoever to his hiring. His success at Mizzou and UAB were just pure luck. Basically Mike is dumb. No way he could possibly be smart. Nope. Maybe some are still angry at Nolan over being sued.. I don't know. But its petty. He gave us one of our best seasons in 20 years and could still easily give us another one this year.

But by all means lets trash the guy like he was a lazy as Bielema.

Concur

[niels_boar]

Perhaps if he had been recruiting at Mizzou, he wouldn't have been saddled with anything when he got the Arkansas job and his first full class would have been better as well.  He spent that last season at Mizzou watching Otto and that's it. 

The Anderson road narrative goes back before he became our coach.  His last B12 team lost 7 road games in the B12. 

I hold Arkansas basketball to a higher standard than I would AU, MSU or SC.  Thought MA was going to be held to one too the way he was touted for those 9 seasons he spent at UAB and Mizzou.

Who the hell was he supposed to be recruiting at Mizzou for 2011-2012?  He left a full 9-man rotation that even Haithe could win 30 games with?  That Mizzou team had Phil Pressey, Marcus Denmon, and Mike Dixon returning at guard, Kim Dixon and Matt Pressey returning on the wing, and Ratliffe, Bowers, and Moore on the baseline. 

That initial class was highly touted, and there would have been a revolt in the state if he had "lost" any of it, even if it was his own idea.  Since early signing was in November before any of those players had even played a game, it wasn't going to be easy to convince anyone in the top 100 that a lot of playing time was available at Arkansas for the second class.  It's not like Qualls, Williams, Bell, and Clarke were misses either.  Other than Clarke, who was an immediate quality starter, they were good four-year players or should have been if not for bad decisions.

It doesn't really matter what the standards are at Auburn and MSU if you are willing to go the "extra mile" for recruits.  Howland and Pearl still couldn't win immediately.  Are you still going to hold on to the naivety that recruiting is all about going out there and outworking the competition?