April 6, 2011

[hogsanity]

If you would have told me on April 6, 2011 that in his first five years Mike Anderson's Razorbacks would only go to ONE NCAA Tournament, I would have said you were outside of your damn mind.

It is amazing to me that with our lack of tourney appearances and our start in SEC play this year, we STILL have people saying, "Just wait, just wait..."

A few of us told people EXACTLY that, and we rightly predicted the just wait crowd would back Mike until he left on his own. What did we get for that? Several of us were banned or threatened with being banned for " being negative ". Now, almost 6 years later, what we said has come true almost to the letter.

It was and is nothing against Mike, it is just that the old saying " you can't go home again " is true . Once you leave home it is very difficult to go back and live up to what the expectations are.

[latrops]

I actually kinda kept up with him during his construction/renovation/(whatever you want to call it)projects at UAB and Missouri and in retrospect he seemed more focused and involved.  I expected that and much more at Arkansas but it's been anything but that.  What do you guys think happened?  It seems that he has taken his foot off the gas pedal and shifted into neutral.... or park.

Thats the question there is no good answer to.  His resume at UAB and Mizzou said had at last have us in the NCAAT pretty consistently.  He has really struggled with roster management.  We've had too many players that just aren't major conference talents ( some brought in as transfers), too many leave early that weren't really NBA prospects, and too many transfer out.

[riccoar]

It's going to take a major coaching effort to get to the tournament.  We lost to a team we should have beat easily.  Even with the way we played, we were never out of it like the 2nd half of Kentucky.  Just imagine simple D'ing up one player for two shots results in us being tied at the sound of the buzzer.

And blaming it on Kentucky hangover is not an excuse.  It's an admission that you failed to coach your team to put it behind them. 

IMHO, Mike should have lost his mind to the point of being ejected in that second half against Kentucky.  He needs Working The Refs 101 from Nolan.  If nothing else, show some passion and fire on the damn sidelines.

[The_Iceman]

Ouch....

Facts hurt, but we all know FCJ and the Mike-lovers don't care about that.

[hogsanity]

  He has really struggled with roster management. 

He started struggling with that while still at MIzzu, and it came to roost on them the year after he left.

His problems here with the roster are not all his fault, but he seemed to have failed to prepare for Portis leaving early ( do not care what Portis SUPPOSEDLY told Mike, the guy almost left after his FR year, so anyone that pays any attention at all knew it was very possible he would leave after his soph year. And the losing guys like Babb hurt, not because he is a super star, but he would have given solid minutes ( he is avg 19 mins, 6 pts, 4 reb, a steal and a couple assts per game at ISU ). Couple that with reliance on juco guys, and the roster seems to always be lopsided.

[The_Iceman]

He started struggling with that while still at MIzzu, and it came to roost on them the year after he left.

His problems here with the roster are not all his fault, but he seemed to have failed to prepare for Portis leaving early ( do not care what Portis SUPPOSEDLY told Mike, the guy almost left after his FR year, so anyone that pays any attention at all knew it was very possible he would leave after his soph year. And the losing guys like Babb hurt, not because he is a super star, but he would have given solid minutes ( he is avg 19 mins, 6 pts, 4 reb, a steal and a couple assts per game at ISU ). Couple that with reliance on juco guys, and the roster seems to always be lopsided.

Last year's roster should have been:

Durham / Beard
Hannahs / Bell / Whitt
Qualls / Babb
Kapita / Williams / Miles
Kingsley / Thompson

Look at how far that roster deteriorated in the course of a few months, to a roster that went 16-16 last year. That roster could have made the NCAA Tournament.

[rude1]

He started struggling with that while still at MIzzu, and it came to roost on them the year after he left.

His problems here with the roster are not all his fault, but he seemed to have failed to prepare for Portis leaving early ( do not care what Portis SUPPOSEDLY told Mike, the guy almost left after his FR year, so anyone that pays any attention at all knew it was very possible he would leave after his soph year. And the losing guys like Babb hurt, not because he is a super star, but he would have given solid minutes ( he is avg 19 mins, 6 pts, 4 reb, a steal and a couple assts per game at ISU ). Couple that with reliance on juco guys, and the roster seems to always be lopsided.

Some very valid points here. In 6 years he has failed to put together a roster capable of doing the things he wants to do as a head coach, he has struggled to fill the roster and at the end it is usually a bag of mixed and matched pieces that don't possess the ability to do the things he wants to do offensively nor defensively. With recruiting this poor then retention becomes absolutely necessary because you need to develop these lower ranked guys to compete, he has failed here too. Just plug a junior seasoned Babb who would be in his third year of development in this system, add Whitt in his second season and you probably have a team with the added pieces that is perhaps a solid tourney unit.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Facts hurt, but we all know FCJ and the Mike-lovers don't care about that.

True...sometimes seeing it in "print" adds more emphasis.

[hogsanity]

Just plug a junior seasoned Babb who would be in his third year of development in this system, add Whitt in his second season and you probably have a team with the added pieces that is perhaps a solid tourney unit.

and I blame Mike directly for both not being here because of how seemed to jerk them both around. I remember with Babb how we would here Mike say stuff like " Babb has really come on in practice, he has earned some time " or " we gonna get Babb more involved in the game this week " and then he would have a dnp on his stat line.

[Sho Nuff]

Mike Anderson is an outstanding basketball coach. i hope Jeff Long will hold strong and not fire him.don't let some of these fansforce you to make a mistake Jeff.

Going to the tournament once in 6 years makes you an outstanding coach???  I hope your standards are higher in your professional life.

[Hawgndaaz]

everyone knows why FCJ is such an adamant Mike backer and anti Bielema in the same breath. however, no one will ever say it.

[JayBell]

It's still early in the season.  I think I have been as harsh on Anderson as anyone on this board, but I'm shocked to see how many grabbed their pitchforks after the loss.  It's way too early to tell.  Hardly anything has changed with the loss to Mississippi State.  The NCAA Tournament has to be the expectation this season and they still have plenty of time to make it.

[hogsanity]

It's still early in the season.  I think I have been as harsh on Anderson as anyone on this board, but I'm shocked to see how many grabbed their pitchforks after the loss.  It's way too early to tell.  Hardly anything has changed with the loss to Mississippi State.  The NCAA Tournament has to be the expectation this season and they still have plenty of time to make it.

The problem for me is that they still lose the same way 4 sec games into his 6th sec season as they did in season 1. The players change bit the issues remain, that tells me it is the coach.

As for what the MSu loss meant, it just made making the ncaat that much tougher. A loss to a 150+ rpi team, at home, was just bad, no way around it. In a league that very well may only get 3 teams, and you are going to be in the group fighting for the 3rd spot, you cant lose games like that at home.

[JayBell]

Arkansas will most likely finish between 5th-10th place in the SEC, which will put them around 11-7 down to 8-10 in conference play.  That would put their regular season at anywhere from 22-9 down to 17-12.  Having a better RPI than usual will keep them on the bubble.  Even on the low end at 17-12, two wins in the SEC Tournament pushing them to 19-13 gives them a chance to make it.  They'll definitely get in if they have 10 losses or less, IMO.

There's still a chance, albeit slim, that they could go on a run like they did two years ago.  I wouldn't put it past this team to get hot and go 12-6 in SEC play and/or steal a win at a mediocre Oklahoma State team and finish 23-8.  That'd be an unmitigated success, IMO, especially with the terrible start in conference play.

[JayBell]

Because, in year 6, we have the SAME problems we had in year 1.

Lack of basic fundamentals. When I started basketball in the 2nd grade, the first 2 things taught were dribbling and passing. After that, you learned BLOCKING OUT AND REBOUNDING.

We STILL do neither. Blocking out doesn't slow down the pace of play or take players out of position. This tells me that Mike really does believe that he should just let them play, that athleticism should take over. Well, sorry Mike, but you are rarely the most athletic team on the floor.

Mike still sounds like an uneducated parent during timeouts, like he's just yelling at his players to play hard and stuff. It's disturbing if you've ever sat close to the bench. There is very little coaching from him at all.

I agree, but we saw two years ago they can still find some success with the right players.  If Anderson shows he can get this team to the NCAA Tournament, I'm fine with letting him build on that success.

[The_Iceman]

Mike still sounds like an uneducated parent during timeouts, like he's just yelling at his players to play hard and stuff. It's disturbing if you've ever sat close to the bench. There is very little coaching from him at all.

Like the mom who yells "hustle!", "3 seconds!", and "over the back!" every time down the court.

[Atlhogfan1]

I was for it.  Not because of what I think of him as a coach.  Our program needed closure.  Closure we didn't get by hiring two coaches not capable of enough success to get us past the Nolan era.  Even what little we had was met with "I miss my Hawg Ball!  I hate Big 10 ball!"  Had to not only be success but done in a certain way. 

To sum up my thoughts even though we will be rcvg backlash from his supporters after the Mizzou win:

I thought Mike had almost nothing to do with the success or failure of the program when he was an assistant.  When the program was being built, his role was to drive Yvonne back and forth to Tulsa for treatments.  Otherwise he was a step up from worthless head towel boy Notes.  Then when promoted, he was part of what may have been the weakest group of assts to ever win a NC.

Found it ridiculous for it to have been suggested he succeed Nolan given where the program was and how he couldn't get hired even after the NC and R-up success.  Mike's alma mater wouldn't even hire him.  Thought his hiring would have continued what was an unacceptable level for the program.  Good athletes but not basketball players, undersized frontcourt players, players who were never getting into the UA were being recruited.  Would have been good for a mid major which is where Mike finally got to go when his hometown program gave him a chance.

Some things happened at UAB and Mizzou which suggested I may have been a little too harsh although my doubts continued.

Positives I thought could transfer:
-He showed he could take the system he wanted to play and successfully implement it rather quickly and win with it
-He could get the guards necessary to implement it
-His style and successes brought excitement to the programs

These have all been failures at UA.

Won't list my many doubts I had.  I thought those who were campaigning for him to be our coach were going to be shown to be wrong.  That it would take years to do and it wouldn't be completely decisive either.  Thought Mike would have enough success to keep his supporters happy and enough failures to keep his doubters unhappy.  High floor and low ceiling as it has been stated.  I'm not convinced yet we won't still get to that point.  May be close to it now if the team can get to the NCAAT. 

[Karma]

It's funny reading all you coaching experts. Mike is making 2 million to coach.yet all you experts know more than he does.give me a break.

Bielema makes $4 million a year and you try to make his every decision for him.

[JayBell]

The problem for me is that they still lose the same way 4 sec games into his 6th sec season as they did in season 1. The players change bit the issues remain, that tells me it is the coach.

Which is why I was pessimistic all the way back in the first half of Portis' freshman season.  But they were able to have some success that season and even more the next year.

Anderson could get a lineup full of Portises and Quallses and never compete for a national championship.  I think most Arkansas fans would accept going to the NCAA Tournament every year for a while without having to blow it all up yet again.  Anderson has a chance to do that with the players he has lined up.  If he can show he can get this team to the tournament, I'm all for giving him that chance.

As for what the MSu loss meant, it just made making the ncaat that much tougher. A loss to a 150+ rpi team, at home, was just bad, no way around it. In a league that very well may only get 3 teams, and you are going to be in the group fighting for the 3rd spot, you cant lose games like that at home.

Somebody in the SEC always surprises.  It's still a bad conference that cannibalizes itself, but I think they can get four or five teams in.  South Carolina probably gets the third spot.

Arkansas will likely battle with Georgia, Auburn and A&M for one or two berths.  If Arkansas finishes strong and makes the tournament, then there's reasons for hope.  If they choke again like they did three years ago, then you have to make that change because the program hasn't improved since then.

[Atlhogfan1]

Like the mom who yells "hustle!", "3 seconds!", and "over the back!" every time down the court.

Sometimes he leaves me with the impression of an assistant coach.  The one who sat or stood behind Nolan as Nolan directed what was happening on the court. 

[Hawgndaaz]

I agree, but we saw two years ago they can still find some success with the right players.  If Anderson shows he can get this team to the NCAA Tournament, I'm fine with letting him build on that success.

Even with those players, we still were extremely fundamentally flawed. That being said, a lack of talent isn't what is holding this team back. They just look lost at times, with no guidance. That's a Mike problem, not a personnel problem.

[RazorPiggie]

everyone knows why FCJ is such an adamant Mike backer and anti-Bielema in the same breath. however, no one will ever say it.

Because Mike is more fit than Bielema?

[hogwood]

Last year's roster should have been:

Durham / Beard
Hannahs / Bell / Whitt
Qualls / Babb
Kapita / Williams / Miles
Kingsley / Thompson

Look at how far that roster deteriorated in the course of a few months, to a roster that went 16-16 last year. That roster could have made the NCAA Tournament.

Great point. We should be poised for our 3rd tourney in a row according to Mike's plan, but he can't even live up to his own expectations.

2015 class a fail, plus losing Whitt sucked even though he wasn't the player we thought he'd be. Then we missed most of our top targets for the 2016 class (except Barford and Macon).

[forrest city joe]

This thread is pure garbage. nothing but a fire Anderson hate fest.i hope Jeff Long holds strong and holds on to Mike.and not give in to a bunch of crybabies. i still support our program and coach 100%.

[JayBell]

Even with all of his coaching faults, his biggest failure to me is always going to be losing so many in-state kids to other programs.  You can lose a Malik Monk or Kevaughn Allen here and there, no matter how much they hurt, but he's missed out on way too many like Willis, Ross, Curry, Ready and Smith.  Way, way too many.

The most damning thing is that Anderson didn't even rate most of them.  He and his staff hardly recruited several of those players at all.  Their decision to not even recruit Willis will always be the one that sticks out to me.

[The_Iceman]

This thread is pure garbage. nothing but a fire Anderson hate fest.i hope Jeff Long holds strong and holds on to Mike.and not give in to a bunch of crybabies. i still support our program and coach 100%.

I support our program 100% as well, that is why I believe a change needs to be made.

[ifghog]

You mean like coach B with his big buyout?

I agree Joe. CMA and CBB are frauds....time to fire both without question. CBB is starting yr 5...Mike is in yr 6...thats the only difference,. Should have fired CMA last yr but whatever.....both have grossly underachieved! Imagine that coming from a guy that was all for both the hires!

[cardsNhogs]

I support our program 100% as well, that is why I believe a change needs to be made.

Agree!

[Kevin]

I support our program 100% as well, that is why I believe a change needs to be made.

agree

[Peter Porker]

A few of us told people EXACTLY that, and we rightly predicted the just wait crowd would back Mike until he left on his own. What did we get for that? Several of us were banned or threatened with being banned for " being negative ". Now, almost 6 years later, what we said has come true almost to the letter.

It was and is nothing against Mike, it is just that the old saying " you can't go home again " is true . Once you leave home it is very difficult to go back and live up to what the expectations are.

Yep. I was one of them.

[forrest city joe]

I agree Joe. CMA and CBB are frauds....time to fire both without question. CBB is starting yr 5...Mike is in yr 6...thats the only difference,. Should have fired CMA last yr but whatever.....both have grossly underachieved! Imagine that coming from a guy that was all for both the hires!

Yea let's keep firing coaches,that's worked out really well for both programs.NOT!

[cardsNhogs]

Yea let's keep firing coaches,that's worked out really well for both programs.NOT!

Do you think there is no way we actually make a good hire? Change has to be made. Lot's of good coaches out there (won't be hard to find one better than CMA) and it doesn't have to be a proven hall of famer. Im for a coach that can become a proven great coach while at the University of Arkansas. 

[Gonzo]

It's funny reading all you coaching experts. Mike is making 2 million to coach.yet all you experts know more than he does.give me a break.

BB makes twice that yet you have no trouble questioning his performance. Hypocritical much?



Go Hogs!

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

If you would have told me on April 6, 2011 that in his first five years Mike Anderson's Razorbacks would only go to ONE NCAA Tournament, I would have said you were outside of your damn mind.

It is amazing to me that with our lack of tourney appearances and our start in SEC play this year, we STILL have people saying, "Just wait, just wait..."

I'd eat sh*t with a broken spoon right now if Ben Howland was our coach. He could have shown up three sheets to the wind last night and coached circles around the guy on our bench.

Despite what some think, in-game coaching matters. "THEY PUNKIN' YOU!" ain't getting the job done.

His lack of success here totally has dumbfounded me. His Missouri and uab teams were fantastic. Nobody wanted to play them in the NCAA. 
That success just has not replicated here and he has underwhelmed the majority of this fanbase.  Arkansas has much more tradition and basketball resources than uab and mizzou.

I too would have never thought back then that in year six we may not AGAIN reach the NCAA tournament.

[hogsanity]

His lack of success here totally has dumbfounded me. His Missouri and uab teams were fantastic. Nobody wanted to play them in the NCAA. 
That success just has not replicated here and he has underwhelmed the majority of this fanbase.  Arkansas has much more tradition and basketball resources than uab and mizzou.

I too would have never thought back then that in year six we may not AGAIN reach the NCAA tournament.

too many people were still looking at Mike through Nolan colored glasses. The biggest things was that style of play that he employed at UAB and Mizzu was no longer the advantage it had been. Too many teams had too many ball handlers and good 3 pt shooters. Couple that with needing specific type of players to run that style, and needing 9 or 10 of them, and it was becoming harder to field a team to run that way. But all many people saw when they thought of Mike was 1994, or Mayberry/Day/Miller, pressing, trapping, creating havoc and raining threes down on people. It was a great picture, but it was not reality.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

This thread is pure garbage. nothing but a fire Anderson hate fest.i hope Jeff Long holds strong and holds on to Mike.and not give in to a bunch of crybabies. i still support our program and coach 100%.

For the good of this basketball program a change has to be made. Fan apathy has taken over bwa and it's sad.
It's the same thing year in and year out.

We must find somebody that can reenergize the fanbase and lead us to success in the NCAA.  After six years, it's becoming more clear mike isn't that guy.
This is the 3rd straight failed hire. That isn't good.

[hogwood]

This thread is pure garbage. nothing but a fire Anderson hate fest.i hope Jeff Long holds strong and holds on to Mike.and not give in to a bunch of crybabies. i still support our program and coach 100%.

I am a Mike and program supporter but this product is garbage.

[Sed76]

FCJ, honest question for you. What are you seeing in Mike Anderson that the rest of us are missing? Yeah, he has some recruits coming in but what from his time here gives you any faith he will develop them into a winning team? As mentioned earlier his "coaching" or lack thereof was downright embarrassing the other night when he was miked up for the television broadcast. I'm not trolling you just want to see whatever it is you are seeing.

[phadedhawg]

I wasn't impressed with the Anderson hire but it made sense.  It was a step that needed to be made in order to polish some of the tarnish off the glory days. 

I thought he'd do better than he has but didn't expect we'd be challenging Kentucky any time soon...if ever.  I figured Anderson would be the step up we needed to hire the next great Razorback coach. 

Six years is a decent amount of time to give a coach.  Some schools would have pulled the trigger sooner but there was a lot of crap that had to be cleaned up.  Anderson has done that and in doing that, earned himself some more time to get it right. 

He's out of earned time and now he's on borrowed time.  Every game he's coaching for his survival and right now he's underwater. 

[hogsanity]

 

but there was a lot of crap that had to be cleaned up. 

Please elaborate - the only thing I am aware of is he lost one scholarship for one year due to the APR issues that PEL inherited and cleaned up.

[phadedhawg]

Please elaborate

I don't care to but thanks for the opportunity. 

[GuvHog]

Please elaborate - the only thing I am aware of is he lost one scholarship for one year due to the APR issues that PEL inherited and cleaned up.

Well said. The crap had already been cleaned up before Mike took the job.

[GuvHog]

Yep. I was one of them.

I was too. We were waving red flags all over tarnation but people just wouldn't listen. 6 years later they are finally realizing the truth.

[hogsanity]

I don't care to but thanks for the opportunity. 

i am sure you don't since no mess existed for Mike.

[mizzouman]

Here's the biggest difference between Mike's success at Mizzou and the lack thereof at Arkansas.

PLAYERS......

If you go back to 2008-09 and 2009-10 season, Mike has some great players.  What I see missing are guards.  Mizzou had some tough, in your face guards that didn't take any stuff from anyone.  Tiller, Denmon and Taylor.  Couple that with DeMarre Carroll and that's some tough SOB's.

Then you add some athletic forwards like Bowers, Lyons and Ramsey and you got yourself a winner.

I haven't seen anything of these kinds of players at Arkansas.  Maybe a player or two but never at the same time.

Perhaps this group coming in next year can be that group, but in Mike's system, it will take at least a full year to get it.

[SONofHAM]

and I blame Mike directly for both not being here because of how seemed to jerk them both around. I remember with Babb how we would here Mike say stuff like " Babb has really come on in practice, he has earned some time " or " we gonna get Babb more involved in the game this week " and then he would have a dnp on his stat line.

I remember reading or hearing an interview of Babb's father after he decided to leave for ISU, where Nick's brother had played.  The dad made a comment to the effect of...Nick is going to play for a real coach/program.  That's when I realized how bad a shape our program is, and how mediocre our coach is.

[SONofHAM]

This thread is pure garbage. nothing but a fire Anderson hate fest.i hope Jeff Long holds strong and holds on to Mike.and not give in to a bunch of crybabies. i still support our program and coach 100%.

will you go away when Mike is fired?

[root_hawg]

Give him time, the recruits are coming

[hamsam]

Yea let's keep firing coaches,that's worked out really well for both programs.NOT!

So you want to keep CBB now, right? That's what you're saying Joe!

[HogBreath]

It IS Mike's coaching... it's the lack of any coaching ability.

This program was not a dumpster fire when Mike got here.

Portis and Qualls hurt ONE season... they have NOTHING to do with how poor our fundamentals are this year.

A good coach turns basically any college program around in about 3 years.  Hell, look at what Howland has done at MSU in two for cryin' out loud!  Guess you're telling us that Howland is just that much better than Mike... because Howland DID take over a dumpster fire.

Jo Jo doesn't have to tell us how much better Howland is than Mike...any one who watched the last two games we had against Miss. State is painfully well aware of how much better Howland is.

Howland took the fast 40 to the woodshed in a biiiiiggg way.  He punked him..big time.