GAME THREAD: Arkansas Razorbacks vs Georgia Tech

[Oliver]

Oliver, didn't Stan Heath get fired after making two consective tournament appearances? 

Correct

[Captain Morgan]

Correct

And why is Anderson's seat not getting a little warm if the standard is 2 consecutive tournament appearances over a 5 year span gets a round ball Hogs head coach on the hot seat?   

[Oliver]

And why is Anderson's seat not getting a little warm if the standard is 2 consecutive tournament appearances over a 5 year span gets a round ball Hogs head coach on the hot seat?   

Stan Heath or Pelphrey don't have the same history or contacts with the UA like Anderson does.  Plus there is the whole "Anderson succeeded at everywhere he's been" argument.  Just received big commits for next year.  Etc

[Big Nasty 34]

jeff long doesnt give a flip about the empty arena.  there are 14,000 season tickets sold.  and he is getting more $$ for each ticket than in years past.  he doesnt care if only 5,000 come to games. 

1 ticket at $25 is still financially better than 2 tickets at $10 each.  and dont kid yourselves into thinking that the financial bottom line isnt the only thing he is concerned with.

There won't be 14,000 sold if next year is not stellar

[Captain Morgan]

Stan Heath or Pelphrey don't have the same history or contacts with the UA like Anderson does.  Plus there is the whole "Anderson succeeded at everywhere he's been" argument.  Just received big commits for next year.  Etc

Pelphrey was really bad. I mean laughable bad. Heath's teams got better as his tenure went on. He wasn't great by any means but he wasn't awfully bad like Pelphrey. 

[hogman99]

watch Hannahs. He's pretty much perfect.  He should be teaching the rest. 

This ^^^^.                                                 Coaches Job ^^^^^

[HawgAdvocate]

There won't be 14,000 sold if next year is not stellar

It won't decline too much. It's been around 12-13.5k since before MA got here. Coach A should have a squad that competes for an NIT spot next season. He's in no danger anytime soon.

[hoghappy]

This team takes on the personality of the coach. Mike needs to get in the officials ear and start acting like he's fighting the bear. Hard game to watch for me.

[The_Iceman]

Coach A should have a squad that competes for an NIT spot next season. He's in no danger anytime soon.

This is a backhanded compliment if I've ever seen one.

[Kevin]

Just not very good

[TheRazorback500]

This team has got to improve immensely on the boards. GT had a 50-26 advantage in rebounding today. That's just brutal. We gave them too many extra possessions, let them shoot 50% from 3-pt range, and were out of control on our drives. We're competitive, but we have a long way to go.

:razorback:

[TomBigBeeHog]

This team has got to improve immensely on the boards. GT had a 50-26 advantage in rebounding today. That's just brutal. We gave them too many extra possessions, let them shoot 50% from 3-pt range, and were out of control on our drives. We're competitive, but we have a long way to go.

:razorback:

^^^ This is the key. Testament to the effort of the kids that they were able to come back and take a brief lead. Just couldn't sustain with no presence on the boards.

[TomBigBeeHog]

I am going to have fun watching the Bell and Hannah's show this year. Didn't know Hannahs was leading the nation in 3 pt proficiency? Thought I heard one of the announcers say that.

[TomBigBeeHog]

Jabril leading SEC and 5th in the nation in assists per game. Pretty good numbers. Moses 1 rebound away from another double double. Need Trey and Keaton to step up and help on the boards. That's what's missing.

[TomBigBeeHog]

Shooters getting lost and rotations coming too late.  Don't mind giving up some shots in transition just to push the pace but losing shooters in the half court is not ok. Will improve as the team jells and communicates better. Work in  progress right now. These things are fixable. Team gets tougher on defense the moment Beard's back.

[Danny J]

This team has got to improve immensely on the boards. GT had a 50-26 advantage in rebounding today. That's just brutal. We gave them too many extra possessions, let them shoot 50% from 3-pt range, and were out of control on our drives. We're competitive, but we have a long way to go.

:razorback:

Really isn't going to improve in that area against teams that have any kind of size at all. We are just not a big team. Our guards are small in either height or build or both. The only way that improves is if we recruit more size for next year. We are just too small to compete down low. This is not meant as a bash but if we are counting on thompson and kinsgley down low for next year then we are likely still not a NCAA team no matter how many guards we recruit. We need big men in a bad way.

[TomBigBeeHog]

This is not meant as a bash but if we are counting on thompson and kinsgley down low for next year then we are likely still not a NCAA team no matter how many guards we recruit. We need big men in a bad way.

Thompson and Kingsley both improved greatly from last year. If they do the same next year, they will be pretty good. Add Cook and Thomas and I think we will be ok in the middle and way deeper at the guard spots.

[Jonteviosk]

It wasn't GT 3pt shooting that did us in in this game. Simply put we couldn't keep lard ass off the boards. He got off to a good start against Miles but then Trey did a solid job neautalizing him and we played great until Trey turned his ankle and that was the ball game at that point. LOve Mosses and appreciate Willie and Keaton but Trey is really only physical banger on team and without him to defend fatass we couldn't compete on the boards. Moses had great 2nd half if would have had entire game like that we would have won this game. That and Trey being able to bang with doughboy. Will probably play Stanford tomorrow then beat a few cupcakes and we get Beard back I still think were fine. Will trey play against Stanford?

[HawgAdvocate]

This is a backhanded compliment if I've ever seen one.

Add a couple good JUCO guards to this roster, and a return to the NIT is likely. Dance? Not enough inside.

How sad do ya gotta be to refuse to recognize an acknowledgment of progress? An NIT appearance is no good now? Sheesh.

[Danny J]

Thompson and Kingsley both improved greatly from last year. If they do the same next year, they will be pretty good. Add Cook and Thomas and I think we will be ok in the middle and way deeper at the guard spots.

They would both have to improve tremendously AND we still need depth. Cook may not even be eligible depending on if some of his JUCO grades transfer per SEC rules and Thomas is not going to be a post player we can count on down low to defend or play with his back to the basket. We need to recruit a couple more big guys down low.

Kingsley has improved...no doubt but we saw today that he simply is not enough down low to compete with teams that have size and most of the teams in the SEC have size down low. He needs help. I would be surprised/shocked if we don't size at least two more guys at least 6'9" or bigger.

[Danny J]

Add a couple good JUCO guards to this roster, and a return to the NIT is likely. Dance? Not enough inside.

Agree 100%....we need more bigs down low. Counting on Thomas to go along with Cook(who may not be eligible) to back up Kingsley and Thompson is not even remotely close enough to get to the NCAA and win more than a game and that is if all the incoming guys are as guards as they appear and Whitt and Beard continue to improve. We simply need more size down low.

[Jonteviosk]

No we don't last year last year we did great with Alandise and Jacorey at PF 6'6 AND 6'8.

[TheRazorback500]

Really isn't going to improve in that area against teams that have any kind of size at all. We are just not a big team. Our guards are small in either height or build or both. The only way that improves is if we recruit more size for next year. We are just too small to compete down low. This is not meant as a bash but if we are counting on thompson and kinsgley down low for next year then we are likely still not a NCAA team no matter how many guards we recruit. We need big men in a bad way.

Yes we do.

[Danny J]

No we don't last year last year we did great with Alandise and Jacorey at PF 6'6 AND 6'8.

No...we did well because we had Portis and Qualls. We did win a couple games because of Harris especially the UGA game on the road but nobody we have on our roster right now is close to Harris at the 4 spot and we obviously don't have a Portis. We need at least two more bigs. Also...I don't want to settle for being one and done in the NCAA. We did good last year and finished second in the SEC and won more road games last year than we have in 20 years but last season but in reality we want to compete for elite 8 and final 4 appearances.

Now if we can add a Portis and a Qualls to what we have coming back and what we are bringing in from the JUCO ranks then we are getting close to having a legit final four team. Big guys like Portis are few and far between but if we want to get to the top then we have to have those kind of players down low and out high.

[Dominicanhog]

I guess I don't see it with Thompson, all I saw him do is turn it over and foul, he was slow getting down the court and looks out of shape, Kouassi is much more effective... we need some bigs and a wing that can create his own shot.

[SexyBeast77]

It wold take this year and probably one more full season of not making the NCAAt for his seat to get hot. By the 2017-18 season we would need to be in the NCAAt for him to feel secure going forward. I am a HUGE CMA fan but will admit that one NCAAt appearance in 7 years isn't getting it done. Just too far out to look right now. We have no idea what next season is going to look like much less the season after that.

Since when does it take 7 years to create a winning program?

[Big Nasty 34]

I guess I don't see it with Thompson, all I saw him do is turn it over and foul, he was slow getting down the court and looks out of shape, Kouassi is much more effective... we need some bigs and a wing that can create his own shot.

Haven't watched any other games have you?

[Dominicanhog]

Haven't watched any other games have you?

actually it was the first I was able to watch, so your saying he's more effective than what he showed today... 

[Dominicanhog]

Since when does it take 7 years to create a winning program?

has it been 7years already? and are we not a winning program?

[Danny J]

Since when does it take 7 years to create a winning program?

We are a winning program especially last year. We had the best season in almost 20 years. We came close to winning as many road games last year as we had in 95. However I want us to be competing for final fours and while last year was a good building block we are definitely taking a huge step back. We are right now about where we were in CMA's first year. Next year we have a few good recruits so hopefully we won't have to wait another couple years to get back to the NCAA. I am willing to give him a bit of a pass this year but next year we need to be back in the NCAA.

[Danny J]

actually it was the first I was able to watch, so your saying he's more effective than what he showed today...

He played ok against the weaker teams we have played but he is still young and really getting his first playing time on the court this year. So when playing against more experienced bigs he is going to struggle. All our big guys are going to struggle against bigs like we faced today and against Akron with the possible exception of Kingsley. I definitely see the potential in Kingsley. He is feeling it out down low as our go to big and I think the more minutes he gets the better he will be. Thompson is going to need to get a lot of minutes to gain experience and confidence. We are going to see many more games this year like we saw tonight.

I want to see improvement. I want to see fight. That is all I want to see this season because going into this year I had very low expectations and understood we were going to struggle. I think the biggest thing that will help is getting Beard back. I think we will play better when he comes back.

[Karma]

After we beat nobody u the other night some of you has us in the tourney. This team is overmatched.

[latrops]

Jeff long isn't going to look at an empty bud Walton arena. He doesn't owe Mike anything.

This is what so many ignore.  Anderson makes too much money to put mediocre or worse teams on the court to play in front of a few thousand fans.  One down year is no big deal....but if things don't look better next season and beyond, fan apathy will force a move. 

[SexyBeast77]

Stan Heath or Pelphrey don't have the same history or contacts with the UA like Anderson does.  Plus there is the whole "Anderson succeeded at everywhere he's been" argument.  Just received big commits for next year.  Etc 

See this is the problem with Hiring Mike Anderson.  This is saying maybe he hasn't succeeded but out of sentimentality or nostalgia or loyalty to the past we should keep him, even though he's not really getting the job done.
   I don't care if Mike has succeeded everywhere he's gone. I care what he's done at Arkansas. I don't care that he had some success at UAB  11 or years or so ago. I care that in year 5 we're a not very good team.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

[hawginbigd1]

There was a lot of good out there today! We lost this game on the boards, and it's really not about size, too many people standing and watching, many of those rebounds were when one of the bigs came to help and everybody else watched the shot instead of finding a body! Bad part is this is not a new problem!

[pigture perfect]

We've finally got guys that can shoot. But we don't have a 40 minutes of heck defense. We don't give anyone heck. If we don't see a heck of a lot of improvement soon, we will see many supporters say, "Who the heck cares anymore?" I'm almost to that point.

[Pigasaurus]

LOL.. Hannah's is gonna be fun to watch the next 2 years.

Be even funner if he wasn't on the bench the first 4-5 minutes to start each half.