What should be the staple of Stan Heath's team this year?

[TRUHOG718]

And will it make us any better?

There should be no suprise we are going to need time for this new group to gel. With little time to prepare between Midnight Madness and the first game Stan Heath's focus should be on defense, defense, defense, and consistency at the 4 spot.

The trio of Weems, Beverly, and Ervin "as advertised" are a better defensive combo than last year or in years for that matter. Hill comes back stronger and will be there to clean up the mess in the paint as usual.

Heath will need to find consistency at the 4. Townes has the most skills at the four but when will he crash the boards with consistency or face the basket and throw it down instead of relying on that 1966 throwback move he loves so much. I believe someone will step up and say "if you dont want to step up and claim your starting job I will." (Washington, Cyrus, Hunter, Manimal)

We will be better if we make these areas  the staple of our young team. Our offense will gel in time but right now we have the weapons to be a force defensively and a terror in transition. I know I sound like Nolan Jr but our team has to focus on getting stops and creating turnovers leading to extra possesions, especially in the S.E.C. where we will routinely face more experienced and better coached teams.(sorry Stan)   Washington if eligible is my sleeper to be a very good player and will give our big men all they can handle competing for that 4 spot.

Football is on the table but can you smell it?............B-Ball is in the oven 

[bigred7987]

I feel these guys have already gelled....I see the staple of this team being defensively much better.  All of the recruits we have brought in are known for playing great defensive and bringing energy.  I love the mix of perimeter players with big guys down low.  If Steven Hill has learned that thing called Offense I think this team could be very dangerous.  Oh yeah...alot depends on Michael Washington. 
And UAGrad..shutup, if you are just going to b*tch and moan then get off of here.  His teams have improved every year...when that change stops you can complain but until then go complain about nutt.  Sorry Heath hasn't improved as quickly as you wanted but not sure what would be good enough for you.  So like I said, shutup until Heath shows that he isn't building this team the right way.  Not sure what you want more than improving every year and getting a 20 win season last year

[Biggus Piggus]

Oh yeah...alot depends on Michael Washington. 

I don't think jack depends on Mike Washington.  He might be a redshirt candidate if eligible.  Might not, they might not count on him lasting very long, but he's not ready to dominate.

[bigred7987]

I just think he is versatile because he can shoot from outside but being so big and that will help

[allyoucaneatbuffet]

What I want to see most from Heath this year is the end of his tenure as our coach.

The "staple" of his team this year is going to be mediocrity.  It's been his trademark since he got here.  OK, that's not completely true.  Much of the time, I would have been tickled to death if he'd achieved mediocrity.

Wow.  I guess beating two top 10 opponents (one the NATIONAL CHAMPION and one on the road), finishing 2nd in the west, the most wins since ?1998 (MORE WINS THAN LAST FOUR YEARS OF NOLAN), actually beating a big 12 team for once (texas tech, instead of repeatedly losing to oklahoma schools), winning six in a row, going 22-10 with an NCAA berth, landing a stellar recruiting class & maybe even a better one in 07, improving from 4 sec wins to 6 secwins to 10 secwins and improving form 9 wins to 12 wins to 18 wins to 22 wins, i guess all that is reason to be "hopeless".

Yeah, i TOTALLY see your point.

Oh, and did I mention that he landed an NBA lottery pick (Al jefferson) who ditched us and anotehr 7-footer (Julius lamptey) that didnt make the grade?

And yet, somehow, heath is evaluated on record alone without considering outside influences like losing al jefferson & lamptey...  whereas nutt is like teflon with that ridiculous "2 year pass"

Heath is improving: 9-12-18-22;   SEC 4-6-10
Nutt is imploding: 9-9-5-4;  SEC 5-4-3-2 yes i typed that right!

06-07 Basketball BEGS for optimism; there's really noway we can go but up in my opinion... and all the "oh we have to replace modica the scoring threat"... EVERY ONE OF THOSE KIDS scored a lot in high school, and even though i loved him as a player, a team that relies on jonathon modica as a 'scoring threat' is a team i say good riddance to.

[MJ2]

Probably the same as his previous years.  We get up on a team only to lose at the end.

Bring back Nolan!!!!

[arkjay19]

Hopefully Ervin, McCurdy, Beverley, and Welsh can provide more of an outside threat than last year.  Ferguson and Modica's shots were always so inconsistent from outside.

[Brutalis]

This is a make or break year I think. Stan has brought some good recruits in the past couple years. We lost a lot of close games.. should have had Olu and Brewer last season.. chit happens.

We have to be better than last year or he just has to move on.

[twistitup]

staple? SM, he will exemplify what the team should be about- Hustle!

[Biggus Piggus]

He won't move on if we're not better than last year.  Nobody expects us to be better than last year.  Just need to play competent basketball and win.

[allyoucaneatbuffet]

Probably the same as his previous years.  We get up on a team only to lose at the end.

Bring back Nolan!!!!

Hm, there's just something about "If they pay me my money, they can take the job tomorrow!" that isn't exactly pr

**Plus, do you have amnesia?
NOLAN'S FINAL YEARS:
1997-no NCAAs, lose NIT
1998-lose NCAA 2nd round
1999-upset in NCAA 2nd round
2000-lose NCAA 1st round (ONLY because of miracle 4 games in 4 days at sect... otherwise i think nolan would have been fired)
2001-lose NCAA 1st round, Joe Johnson's last year
2002-losing season, no tourneys

Yep, now THOSE were the glory days.  When you say "BRING BACK NOLAN", i assume you mean "**BRING BACK NOLAN AT HIS PRIME, FROM 1990-1995"

The above might be a more accurate slogan, in my humble opinion.....




(p.s. - EVEN WITH 6 agonizingly close road losses last year, we won more games last year than any of the years above save 1999 (we won 23 that year, 22 last year)... so last years stan, no matter how much we brood about bucknell, is the best arkansas has seen in a decade.  we can only go up)

[MF]

What I want to see most from Heath this year is the end of his tenure as our coach.

The "staple" of his team this year is going to be mediocrity.  It's been his trademark since he got here.  OK, that's not completely true.  Much of the time, I would have been tickled to death if he'd achieved mediocrity.

Wow.  I guess beating two top 10 opponents (one the NATIONAL CHAMPION and one on the road), finishing 2nd in the west, the most wins since ?1998 (MORE WINS THAN LAST FOUR YEARS OF NOLAN), actually beating a big 12 team for once (texas tech, instead of repeatedly losing to oklahoma schools), winning six in a row, going 22-10 with an NCAA berth, landing a stellar recruiting class & maybe even a better one in 07, improving from 4 sec wins to 6 secwins to 10 secwins and improving form 9 wins to 12 wins to 18 wins to 22 wins, i guess all that is reason to be "hopeless".

Yeah, i TOTALLY see your point.

Oh, and did I mention that he landed an NBA lottery pick (Al jefferson) who ditched us and anotehr 7-footer (Julius lamptey) that didnt make the grade?

And yet, somehow, heath is evaluated on record alone without considering outside influences like losing al jefferson & lamptey...  whereas nutt is like teflon with that ridiculous "2 year pass"

Heath is improving: 9-12-18-22;   SEC 4-6-10
Nutt is imploding: 9-9-5-4;  SEC 5-4-3-2 yes i typed that right!

06-07 Basketball BEGS for optimism; there's really noway we can go but up in my opinion... and all the "oh we have to replace modica the scoring threat"... EVERY ONE OF THOSE KIDS scored a lot in high school, and even though i loved him as a player, a team that relies on jonathon modica as a 'scoring threat' is a team i say good riddance to.

What he said.

[dotnet]

I agree, I think the staple will be defense.  I think this is the year that Stan can finally have the team how he wants it.  I think we have 3-4 low post players who can control a game and a point guard or two who can give them the ball so they can.  I don't think we have shooters who are that much better than before (though they are better), I think the style of offense we'll play will allow them to have better looks and shoot a higher percentage.  With the size up front and quickness on the perimeter, I think this will be the best defensive team we've had in a decade.

[TRUHOG718]

Hopefully they can pass the ball.  Hipsher said last year's team was the worst passing team he had ever coached.

With Ervin at the point we will defenitely be a better passing team. Hill may need to wear wide receiver gloves to catch them, but we will pass better this year. They say Hill's getting better but we will see.

[pignatious]

Heath is a horrible coach. He has had plenty of time to get results. I look for more of the same this year. A possible birth in the NCAA, only to be beaten by West Central Southern Baptist State College or some such school. Frank Broyles is afraid to fire him, but it needs to be done to start improving. This is Arkansas for gosh sakes! We can do better for coaches, particularly in basketball.

[Adam Stokes]

  Arkansas coaches are on the move.  It seemed almost every game last year in football came down to a close score where we couldn't finish.  More of the same with Heath, let-down after let down.  Remember the McCurdy at the FT line mess?  Glad that's in the past.  Arkansas football has won alot of close games this year, maybe basketball can do the same.  We were 6 points a game from being undefeated in conference.

[Snoop Hoggy Hog]

He has had plenty of time to get results

What I want to see most from Heath this year is the end of his tenure as our coach.

The "staple" of his team this year is going to be mediocrity.  It's been his trademark since he got here.  OK, that's not completely true.  Much of the time, I would have been tickled to death if he'd achieved mediocrity.

Wow.  I guess beating two top 10 opponents (one the NATIONAL CHAMPION and one on the road), finishing 2nd in the west, the most wins since ?1998 (MORE WINS THAN LAST FOUR YEARS OF NOLAN), actually beating a big 12 team for once (texas tech, instead of repeatedly losing to oklahoma schools), winning six in a row, going 22-10 with an NCAA berth, landing a stellar recruiting class & maybe even a better one in 07, improving from 4 sec wins to 6 secwins to 10 secwins and improving form 9 wins to 12 wins to 18 wins to 22 wins, i guess all that is reason to be "hopeless".

Yeah, i TOTALLY see your point.

Oh, and did I mention that he landed an NBA lottery pick (Al jefferson) who ditched us and anotehr 7-footer (Julius lamptey) that didnt make the grade?

And yet, somehow, heath is evaluated on record alone without considering outside influences like losing al jefferson & lamptey...  whereas nutt is like teflon with that ridiculous "2 year pass"

Heath is improving: 9-12-18-22;   SEC 4-6-10
Nutt is imploding: 9-9-5-4;  SEC 5-4-3-2 yes i typed that right!

06-07 Basketball BEGS for optimism; there's really noway we can go but up in my opinion... and all the "oh we have to replace modica the scoring threat"... EVERY ONE OF THOSE KIDS scored a lot in high school, and even though i loved him as a player, a team that relies on jonathon modica as a 'scoring threat' is a team i say good riddance to.

Exactly buffet, the guy has gotten better results EVERY year he's been here!

[trufanofhogs]

I hope we see defense, defense, defense. It would be a real plus if Sonny Weems is cut from the same mold as Sidney Moncrief, Alvin Robertson, and Darrel Walker. It would also be nice if Patrick Beverly proves to someone that can flat out fill it up. Anything from Michael Washington is like gravy. Our inside game should be solid.

[silvertip]

Heath is a horrible coach. He has had plenty of time to get results. I look for more of the same this year. A possible birth in the NCAA, only to be beaten by West Central Southern Baptist State College or some such school. Frank Broyles is afraid to fire him, but it needs to be done to start improving. This is Arkansas for gosh sakes! We can do better for coaches, particularly in basketball.

Contrast this post by pignatious & the one by UAGrad to all the good posts in this thread that cite an abundance of facts, and that also address the subject at hand.

A lot of the Heath haters remind me of a lot of the Nutt huggers---constantly repeating the same gripes, while totally ignoring all the facts brought forth by their opponents. Hey guys, don't let the facts get in your way.

[werehog]

This team will have poor chemistry and underachieve. This is the Stan Heath M.O.

[silvertip]

Hopefully they can pass the ball.  Hipsher said last year's team was the worst passing team he had ever coached.

Glad you brought that up. It's hard to run a motion offense when you have 2 guards like Modica & Ferguson. I expect McCurdy, Ervin, Welsh, & Beverly to all be better ball nandlers than the guards we lost.

[silvertip]

This team will have poor chemistry and underachieve. This is the Stan Heath M.O.

And yet somehow, Stan's teams manage to win more & more every year. Imagine that.

You must find that extremely frustrating, if you're paying attention at all.

[Fatty McGee]

He won't move on if we're not better than last year.  Nobody expects us to be better than last year.  Just need to play competent basketball and win.

I do.  I think you'll see a lot of addition by subtraction.  Nothing against Brewer, that just happens sometimes when a star leaves.

[razorbackfan4life]

The thing I noticed about last years team was that they seamed stale on offense a lot of the time.  They could get the ball up and down the court, but when it came to running a set offense.....well we just plain sucked.  That was a lack of shooters and penetration.  This year we have both coming in......so with that being said, maybe just maybe we can be better with all the youngsters.

[Fatty McGee]

Fact:  Heath's players do not develop or improve while they're here.  See Hill, Townes, Thomas, etc...

This is incorrect.  Every one of those players has improved.

[GuvHog]

The one thing that's plaqued Heaths Hogs since his arrivall is the lack of a solid high caliber
point guard. for the first time he now has one and his name is ERVIN. This team is likely to
be one of the best Hog teams we've seen in quite a while.

[BPPig]

Heath is a horrible coach. He has had plenty of time to get results. I look for more of the same this year. A possible birth in the NCAA, only to be beaten by West Central Southern Baptist State College or some such school. Frank Broyles is afraid to fire him, but it needs to be done to start improving. This is Arkansas for gosh sakes! We can do better for coaches, particularly in basketball.

Contrast this post by pignatious & the one by UAGrad to all the good posts in this thread that cite an abundance of facts, and that also address the subject at hand.

A lot of the Heath haters remind me of a lot of the Nutt huggers---constantly repeating the same gripes, while totally ignoring all the facts brought forth by their opponents. Hey guys, don't let the facts get in your way.

Fact:  Heath is not a good coach

Fact:  While his wins have gone up each year, that does not mean his teams have gotten better.  His schedule has gotten markedly easier each year.  Sure he got some nice wins vs. Kansas and FU, but the complete lack of discipline or any discernable game plan in the first round of the NCAAT should not be ignored.

Fact:  Heath's players do not develop or improve while they're here.  See Hill, Townes, Thomas, etc...

Fact:  Stan Heath basketball is painful to watch.  Big leads evaporate routinely.  Poor fundamental defense.  Abysmal shooting. 

All those facts are opinions.

My opinion is that while the pace of Stan's improvement has not been quite as rapid as I would have licked he has improved as a bench coach every year. Yea, I know we lost to Bucknell. Mid majors have been knocking off bigs for years in basketball.

The man has proven to be a decent recruiter. He sure does work his butt off at it judging by all the reports about him at the camps.

Hill made significant improvement from his freshman year to his sophomore. Charlie Thomas also improved, albeit by not as much. Townes is an enigma.

He has put together a real nice staff. Haters will give credit to others but it is his staff.

He followed a legand and that is hard to do.

With all the other crap that is going on we sure don't need a controversy with a coach that is for the first real time getting his own players.

Those are my opinions.

[Brand X Hog Fan]

Probably the same as his previous years.  We get up on a team only to lose at the end.

Bring back Nolan!!!!

Why change bad for bad? Nolan has worn out his welcome. I am for giving Stan a year. Hell, we've given HDN(TM) 9 years. Ihope we have recruited some shooters. We've not had a go-to ace for so long, its hard to remember what a last second game winner feels like.

[rude1]

When I look at this squad I see many question marks. Who is the go to guy on this squad? Where are the shooters? None of the current players come with the reputation of being able to consistently stick the jumper. I am ready to see how this squad comes together, but I am not overly hopeful that we will see any improvement over last years team, and fully expect we might see some slippage in the program with all the new faces and not a true bluechip addition to the squad.

[Brand X Hog Fan]

Probably the same as his previous years.  We get up on a team only to lose at the end.

Bring back Nolan!!!!

Why change bad for bad? Nolan has worn out his welcome. I am for giving Stan a year. Hell, we've given HDN(TM) 9 years. Ihope we have recruited some shooters. We've not had a go-to ace for so long, its hard to remember what a last second game winner feels like.

Players aren't the problem.  Nolan isn't the answer. 

Heath is the problem.  There are good coaches out there who want to come here.  The sooner Heath is gone, the sooner we can have a respectable program again.

I've always wondered . . . did we miss out on Self when he left Tulsa? Was he on the radar screen at all?

[TRUHOG718]

If this team gets more than 15 wins, I'll go to mid-court at the SEC Tournament and dance the Macarena.  This season will be abysmal, punctuated by a 30+ point beat-down to Missouri.  Mike Anderson's team will punish us. 

I respect your opinion but damn give the team some credit we wont be that bad. We should not lose to anyone by 30 and we will win more than 15 games. We will win 10 in non conference alone. That year when we won like 14 or 15 games Larry Satchell and Gomez were our big men, and we are better than that now.

[Fatty McGee]

Fact:  Heath's players do not develop or improve while they're here.  See Hill, Townes, Thomas, etc...

This is incorrect.  Every one of those players has improved.

Ummm.  Ok.  If you say so.



But they haven't.

Maybe you're watching the game films in reverse, starting the most recent year.  That's the only way one could conclude that.

[Fatty McGee]

If this team gets more than 15 wins, I'll go to mid-court at the SEC Tournament and dance the Macarena.  This season will be abysmal, punctuated by a 30+ point beat-down to Missouri.  Mike Anderson's team will punish us. 

I look forward to seeing your moves.  And the subsequent arrest.

[Count_Porkula]

Who coaches basketball at Springdale?

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

WE NEED A TRUE PG TO RUN THE OFFENSE...

If that is Ervin, GREAT!  I KNOW McCurdy can do it, but was not given a fair chance.

Ideal situation would be Ervin running it and McCurdy coming off the bench...Run THE DAMN OFFENSE, stop playing street ball...

[Bigmac]

Everyone is touting Ervin. Just because he puts on a different uniform (instead of the MSU one which he didn't have a stellar career there) what makes you think he will be a different player. You know the old saying "you can wall paper a darn house but it will still be a darn house.

I still believe we will have a better team than last year with new guys that are coming in. Unlike fball we should see Arkansas in the top 25 for most of the year coming up. Hopefully their absence from it will be at the beginning of the year and not the end. Stan has had a few years of on the job training. I believe it is fixing to pay off big time.

[litmachog]

Oh yeah...alot depends on Michael Washington. 

I don't think jack depends on Mike Washington.  He might be a redshirt candidate if eligible.  Might not, they might not count on him lasting very long, but he's not ready to dominate.

I am in agreement with this.  I felt that he might not get too much action in his first year.  The strength of the team this year is the front court with plenty of players that I didn't know if he would get much playing time anyway.  So if he red shirted because of his situation, it might be best for him.  Let him learn, grow, and beef up some.

[allyoucaneatbuffet]

If this team gets more than 15 wins, I'll go to mid-court at the SEC Tournament and dance the Macarena.  This season will be abysmal, punctuated by a 30+ point beat-down to Missouri.  Mike Anderson's team will punish us. 

I respect your opinion but damn give the team some credit we wont be that bad. We should not lose to anyone by 30 and we will win more than 15 games. We will win 10 in non conference alone. That year when we won like 14 or 15 games Larry Satchell and Gomez were our big men, and we are better than that now.

I agree they could win 10 Non-conference games, and yet I STILL don't see them getting over 15 wins.  I see a 5-11 conference mark.  Swept by LSU and Bama.  Losses to FU, Tenn, KY, and Vandy.  Splits with OM, MSU, AUB.  Possible wins vs. SC and UGA.

SOrry, but i think that's crazy.

"POSSIBLE WIN VS. GEORGIA"??
"SPLIT WITH 'NO ONE IS OVER 6' 4" ' AUBURN??"

There is no reason why we can't go 13-3 (at florida, at lsu, at bama), but realistically we could be anywhere from 9-7 to 12-4 (i think we match up better this year against lswho)

we WILL have  winning conference record.  bank on it.

NO WAY we go 5-11 -- so we lost modica brewer and e-star... wow... did you know that the first 2 of those players were KILLING TEAM CHEMISTRY?

Modica threatening to punch coach heath and calling him a @#$% and heath daring him, heath screaming back "ok, hit me!! just hit me then!!" at practice?

Brewer being asked to play point by heath... but DAD, ron sr. "suggesting" to his son he disobey the coach and be a wingman/forward?  Stan having to chose between having brewer not play due to disobeynig or having his own job on the line?

the Modica/nolan remnants mad over the whole rashard sullivan / darian townes crapfest and how that went down?

Come on now, the worst kept secret in hog basketball land is that the now-departed hogs (modica, brewer) HATED stan and had ZERO RESPECT for stan.... the younger ones, thomas, hill, mccurdy, mccgowan etc, DO respect stan. (of course townes only respects himself, dogg )

Say what you want about "losing scorers" but i'll say this: TEAM CHEMISTRY is more important than anything else, and though i would love to see him 1 more year, brewer leaving for the nba is the best thing that ever happened for these hogs.

The quicker the door shut on modica & brewer, for Stan's JOB, and for this TEAM to be a TEAM, the better!!!

[sooie dog]

Why do people still bring Nutt into the basketball argument?  I don't think either is worth a darn but please leave Nutt out.  Basketball and football are two different sports.  For those of you that don't know the difference maybe you should not post at all. 

[allyoucaneatbuffet]

Not one single team since Heath got here has played anywhere near its potential.

Agreed.

Like i posted above, though, when Dionisio "cuban missile crisis" is your star center, and when you get talent (last year) but your veterans hate you and long for nolan, you aren't going to win.

Add to that bonehead losses by missed FTs (LSU, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Bama) that crush your spirit, and the vets complain louder.

Yeah, it's a mystery why they underachieve and don't play as a team...

BTW, what was last year's goal?  Anyone?  On this board even, the goal was :NCAAs or bust.  Now NO ONE is happy with bucknell, but hey, we DID make the goal.  2nd in the west. 10+ sec wins.  won a game in the SECT.  20+ season wins.  NCAA berth.

We met our goals.

[silvertip]

If this team gets more than 15 wins, I'll go to mid-court at the SEC Tournament and dance the Macarena.  This season will be abysmal, punctuated by a 30+ point beat-down to Missouri.  Mike Anderson's team will punish us. 

I respect your opinion but damn give the team some credit we wont be that bad. We should not lose to anyone by 30 and we will win more than 15 games. We will win 10 in non conference alone. That year when we won like 14 or 15 games Larry Satchell and Gomez were our big men, and we are better than that now.

I agree they could win 10 Non-conference games, and yet I STILL don't see them getting over 15 wins.  I see a 5-11 conference mark.  Swept by LSU and Bama.  Losses to FU, Tenn, KY, and Vandy.  Splits with OM, MSU, AUB.  Possible wins vs. SC and UGA.

SOrry, but i think that's crazy.

"POSSIBLE WIN VS. GEORGIA"??
"SPLIT WITH 'NO ONE IS OVER 6' 4" ' AUBURN??"

There is no reason why we can't go 13-3 (at florida, at lsu, at bama), but realistically we could be anywhere from 9-7 to 12-4 (i think we match up better this year against lswho)

we WILL have  winning conference record.  bank on it.

NO WAY we go 5-11 -- so we lost modica brewer and e-star... wow... did you know that the first 2 of those players were KILLING TEAM CHEMISTRY?

Modica threatening to punch coach heath and heath screaming "ok, hit me!!" at practice?

Brewer being asked to play point by heath by ron sr. "suggesting" to his son he disobey the coach and be a wingman/forward?  Stan having to chose between having brewer not play due to disobeynig or having his own job on the line?

the Modica/nolan remnants mad over the whole rashard sullivan / darian townes crapfest and how that went down?

Come on now, the worst kept secret in hog basketball land is that the now-departed hogs (modica, brewer) HATED stan and had ZERO RESPECT for stan.... the younger ones, thomas, hill, mccurdy, mccgowan etc, DO respect stan. (of course townes only respects himself, dogg )

Say what you want about "losing scorers" but i'll say this: TEAM CHEMISTRY is more important than anything else, and though i would love to see him 1 more year, brewer leaving for the nba is the best thing that ever happened for these hogs.

The quicker the door shut on modica & brewer, for Stan's JOB, and for this TEAM to be a TEAM, the better!!!

Nothing that Stan Heath has done at Arkansas leads me to believe he is a good coach.  I suspect there's a reason some players didn't respect him.  He didn't command it.  He didn't earn it. 

It doesn't matter how Heath's teams "match up" with people, because even if there is an edge in talent, there will always be a deficit in coaching.  Not one single team since Heath got here has played anywhere near its potential.  Given the talent, every single Heath team has achieved significantly below its potential.  That trend will continue this year.  This team will be undisciplined, fundamentally inept, and lacking any basketball savvy. 

Well great UAGrad. I hope Heath & his team just keep on sucking the way you claim they have every year. Because that will mean this year we will progress to 26-28 wins, a SEC-West title, a couple of wins in the SECT, and at least Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA.

[mountainhog]

If this team gets more than 15 wins, I'll go to mid-court at the SEC Tournament and dance the Macarena.  This season will be abysmal, punctuated by a 30+ point beat-down to Missouri.  Mike Anderson's team will punish us. 

I respect your opinion but damn give the team some credit we wont be that bad. We should not lose to anyone by 30 and we will win more than 15 games. We will win 10 in non conference alone. That year when we won like 14 or 15 games Larry Satchell and Gomez were our big men, and we are better than that now.

I agree they could win 10 Non-conference games, and yet I STILL don't see them getting over 15 wins.  I see a 5-11 conference mark.  Swept by LSU and Bama.  Losses to FU, Tenn, KY, and Vandy.  Splits with OM, MSU, AUB.  Possible wins vs. SC and UGA.

SOrry, but i think that's crazy.

"POSSIBLE WIN VS. GEORGIA"??
"SPLIT WITH 'NO ONE IS OVER 6' 4" ' AUBURN??"

There is no reason why we can't go 13-3 (at florida, at lsu, at bama), but realistically we could be anywhere from 9-7 to 12-4 (i think we match up better this year against lswho)

we WILL have  winning conference record.  bank on it.

NO WAY we go 5-11 -- so we lost modica brewer and e-star... wow... did you know that the first 2 of those players were KILLING TEAM CHEMISTRY?

Modica threatening to punch coach heath and heath screaming "ok, hit me!!" at practice?

Brewer being asked to play point by heath by ron sr. "suggesting" to his son he disobey the coach and be a wingman/forward?  Stan having to chose between having brewer not play due to disobeynig or having his own job on the line?

the Modica/nolan remnants mad over the whole rashard sullivan / darian townes crapfest and how that went down?

Come on now, the worst kept secret in hog basketball land is that the now-departed hogs (modica, brewer) HATED stan and had ZERO RESPECT for stan.... the younger ones, thomas, hill, mccurdy, mccgowan etc, DO respect stan. (of course townes only respects himself, dogg )

Say what you want about "losing scorers" but i'll say this: TEAM CHEMISTRY is more important than anything else, and though i would love to see him 1 more year, brewer leaving for the nba is the best thing that ever happened for these hogs.

The quicker the door shut on modica & brewer, for Stan's JOB, and for this TEAM to be a TEAM, the better!!!

Nothing that Stan Heath has done at Arkansas leads me to believe he is a good coach.  I suspect there's a reason some players didn't respect him.  He didn't command it.  He didn't earn it. 

It doesn't matter how Heath's teams "match up" with people, because even if there is an edge in talent, there will always be a deficit in coaching.  Not one single team since Heath got here has played anywhere near its potential.  Given the talent, every single Heath team has achieved significantly below its potential.  That trend will continue this year.  This team will be undisciplined, fundamentally inept, and lacking any basketball savvy. 

Well great UAGrad. I hope Heath & his team just keep on sucking the way you claim they have every year. Because that will mean this year we will progress to 26-28 wins, a SEC-West title, a couple of wins in the SECT, and at least Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA.

That is a high probability. 

As long as there is improvement each year, heath deserves another. I believe he is still learning some but he can get recruits. Nolan couldnt coach x's and o's but he got the big recruits. talent to me means more than coaching and makes the coaches job easier.

I know progress has been slow but we didnt go in for the quick fix. (lots of jucos). So maybe we can stay up instead of dropping way off every 2 years.  I think this team will be better than last years team also.  whoever said that about chemistry has had to have played some ball.

[dj shanon "Notshavin" smeya]

WE NEED A PG!!!!!!  HOW CAN YOU ALL KEEP IGNORING THIS??

[mountainhog]

we got one ,, McCurdy!  Maybe he'll get to play this year!

[hogsmaster]

Stan has made some crucial errors that can be attributed to being an inexperienced coach, but give him credit for surrounding himself with more experienced coaches the last couple of years.  He has always recruited well and his team has shown improvement every year, which is not good enough for some.  While I would preferred Stan to be more seasoned, he is getting us back to being among the best programs in the country.

[allyoucaneatbuffet]

Stan has made some crucial errors that can be attributed to being an inexperienced coach, but give him credit for surrounding himself with more experienced coaches the last couple of years.  He has always recruited well and his team has shown improvement every year, which is not good enough for some.  While I would preferred Stan to be more seasoned, he is getting us back to being among the best programs in the country.

Amen.  ANd given the CLIMATE of team chemistry which he came into (see my detailed posts on the previous page), I'd say he's done a heck of a job just sticking it out

(NO, that's not what I am satisfied with -- obviously a D-1 program has higher goals, I'm just saying the chaotic basketcase that WAS arkansas basketball from mid 2001-about 2005 is finally over and done with, and we can return to ACTUAL ON THE COURT issues instead of the off the court drama.)

4 sec wins, 6, 10
9 overall wins, 12, 18, 22
no tourney, NIT eligible, NCAA1st round

As long as those keep improving, I'm happy.  Though I'd hope now that the 'problem players' are gone, that the numbers improve faster

[sportscrazy]

First of all I think we are going to surprise people this year for 4 reasons:

1.  Better ball handlers than last year
2.  Better defenders
3.  Better scorers
4.  Healthy and more comradery among team

Only disadvantage is experience level but experience is less meaningful than desire and unity.  Besides Brewer we won't miss anyone that graduated.

I will be surprised if this team doesn't produce.  Frankly Stan Heath is sitting in a good situation.  Expectations are not horribly high just moderate and he has better guards than last year.  I am excited about this team.

[TheMediocreEra]

I like our chances this year, not necessarily against Florida and LSU but everyone else seems at least manageable...

9-3-06

[sportscrazy]

I agree that Florida will be tough (should be a loss) but we have a chance to win all of other games (even LSU).  We won't because everyone loses in basketball.

[pignatious]

Sometimes I wonder if some of us are watching the same team. Stan Heath's teams to me lack an identity. There is nothing I can point to and say that is something they do well.  We are not a strong rebounding team, or three point shooting team, or a pressure defense team. We don't shoot free throws well. No, we had a really good player in Brewer who could do a lot of different things, and a few decent players around him. That is how we won last year. It wasn't coaching. Heath baskeball is some of the most boring, uninspiring basketball you could watch. Players may progress in his system, but the rate is almost infinitesimal. The lack of fundamentals is obvious.

The point I am trying to make is there are proven Division I coaches that the U of A could hire right now, based on the historic status of our program, that can get us to where we belong. In the top 10 to 15 every year. That is not too much to ask. Heath has proven that he can't get that done in a reasonable time frame. Losing to Bucknell, a team we were vastly superior to in talent, in Dallas with the fans behind them, proved to me beyond a doubt that this is not the coach who can inspire and coach his team to play at a high level. Every time I go to a game in Fayetteville proves to me that he is not the guy for the job. Anytime a team gives up on a coach is probably time for that coach to go as happened the year before last. How long does it take to recognize that you need a point guard and go out and get one? I'm sure Stan is a nice guy. He just isn't the coach we deserve. Why aren't expectations higher at the U of A? They should be.