The "Silver Lining"

[Piglet]

The old saying "there's a silver lining in every cloud" might hold true for the Razorbacks.  They have not been playing well since the Christmas break, but I can see some positives.  First they fought back after getting behind late in the Missouri game.  I didn't see this fight earlier, so I think the coach is finally getting their attention about playing hard and with energy on defense every game, all the game.

Another thing I like is seeing the development of the freshmen Gafford and Hall.  They are getting better every game.  The team is getting stronger, but it is not translating to dominate play right now because our senior guards have not had good games on the same night.  And I think that is because the other teams are focused on stopping them.  Macon also seems to be in a shooting slump, even at the free throw line.

This leads into the next positive I see.   The fact the team is not playing at its peak at the moment, may be good news.  It is almost impossible for a team to play its best all season long.  You really want a team to get better as the season progresses.  Traditionally Nolan's and Mike's teams do play their best near the end of the season and at tournament time.  Hopefully we are on that same pattern.

I heard Manny Watkins on one of the afternoon radio sports talk shows last week explain this.  One of the reasons, the hogs play well at the end of season is the substitution pattern.  Teams that play their best players a lot of minutes each game during the long season will wear them down.  Anderson focuses on spreading the minutes between 9 -10 players. This keeps the starters' legs fresher and develops the bench.  There may be some losses along the way but the payoff is in the last half of the season.

All this may be wishful thinking, but I don't want to get down on this team and the season.  I hate every loss and like many posters I entertain the thought of replacing the coaches.  But then I remember how much I wanted to see this style of play again after watching the teams of our previous 2 coaches.  The "Fastest Forty" is not a perfect system, but it is fun to watch when everything is clicking.

[raz1965]

I like your assessment of this team an MIke's system.