Can you imagine how good Arkansas would have been...

[IronMountainHog]

If we had been able to keep all our homegrown talent over the last 20 years? Arkansas would still be up there with the Kansas and North Carolina's of the basketball world. Of course when we won with the Triplets and with Nolan's boys, we always had kids who wanted to represent the home state university and stayed home.

Archie Goodwin
Malik Monk
James Anderson
AJ Walton
Mike Conley Jr.
Kevaughn Allen

Just to name a few. We also have had kids go Mississippi, Minnesota and Wichita. When you think about it, that is a lot of talent for such a small state. With last years class and the incoming class made up of the best Arkansas has to offer, I think we are fixing to raise things up a notch.

[BannerMountainMan]

Can you imagine how good Mike Anderson can be with elite talent, he just can't seem to break over the edge and get some 5 star talent, I really believe he could take a bunch of 5 stars and bring more production than Cal, and a lot of other coaches can.

[Razorback_Mack]

Can you imagine how good Mike Anderson can be with elite talent, he just can't seem to break over the edge and get some 5 star talent, I really believe he could take a bunch of 5 stars and bring more production than Cal, and a lot of other coaches can.

Straight cash homie

[hogfanny]

I agree with all the above. We could start something really big this year with Gafford coming on strong!

[bvillepig]

Imagine if the rules were the same as they were in the 90's and Portis and Qualls would have had to stay.

[Dr. Starcs]

Imagine if the rules were the same as they were in the 90's and Portis and Qualls would have had to stay.

Wouldn't have mattered. Because every other school would have kept their studs too.

[IronMountainHog]

I agree with all the above. We could start something really big this year with Gafford coming on strong!

2020 in state class is very strong. Hopefully these kids look up to Macon and Gafford and see what they can accomplish by staying home.

[(notOM)Rebel123]

Straight cash homie

Yep.

[ShadowHawg]

Imagine if the rules were the same as they were in the 90's and Portis and Qualls would have had to stay.

They didn't have to stay. You could go straight from high school.

[DeltaBoy]

Yes and they were paid to play elsewhere. IMO. Hogs got to get back to mining talent out of Memphis.

[daprospecta]

Straight cash homie

Reporter to Cal: "How did you get this team full of 5 star recruits?"
Coach Cal:        "I bought this team straight cash!" Hahahahaha
           

[CiriusPorker]

Can you imagine how good Mike Anderson can be with elite talent, he just can't seem to break over the edge and get some 5 star talent, I really believe he could take a bunch of 5 stars and bring more production than Cal, and a lot of other coaches can.

Don't you think that's because we're not really an elite program anymore?

[yraciv]

We could have been better certainly, but I think Arkansas high school basketball actually went in a drastic slump from the years of 2004 to 2015 were pretty weak. That plus poor coaching resulted in our slide from greatness. From that 10 year span, here is the list of best players that got away:
James Anderson 07 - Oklahoma State
AJ Walton 09 - Baylor - 4 year contributor, but most would say didn't live up to expectations
Aaron Ross 11 - Ended up at TX Tech eventually; had 2 solid seasons
Jamal Jones 12 - Ole Miss/Made Mark at A&M for 1 year after juco
IJ Ready 13 - contributor at MS State
Kharon Ross 14 - Lehigh - All Patriot League
Kevaughn Allen 15 - Florida - Was pretty much the only recruit in state his SR year

And here are the ones that were good for us.
Michael Washington 06
Ky Madden 11
Bobby Portis 13
Ant Beard 14

Of that list of misses, the only ones I really think could have helped us is James Anderson. Walton and Allen definitely could have helped, but I don't think we would have been world better off.  Monk came to school for 1 year, so would have maybe taken us to a sweet 16 or elite 8 at best. But even with the recent misses on Monk and Allen, we've had pretty good guards at that time.

[Athog]

Wouldn't have mattered. Because every other school would have kept their studs too.

LOL that is what I was thinking! Can you imagine how good Kentucky would have been?

[raz1965]

Can you imagine how good Arkansas will be now that Mike is getting his choice of player from the state  an some out of state. Mike was first finding it hard to fill his 13 slots an now must pass on good talent due to limited spots. Things have changed, most fans can see this, some are blind.

[Panthog]

The one I really wish we had on this years team is Kahron Ross.  Now the all-time assist leader in the Patriot League. Not to take anything away from Beard, but I can just see Ross feeding the ball inside to Gafford, or driving and dishing it back out to Macon or Barford.  He was one of the best true point guards I ever watched play in high school.

[golfinpig]

Missing on some Arkansas kids is to be expected. MA's recruiting weakness has been his inability to recruit nationally. I don't know if it's lack of salesmanship or lack of effort. It does look like Arkansas is producing enough D1 talent in the next few years to keep us competitive if we land them.

[sickboy]

Missing on some Arkansas kids is to be expected. MA's recruiting weakness has been his inability to recruit nationally. I don't know if it's lack of salesmanship or lack of effort. It does look like Arkansas is producing enough D1 talent in the next few years to keep us competitive if we land them.

You're not wrong, but nobody recruits nationally at Arkansas. In any sport. Might have a few kids here or there in football and baseball, but for the most part, recruiting kids to Arkansas comes from the south and, more specifically, our surrounding areas.

Actually, I'd be interested to know what schools do recruit nationally at a competitive level in college basketball. There's so few roster spots, that I'd imagine it's the blue bloods only. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas etc. Could be wrong.

[golfinpig]

You're not wrong, but nobody recruits nationally at Arkansas. In any sport. Might have a few kids here or there in football and baseball, but for the most part, recruiting kids to Arkansas comes from the south and, more specifically, our surrounding areas.

Actually, I'd be interested to know what schools do recruit nationally at a competitive level in college basketball. There's so few roster spots, that I'd imagine it's the blue bloods only. Duke, Kentucky, Kansas etc. Could be wrong.

LSU has 2 from California, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Washington. Auburn has 2 from Pennsylvania, 1 Connecticut,1 N Carolina, 1 S Carolina.  Those are the only 2 I looked up.

[sickboy]

LSU has 2 from California, 1 from Connecticut, 1 from Washington. Auburn has 2 from Pennsylvania, 1 Connecticut,1 N Carolina, 1 S Carolina.  Those are the only 2 I looked up.

The rest of the SEC west doesn't really recruit nationally, save a few players here or there.

Oddly, the team that has the most diverse group of recruits in the SEC, outside of Kentucky and Florida, is Vanderbilt. They got kids from all over. Interestingly. Florida and Kentucky both have three international players on their roster each. Russia, Australia and Nigeria, for Florida. Jamaica, Canada, New Zealand for Kentucky. Interesting.

[jvanhorn]

2020 in state class is very strong. Hopefully these kids look up to Macon and Gafford and see what they can accomplish by staying home.

Yeah, what kid doesn't want that 8th  seed

[BannerMountainMan]

Yeah, what kid doesn't want that 8th  seed

maybe they want to change that.

[popcornhog]

If we had been able to keep all our homegrown talent over the last 20 years? Arkansas would still be up there with the Kansas and North Carolina's of the basketball world. Of course when we won with the Triplets and with Nolan's boys, we always had kids who wanted to represent the home state university and stayed home.

Archie Goodwin
Malik Monk
James Anderson
AJ Walton
Mike Conley Jr.
Kevaughn Allen

Just to name a few. We also have had kids go Mississippi, Minnesota and Wichita. When you think about it, that is a lot of talent for such a small state. With last years class and the incoming class made up of the best Arkansas has to offer, I think we are fixing to raise things up a notch.

Think how good Nolan's last class would have been with Modica, Igudala, and Mike Conley, Jr.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

Think how good Nolan’s last class would have been with Modica, Igudala, and Mike Conley, Jr.

I always thought Nolan had another big run in him.

[raz1965]

I am really looking forward to watching the hogs when they have a team full of offensively skilled players, which it now appears Mike is bringing  in with his next class an beyond. Mike can teach defense but the skill to score is a born talent that is refined with experience, imagine what a Razorbacks team would look like with many skilled players, we had a few teams in the 90's, and it appears to be headed back in that direction. Kudos to Mike , his staff an the players on over achieving an having a fine season.

[The Hogfather]

If we had been able to keep all our homegrown talent over the last 20 years? Arkansas would still be up there with the Kansas and North Carolina's of the basketball world. Of course when we won with the Triplets and with Nolan's boys, we always had kids who wanted to represent the home state university and stayed home.

Archie Goodwin
Malik Monk
James Anderson
AJ Walton
Mike Conley Jr.
Kevaughn Allen

Just to name a few. We also have had kids go Mississippi, Minnesota and Wichita. When you think about it, that is a lot of talent for such a small state. With last years class and the incoming class made up of the best Arkansas has to offer, I think we are fixing to raise things up a notch.

I think Goodwin, Monk, and Allen made "business decisions" to go elsewhere, Conley Jr wasn't homegrown, Walton wasn't terrible, but he didn't do too much. 

Allen isn't any better than Beard.  I certainly prefer Macon and Barford over him.  I don't consider him or Walton misses.

Now, you could argue getting guys like those to be our 7th or 8th option would put us where we need to be in order to compete at the highest level.  I would probably agree.  Problem is, guys like Allen think they should be the #1 option, shooting 10+ times a game.

[mykidsdad]

I think Goodwin, Monk, and Allen made "business decisions" to go elsewhere, Conley Jr wasn't homegrown, Walton wasn't terrible, but he didn't do too much. 

Allen isn't any better than Beard.  I certainly prefer Macon and Barford over him.  I don't consider him or Walton misses.

Now, you could argue getting guys like those to be our 7th or 8th option would put us where we need to be in order to compete at the highest level.  I would probably agree.  Problem is, guys like Allen think they should be the #1 option, shooting 10+ times a game.

You are extremely wrong on Conley. He played basketball on Nolan's farm as a kid. Mike sr. was also at Nolan's farm all the time, and he and coach A played intermural basketball together (they smoked us so I know).

[popcornhog]

I always thought Nolan had another big run in him.

Yeah, Nolan May have been one year away from another title run, honestly.

Let's say that next year Nolan has gotten back to the final four or even Elite 8. He'd have probably been around another five years and then when he decided to retire, we'd not have gone through the Heath/Altman/Pel saga. Maybe Mike takes over around 2006 or maybe we go out and hire a big time coach to replace Nolan. Either way, things would've likely turned out much better.

[Dark Helmet Hog]

Yeah, Nolan May have been one year away from another title run, honestly.

Let’s say that next year Nolan has gotten back to the final four or even Elite 8. He’d have probably been around another five years and then when he decided to retire, we’d not have gone through the Heath/Altman/Pel saga. Maybe Mike takes over around 2006 or maybe we go out and hire a big time coach to replace Nolan. Either way, things would’ve likely turned out much better.

Definitely would have preferred that scenario compared to the reality of what did happen.   

[The Hogfather]

You are extremely wrong on Conley. He played basketball on Nolan's farm as a kid. Mike sr. was also at Nolan's farm all the time, and he and coach A played intermural basketball together (they smoked us so I know).

I understand the history.

[GoHogs1091]

Goodwin and Monk were not big losses.  Both of them are prima donnas that don't really care about team basketball.

The losses of that group were James Anderson and I.J. Ready. 

Allen has been somewhat of a loss, but only because he has some games in which he plays at a high level.  Allen is an inconsistent player, but the times he plays well he does it in a big way.

[Pinto]

A lot of programs can make this speculation also though

[yraciv]

Think how good Nolan's last class would have been with Modica, Igudala, and Mike Conley, Jr.

Conley is much younger than those 2 and was in the 2006 class. If Nolan survived until then, we certainly would have had a shot, but considering at that point he was playing HS ball with his best buddy and #1 recruit in the nation Greg Oden in Indiana, that certainly wouldn't have been the lock you think. They were a package deal and tough to speculate but I don't think Oden would have come down for Nolan's system.  Again though, Conley was in college for 1 season. One where we had another future NBA player in Patrick Beverley leading our mediocre, barely in tournament, NCAA team.  Conley would have made little impact on our program long term if you are playing the whatif game.

[yraciv]

Heck even Iguodala who is a good pro was average at Arizona as a FR, and didn't flash the potential that got him drafted until his SO year, and then he left.  Other than James Anderson, none of these guys had that 3 or 4 year career of solid production that could have really been program changing. 

I also don't think 40 minutes of hell was a system that could be built around the 1 and done type players. Our best teams had quality depth, solid team play, and solid upperclassman.

[IronMountainHog]

Conley is much younger than those 2 and was in the 2006 class. If Nolan survived until then, we certainly would have had a shot, but considering at that point he was playing HS ball with his best buddy and #1 recruit in the nation Greg Oden in Indiana, that certainly wouldn't have been the lock you think. They were a package deal and tough to speculate but I don't think Oden would have come down for Nolan's system.  Again though, Conley was in college for 1 season. One where we had another future NBA player in Patrick Beverley leading our mediocre, barely in tournament, NCAA team.  Conley would have made little impact on our program long term if you are playing the whatif game.

Conley was born in Fayetteville and lived there till he was around 12. He was only living in Indiana for 5 or 6 years.

[bvillepig]

Wouldn’t have mattered. Because every other school would have kept their studs too.

True and Kentucky would have dominant but I think with the extra year and what we had to go with those two we would have a very good team. Maybe top 10

[yraciv]

Conley was born in Fayetteville and lived there till he was around 12. He was only living in Indiana for 5 or 6 years.

Of course I know that, but big assumption to assume he'd come back when he is playing high school ball  with #1 recruit in nation and had switched to an Indiana AAU team with another future teammate. It's tough too play whatif game but I think he is all Ohio State even with Nolan

That Arkansas team may hav had 1 guy he grew up  playing with in the walk-on Colin Hardaway

[popcornhog]

Conley is much younger than those 2 and was in the 2006 class. If Nolan survived until then, we certainly would have had a shot, but considering at that point he was playing HS ball with his best buddy and #1 recruit in the nation Greg Oden in Indiana, that certainly wouldn't have been the lock you think. They were a package deal and tough to speculate but I don't think Oden would have come down for Nolan's system.  Again though, Conley was in college for 1 season. One where we had another future NBA player in Patrick Beverley leading our mediocre, barely in tournament, NCAA team.  Conley would have made little impact on our program long term if you are playing the whatif game.

Thanks for the clarification — I was thinking they were the same age. My memory is declining with age.

[Razorback_Sam]

Wonder if Coach Mike has ever talked to Jamario Bell about coming out. Still cant believe he chose football over basketball. He was a beast on the court.

[Athog]

Goodwin and Monk were not big losses.  Both of them are prima donnas that don't really care about team basketball.

The losses of that group were James Anderson and I.J. Ready. 

Allen has been somewhat of a loss, but only because he has some games in which he plays at a high level.  Allen is an inconsistent player, but the times he plays well he does it in a big way.

Now this funny!