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Season in Review: State of the Hogs

Started by HognitiveDissonance, March 20, 2018, 01:23:09 am

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HognitiveDissonance

Straight to the point, it was a good season.
This team lost big contributors in Kingsley, Hannahs, and Watkins from an NCAA team.
But they returned firepower in Macon and Barford, and a good freshman class. The expectation was to return to the NCAAs.
They did. Success.

The season started as strongly as any season in recent memory, with early season wins and a very high RPI.
Reality set in though, getting drummed by UNC, as it demonstrated the Hogs weren't near an elite team yet.
There was also a very ugly game at Houston, which revealed a disturbing trend we see each season 3-4 times of looking completely unprepared and getting embarrassed. Houston/LSU at home/Butler. These games can be written off as 'bad nights' but they're too much of a long-term pattern to be categorized like that. These 'no-show' games also impact the overall resume which hinders better seeding...which in turn impacts chances of advancement. Just think: one more win(say, LSU at home) would have given Hogs the double-bye in the SEC Tourney. Just an example)

Heading into SEC play, last year's team produced a 12-6 record. So my thinking was, this team should be capable of replicating that. Seemed like a fair goal. So I had 7-2 home, 5-4 away for total of 12-6.
7-2 at home was nailed, but Hogs struggled to 3-6 on the road. Some would say the SEC was tougher, which is true, but also this group just didn't seem to have the moxie to play tough on the road, for whatever reason.

Hogs maintained their longtime, stellar home court advantage in the great Bud Walton Arena by going 15-2 overall.
Road? Not very good, although the win at Alabama was one of the best games of the year.

Best games: Tenn at home, Auburn at home, Alabama on road, Oklahoma at neutral, Texas A&M home, finally beat Florida
Worst games: Houston road, LSU home, Butler neutral, North Carolina neutral

In summary, I would think you would have to give this group a B+. They pretty much accomplished what they were expected to do. It was a good season. That's the short term assessment. I don't think a coach who is in the NCAA Tournament should be in any serious job danger.

Can we argue about wanting more? Absolutely. Total disclosure: I was lukewarm about Anderson's hire from the get-go, as I never saw anything great happening under his watch. I dream big, and I've seen 'big' in my lifetime in Hog hoops, so that's all I'm really interested in. No apologies for that approach. Go big or go home. Under Anderson, I always thought we would be merely 'pretty good'. That's pretty much exactly what has happened. Too bad I'm not the AD (although I know Long was under a lot of pressure to bring Mike 'home').

But I will say again, at this point in time, when you've made the NCAAs two straight years, and 3 of 4, your job should not be in danger, even if you haven't advanced as we all want. I somewhat reluctantly say that, but I do believe that.

txkhog

It was a CMA average season anyway you slice it.

 

jbigs77

Yes we are not where we want to be. But I would rather be where we are than where we was. 10 years ago I couldn't watch the hogs play BB it made me sick. At least now, its entertaining again. Hopefully we improve. Anything worth having rarely comes easy or quick.

labb

Butts in the seats in BWA tell most of the story.

Atlhogfan1

March 20, 2018, 09:34:22 am #4 Last Edit: March 20, 2018, 11:18:47 am by Atlhogfan1
C:  Being generous because they did make it in the tournament.

Really sad and tough break not having Garland.  This hindered the season.

Out of conference went as usual with the exception of the OU win.  The smart scheduling setup the ability to make the NCAAT without having to do much more than winning about half of our conference games.  We got to 10 before SECT so securely in.

Not making the NCAAT takes a lot of failure from our program.  Either from scheduling which we have fixed.  Or on the court. 

Beating Tennessee was a very good win.  Then the typical MA SEC run began.  7 seasons in and still unable to play defense the way he wants.  Caught a break just in time in terms of schedule and when we played teams with the players they had available.  Again, not much different than most seasons. 

The most selfish team Mike has ever coached.  Part of it was out of necessity given the offensive options available.

The amount of double digit losses were high even for an Anderson team. 

Completely unprepared for the NCAAT game.

Discussion of Butler's prep:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2018/03/16/doyel-butler-gritty-not-pretty-win-over-arkansas-bulldogs-were-both/432097002/

Little doubt the Butler staff and players did much more work and better than our staff. 

The state of the program is treading water.  Arkansas is providing help in terms of recruits.  We'll see who stays from the current roster and who comes in. 
Quote from: MaconBacon on March 22, 2018, 10:30:04 amWe had a good run in the 90's and one NC and now the whole state still laments that we are a top seed program and have kids standing in line to come to good ole Arkansas.  We're just a flash in the pan boys. 

hogsanity

Quote from: jbigs77 on March 20, 2018, 08:52:54 am
Yes we are not where we want to be. But I would rather be where we are than where we was. 10 years ago I couldn't watch the hogs play BB it made me sick. At least now, its entertaining again.


I don't really find it entertaining watching and knowing that if a team just has good guards they will probably beat the Hogs. Knowing that our offense will consists of one or two guys dribbling then taking a 15-25ft jump shot. Now, there were entertaining moments. last 10mins + OT against TN was entertaining. OU win was entertaining. FLA game in the SECT was really entertaining.
People ask me what I do in winter when there is no baseball.  I will tell you what I do. I stare out the window, and I wait for spring.

"Anything goes wrong, anything at all, your fault, my fault, nobodies fault, I'm going to blow your head off."  John Wayne in BIG JAKE

Kevin

not entertaining, when you know in the end, no chance at bringing any hardware home
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.<br />James 4:7
Reject Every Kind Of Evil 1 Thessalonians 5:22

cram224

At some point CMA needs to learn to study film. Instead of only worrying about what we do, maybe worry about what the other team does. I think he has said in the past he doesn't worry about what the other team wants to do.

HognitiveDissonance

Quote from: jbigs77 on March 20, 2018, 08:52:54 am
Yes we are not where we want to be. But I would rather be where we are than where we was. 10 years ago I couldn't watch the hogs play BB it made me sick. At least now, its entertaining again. Hopefully we improve. Anything worth having rarely comes easy or quick.
Yes, nothing comes easy or quick, unless you're a high quality coach like Eddie or Nolan. Both were in the Final 4 in their 4th or 5th year.

There I go again, comparing our current coach to those guys. It's like comparing a Toyota Camry to a Lexus.

A really good coach will produce results within 3-4 years. If he doesn't, it usually means he's not that great. Sure, later MA may luck into a great season, but the bottom line is he just doesn't have 'it'. Great guy, though.

daprospecta

Quote from: HognitiveDissonance on March 20, 2018, 10:35:12 pm
Yes, nothing comes easy or quick, unless you're a high quality coach like Eddie or Nolan. Both were in the Final 4 in their 4th or 5th year.

There I go again, comparing our current coach to those guys. It's like comparing a Toyota Camry to a Lexus.

A really good coach will produce results within 3-4 years. If he doesn't, it usually means he's not that great. Sure, later MA may luck into a great season, but the bottom line is he just doesn't have 'it'. Great guy, though.
Good? Nolan is in the Hall of Fame and Sutton had the triplets. Don't kid yourself ok.  Mike is not a hall of fame coach but he is good.

Sivad

Quote from: cram224 on March 20, 2018, 11:47:06 am
At some point CMA needs to learn to study film. I think he has said in the past he doesn't worry about what the other team wants to do.
Whether it's laziness or just incompetence, it has not been a productive trait for him.

daprospecta

Quote from: Rock City Razorback on March 21, 2018, 03:11:05 pm
Know not realistic, but imagine having Kingsley instead of Cook and Dusty added to the mix over CJ Jones. That's the kind of roster CMA has to put together in order to reach the next level. No more filler players where there's a huge drop off, have to have consistent talent up and down the bench. Also, really think those 2 made the difference in a tourney win vs a loss, or at least their leadership. Our team was better this year, and Macon was a solid leader. But Dusty brought something a little extra as well.
Dusty could create off the dribble even though he was not as quick or Macon or Barford. He had the floater down to a science his senior year along with drawing fouls on drives.  We also missed Moses's ability to hit mid range jumpers. He wasn't excellent at it but he was certainly solid at the position. I also feel like Moses and Dusty were better court leaders. 

26.2Hog


Just my opinion, but to say a season is a good season, need to finish in the top 25.


 

synthartist69


HognitiveDissonance

Quote from: daprospecta on March 20, 2018, 10:56:15 pm
Good? Nolan is in the Hall of Fame and Sutton had the triplets. Don't kid yourself ok.  Mike is not a hall of fame coach but he is good.
And I've said that probably a dozen times in the past. He's done a good job everywhere he's been, and doing pretty good here.

If that's what you want.

He wins enough to keep his job (even I said if you're in the NCAAs you shouldn't be fired). But he doesn't win enough to make people forget the golden years. Only way to make people forget Eddie and Nolan is to duplicate or exceed what they did.



alohawg

Quote from: cram224 on March 20, 2018, 11:47:06 am
At some point CMA needs to learn to study film. Instead of only worrying about what we do, maybe worry about what the other team does. I think he has said in the past he doesn't worry about what the other team wants to do.

That is so ridiculous- is there another coach in America that says they don't study film of opponents?
"It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it."
-Upton Sinclair

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
― J. Krishnamurti

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Beaverfever

No SEC regular season championship, no conference tourney championship, no Sweet 16, no AP ranking.  Not a good season.

HogBreath

Quote from: alohawg on March 22, 2018, 01:18:37 am
That is so ridiculous- is there another coach in America that says they don't study film of opponents?
As I understand, Coach Watkins didn't study film when he was the head coach at aTm.
I said...LSU has often been an overrated team.

That ignoramus Draconian Sanctions said..if we're overrated, why are we ranked higher than you are?

rzrbkman

Quote from: Kevin on March 20, 2018, 11:12:30 am
not entertaining, when you know in the end, no chance at bringing any hardware home

This ^^^

rude1

In years 1-4 this was a good season. In years 5-7 after accomplishing nothing in years 1-4, this was an average season. Program is stagnate, not contending for anything, every exciting win is nullified by mind numbing loss, program stuck in perpetual cycle of "rebuilds" of which we look at another next season. If program doesn't make tourney again next year, time to move on, 8 years is more than enough time invested for these results.