Do you believe now?

[LZH]

I wanted to believe after Pel knocked off Texas and OU. How'd that turn out?

Ain't that right. That was the last flicker of hope I had for Razorback basketball....didn't last long, did it? That is why I just can't get excited about any team MA coaches here anymore. Any success now seems like a fluke.

[riccoar]

Believe me Mike will turn this program into a winning program. Big Wwin!!

Indeed a huge win.  However, do you remember post Nashville?  Oklahoma State failure.  Post Alabama high?  Missouri and Vandy failures. 

What's killing the vibe and belief is beating teams like Bama and SC and then just having abysmal failures against teams that your practice squad could hang with.

Please, let them run Ole Miss out of the gym on Saturday.  If they can bring the Bama play back to the floor at BWA, they may let that momentum finally catch.  People get caught up in thinking that speaking ill of Anderson somehow indicates a dislike for the program or team.  I'm a Razorback fan first.  And like others, I simply want what I know is possible because we had it once upon a time.

[hawg66]

He got the most out of them this game. But he didn't on severable inexcusable occasions this season (MSST, @MO, and VANDY). I do believe that if Mike can get this out of his teams every game that he will turn this program into a winner.

It's definitely weird when a Mike Anderson team doesn't play hard.  It's also out of character for Mike's teams historically.  It's the one thing he could always hang his hat on.  I think Anderson is probably as frustrated by that as many Hogvillians.  Five games left, and this team is still a work in progress.  But they've certainly done enough this season to have fans be supportive.  Love the wins and hate the losses, that's what fans do, but recognize the successes as well as the failures.

The idea that Arkansas needed to be 22-4 to gain some folks support is crazy, I'm sorry.  Anyone who thought that was possible preseason was setting Anderson up to fail.  If you thought they might be around their 19-7 mark, but you're frustrated by the bad losses, you have to recognize that the only way they got to that record was by winning some they weren't expected to.  It's okay to be upset by the losses to low hanging fruit, but to ignore the success in other games indicated many on here are wearing. "Fire Mike" blinders.

[Pork Twain]

Some of you saw our Hogs get a big win last night and are mad. Smh

Who's mad?  I love it when the Hogs win, no matter who the coach is.  I just think they would win a lot more with a different coach.

Two things I don't do, find joy in the Hogs losing...ever and badmouth the players.

[hawg66]

You can live with high turn overs when assists are high, but Barford had ONE assist and 6 turn overs. You can't live with that.

Part of the trouble is that he needs the ball in his hands to be as effective as he can be offensively.  Playing him at the point means he should usually have a nice game scoring.  The turnovers are too many, but Barford at the point also helps eliminate the long scoring droughts, one of the biggest struggles for this team.

[azhog10]

Who's mad?  I love it when the Hogs win, no matter who the coach is.  I just think they would win a lot more with a different coach.

Two things I don't do, find joy in the Hogs losing...ever and badmouth the players.

One could say the same about football and would actually have recent proof that it's possible in football than in basketball. I'm. Not happy with mike or Bret but mike has won more games in his last few years than any other coach since 2000. Can't say the same about CBB. BP showed a good coach could take Arkansas to a bcs bowl. I don't think we will ever see that in football.

[redleg]

I asked a friend of mine who has quality knowledge about the game of basketball, "Why didn't the Hogs play against Mizzou and Vandy the way they played against South Carolina?! What is their problem, and why are they playing with my emotions?!" His answer was:

"They have a stubborn coach. He wants to play man to man and switch every ball screen. We don't have the guys to do that. He stopped doing it at LSU, and that's when they came back and won. Same thing Wednesday night. Maybe he is understanding he cant play the way Nolan did, because he doesn't have those type of guys. He has good guys but he needs to run a defense that fits their skill set, and they need to stop shooting so many jump shots so early in the shot clock. When they do that, they can play with just about anyone in the country."

What say you?
:razorback: 

[lunchbox72703]

[Pork Twain]

One could say the same about football and would actually have recent proof that it's possible in football than in basketball. I'm. Not happy with mike or Bret but mike has won more games in his last few years than any other coach since 2000. Can't say the same about CBB. BP showed a good coach could take Arkansas to a bcs bowl. I don't think we will ever see that in football.

Well lets not forget that he also showed us how to make sure a program is left in shambles when he was done with it...several times (Louisville, Atlanta, Arkansas and soon to be Louisville II).

[azhog10]

Well lets not forget that he also showed us how to make sure a program is left in shambles when he was done with it...several times (Louisville, Atlanta, Arkansas and soon to be Louisville II).

Doesn't take away from the fact that he proved you could win, and win big.......something no one has done in hoops in over 20 years. It's only been 7 in football.

[Pork Twain]

Doesn't take away from the fact that he proved you could win, and win big.......something no one has done in hoops in over 20 years. It's only been 7 in football.

So?  No one is still doing it in basketball.  Too soon to tell in football.

[hobhog]

Just have to keep it out of the ditches now. Stay in center of the road.....

[ATU HOG]

More hopeful.  We've all known what this team is capable of.... it's just getting consistent play each game

[GuvHog]

Well lets not forget that he also showed us how to make sure a program is left in shambles when he was done with it...several times (Louisville, Atlanta, Arkansas and soon to be Louisville II).

I'll give you Atlanta but the rest is pure poppycock.

[McKdaddy]

Who's mad?  I love it when the Hogs win, no matter who the coach is.  I just think they would win a lot more with a different coach.

Two things I don't do, find joy in the Hogs losing...ever and badmouth the players.

^^^^^

[azhog10]

So?  No one is still doing it in basketball.  Too soon to tell in football.

Your point was any other coach could come in and win more games. CMA/ARK has the second best SEC record over the last three seasons. If any coach could come in and do it, they would. I don't see you saying the same about football when there has been much more recent proof that winning, and winning big is capable.

[Pork Twain]

Your point was any other coach could come in and win more games. CMA/ARK has the second best SEC record over the last three seasons. If any coach could come in and do it, they would. I don't see you saying the same about football when there has been much more recent proof that winning, and winning big is capable.

I am all about data analysis and it shows that it is much easier to win at basketball than football at Arkansas, for numerous reasons.  At least you are consistent in that when you don't have anything, you attempt to compare football and basketball as if their were in any way equal.  If the SEC was actually strong in basketball and weak in football, your assertion that CMA being #2 in the SEC over the last three years might mean something.  Even then you are cherry picking his numbers to make him look better.

[Pork Twain]

I'll give you Atlanta but the rest is pure poppycock.

Sure it was Guv...  Maybe research more and post less opinion?

[gmarv]

Well lets not forget that he also showed us how to make sure a program is left in shambles when he was done with it...several times (Louisville, Atlanta, Arkansas and soon to be Louisville II).

true that.He also did less with the best player in the game last year.

[PonderinHog]

I believe we have a game against Ole Miss Saturday night.

[Letsroll1200]

The difference in this game and the difference in this season will be Moses and Dusty. When Moses is engaged on defense and make his lay ups we are a hard team to beat. Moses and Dusty will have to be the players that finish this season. Barford and Macon have met expectations this season as Juco players. We need Moses and Dusty to finish.

[GuvHog]

Sure it was Guv...  Maybe research more and post less opinion?

I know the history and like I said, other than Atlanta it's pure poppycock.

[Letsroll1200]

I am all about data analysis and it shows that it is much easier to win at basketball than football at Arkansas, for numerous reasons.  At least you are consistent in that when you don't have anything, you attempt to compare football and basketball as if their were in any way equal.  If the SEC was actually strong in basketball and weak in football, your assertion that CMA being #2 in the SEC over the last three years might mean something.  Even then you are cherry picking his numbers to make him look better.

You should do a chart for Houston Nutt, Bobby Petrino and Bret Bielema. I know you did one for basketball.

[azhog10]

I am all about data analysis and longitudinal analysis shows that it is much easier to win at basketball than football at Arkansas, for numerous reasons.  At least you are consistent in that when you don't have anything, you attempt to compare football and basketball as if their were in any way equal.

Please, show me the "analysis". I'll show you a coach who took us to a BCS bowl in football in the recent past and a coach who has failed to get us out of the middle to bottom of the SEC in football. I will then show you since 2000 we have a coach with a .5667 win pct, a .536 win pct, a .54 win pct, and CMA with a .614 win pct.

I wasn't arguing if it was easier to win in general in football or in basketball. I was arguing that "some other coach" would win more. If that were the case then you would think that we there would be proof to back that up. Instead you have three other coaches (obviously Nolan stopped coaching a year or two before he was done) that couldn't win more, but yet we have a football coach in the same tough conference that won over 60 percent of his games, and to be even more frank, Nutt won at a better rate than Bielema has done. So right now our football coach (and I do like CBB and think he is great for the university but isn't winning) is only ahead of John L in terms of winning percentage over our last four coaches. So my point is if you think we can find another basketball coach that can come in and win more than 120 games in 6 seasons.......then how are you so content with what we are doing on the football field?

No need for "longitudinal analysis" to see that.

[azhog10]

You should do a chart for Houston Nutt, Bobby Petrino and Bret Bielema. I know you did one for basketball.

That wouldn't work out in his favor.....it goes like this:

Win Pct
BP .667
HDN .620
BP .487
DFord .465
JLS .333

[ShadowHawg]

What do you expect? After every win instead of posts talking about how great the team played or how great the win was, we are going to see post like this "Do you believe now", which are only going to polarize more the other side, the people who have lost confidence in the direction of the program. Of course they are going to push back. What did we win last night? Why would peoples belief change based on one game?

Beliefs have been formed over patterns over the last 6 years, it is going to take a pattern of good consistent play before many people are going to believe something has actually changed. So running to Hogville to stick ones tongue out after every win has gotten just as old as those running to stick their tongue out after every loss. At some point I am hoping that the fans on one or both sides of the fence grow up and start making it about the team and not about themselves and the belief that any win or any loss shows how right they are.

Serious question. Do you know what the word fan means when it pertains to sports? It is short for fanatical.

If you were to call someone a fanatical in any other walk of life it is easy to understand that they are not reasonable about their beliefs/support of something.

This is a forum of FANaticals. Getting upset because these same fans may be over the top excited because their team just won a game on the road against a ranked team is a pejorative statement about yourself not them.

How many times have you seen a sorry team upset a good team and after the game as they pan the crowd the sorry team's FANaticals are holding up a finger and saying "we're number one"?

Let it ride.

[Pork Twain]

You should do a chart for Houston Nutt, Bobby Petrino and Bret Bielema. I know you did one for basketball.

I have done several.  They can usually be found in MMQB

[Pork Twain]

That wouldn't work out in his favor.....it goes like this:

Win Pct
BP .667
HDN .620
BP .487
DFord .465
JLS .333

Are we going to act like that mess his first year, was all on him?  MA walked into a solid roster and a top recruiting class, not so for BB and then there were the recruiting failures from the previous three years as well.

[Pork Twain]

Please, show me the "analysis". I'll show you a coach who took us to a BCS bowl in football in the recent past and a coach who has failed to get us out of the middle to bottom of the SEC in football. I will then show you since 2000 we have a coach with a .5667 win pct, a .536 win pct, a .54 win pct, and CMA with a .614 win pct.

I wasn't arguing if it was easier to win in general in football or in basketball. I was arguing that "some other coach" would win more. If that were the case then you would think that we there would be proof to back that up. Instead you have three other coaches (obviously Nolan stopped coaching a year or two before he was done) that couldn't win more, but yet we have a football coach in the same tough conference that won over 60 percent of his games, and to be even more frank, Nutt won at a better rate than Bielema has done. So right now our football coach (and I do like CBB and think he is great for the university but isn't winning) is only ahead of John L in terms of winning percentage over our last four coaches. So my point is if you think we can find another basketball coach that can come in and win more than 120 games in 6 seasons.......then how are you so content with what we are doing on the football field?

No need for "longitudinal analysis" to see that.

We are in one of weakest basketball conferences and one of the strongest football conferences.  Keep on grasping at straws to make Mike seem better than he is.  I don't bring up basketball coaches in MMQB to make me feel better about CBB, like the fact that MA has only gotten us to the NCAA post-season twice in five years and has gone 2-2 in those appearances and CBB has gotten us there 3 out of 4 and won 2 out of 3.  You know why I choose not to do that?  I choose not to do that because I realize win totals and post-season play is completely different in those two sports and to compare them is an act of deseration.

[Letsroll1200]

Please, show me the "analysis". I'll show you a coach who took us to a BCS bowl in football in the recent past and a coach who has failed to get us out of the middle to bottom of the SEC in football. I will then show you since 2000 we have a coach with a .5667 win pct, a .536 win pct, a .54 win pct, and CMA with a .614 win pct.

I wasn't arguing if it was easier to win in general in football or in basketball. I was arguing that "some other coach" would win more. If that were the case then you would think that we there would be proof to back that up. Instead you have three other coaches (obviously Nolan stopped coaching a year or two before he was done) that couldn't win more, but yet we have a football coach in the same tough conference that won over 60 percent of his games, and to be even more frank, Nutt won at a better rate than Bielema has done. So right now our football coach (and I do like CBB and think he is great for the university but isn't winning) is only ahead of John L in terms of winning percentage over our last four coaches. So my point is if you think we can find another basketball coach that can come in and win more than 120 games in 6 seasons.......then how are you so content with what we are doing on the football field?

No need for "longitudinal analysis" to see that.

You are absolutely on point

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

Are we going to act like that mess his first year, was all on him?  MA walked into a solid roster and a top recruiting class, not so for BB and then there were the recruiting failures from the previous three years as well.

Our frontcourt was Marvell waiter and Michael Sanchez. Yea that was a solid roster.

[revolution]

What do you expect? After every win instead of posts talking about how great the team played or how great the win was, we are going to see post like this "Do you believe now", which are only going to polarize more the other side, the people who have lost confidence in the direction of the program. Of course they are going to push back. What did we win last night? Why would peoples belief change based on one game?

Beliefs have been formed over patterns over the last 6 years, it is going to take a pattern of good consistent play before many people are going to believe something has actually changed. So running to Hogville to stick ones tongue out after every win has gotten just as old as those running to stick their tongue out after every loss. At some point I am hoping that the fans on one or both sides of the fence grow up and start making it about the team and not about themselves and the belief that any win or any loss shows how right they are.

You are so right, man.

[Hawg Red]

The only thing that is going to get me to BELIEVE in Mike Anderson is him showing me that he is going to COACH better than he has in his time here CONSISTENTLY. Mike has been better than any coach we've had since Nolan in many areas, but I'm hesitant to put too much stock into the W/L improvements because the SEC has become gradually weaker since Nolan was fired. That's part of the reason for frustration. The SEC has been regularly putting in 3-4 teams in the SEC tournament this decade. That is weak. So I would expect a truly good coach to be able to capitalize on that, and I don't think Anderson truly has. Now, winning on the road -- that is real improvement. No denying that. That is encouraging. But the Missouri game in Columbia? Baffling. Losing to Vanderbilt in BWA when their leading scorer is suspended.....and by 20 points and we were never at any point in the game? Mind-blowing. That's on coach. He has to have them ready to compete and we've seen too much uneven preparedness in his tenure. We've seen a general unwillingness to adapt or change from his desired gameplan. He has bucked that trend over the last 3 halves of basketball. That is encouraging but also confusing. Why has it taken this long for him to realize something like that if he truly has realized it and it isn't just a flash-in-the-pan adjustment?

I've been very unhappy with Anderson over the last couple of weeks, as have many fans. However, I am not someone that is just anti-Mike Anderson and believes he has to go no matter what. I want it to work with Anderson. And, on some level, we might NEED it to work with Anderson. But he put me back on the fence with those losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt. We'd be tied for 1st with Kentucky and Florida right now if he had those boys ready for those games. I believed that he would have use prepared to get those two very, very winnable games and he broke a lot of trust with me when he didn't. So, no, I don't believe right now. Not yet, anyway. But I'm watching and waiting. Let's see what happens against Ole Miss and the rest of the season. Let's see if he is really going to coach or if the last 3 halves have been an unsustainable aberration. If it's REAL change, he'll earn my trust back and I'll truly believe in him. Right now I'm just hoping more than anything and he has to get me to the point of believing and trusting and less just hoping we come through. I think that's a reasonable expectation for a fan of a program that truly does have a good coach. Good coach find consistency. Show me.

[Pork Twain]

Our frontcourt was Marvell waiter and Michael Sanchez. Yea that was a solid roster.

Care to include any other players that were on the roster when he became the coach or is this the tactic you are going with?  Note, if you have to pick and choose what you include, your information lacks integrity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_Arkansas_Razorbacks_men%27s_basketball_team

[East Clintwood]

Switch it over to the Alabama game. You will find him with that blank, lost stare on his face.*

*The Bret Bielema look.

[azhog10]

Are we going to act like that mess his first year, was all on him?  MA walked into a solid roster and a top recruiting class, not so for BB and then there were the recruiting failures from the previous three years as well.

We will act like CBB walked into a mess when you are willing to admit CMA walked into a mess which included the loss of a scholarship. Not to mention the recruiting class had two players that were worth much of anything. Marshawn Powell tore his ACL before the second or third game of the season.......and no that wasn't a "solid roster". That solid roster went 14-16 and 18-13 his last two seasons......

[ShadowHawg]

We are in one of weakest basketball conferences and one of the strongest football conferences.  Keep on grasping at straws to make Mike seem better than he is.  I don't bring up basketball coaches in MMQB to make me feel better about CBB, like the fact that MA has only gotten us to the NCAA post-season twice in five years and has gone 2-2 in those appearances and CBB has gotten us there 3 out of 4 and won 2 out of 3.  You know why I choose not to do that?  I choose not to do that because I realize win totals and post-season play is completely different in those two sports and to compare them is an act of deseration.

The SEC is the toughest P5 conference to win road games in. What about that FACT influences you to believe that it should be easy to plow through this conference? This league also puts the second most kids in the NBA and it's not just Kentucky. The importance of that is this, bad teams that have an NBA player or even two on their rosters are perfectly capable of beating ANYONE both on the road and at your place when those guys get hot.

Kansas is about to win it's 13th straight conference title in a league that it supposed to be "tough". I'm sorry, but that doesn't happen in tough leagues.

The SEC was supposed to be weak a few years and only got 3 bids. Seems all 3 of those teams ended up in the elite 8. That doesn't happen in weak leagues.

Perception is reality I suppose.

[Pork Twain]

We will act like CBB walked into a mess when you are willing to admit CMA walked into a mess which included the loss of a scholarship. Not to mention the recruiting class had two players that were worth much of anything. Marshawn Powell tore his ACL before the second or third game of the season.......and no that wasn't a "solid roster". That solid roster went 14-16 and 18-13 his last two seasons......

You are so full of it.  Your complete disassociation from reality has me bowing out of this one.

[Letsroll1200]

The only thing that is going to get me to BELIEVE in Mike Anderson is him showing me that he is going to COACH better than he has in his time here CONSISTENTLY. Mike has been better than any coach we've had since Nolan in many areas, but I'm hesitant to put too much stock into the W/L improvements because the SEC has become gradually weaker since Nolan was fired. That's part of the reason for frustration. The SEC has been regularly putting in 3-4 teams in the SEC tournament this decade. That is weak. So I would expect a truly good coach to be able to capitalize on that, and I don't think Anderson truly has. Now, winning on the road -- that is real improvement. No denying that. That is encouraging. But the Missouri game in Columbia? Baffling. Losing to Vanderbilt in BWA when their leading scorer is suspended.....and by 20 points and we were never at any point in the game? Mind-blowing. That's on coach. He has to have them ready to compete and we've seen too much uneven preparedness in his tenure. We've seen a general unwillingness to adapt or change from his desired gameplan. He has bucked that trend over the last 3 halves of basketball. That is encouraging but also confusing. Why has it taken this long for him to realize something like that if he truly has realized it and it isn't just a flash-in-the-pan adjustment?

I've been very unhappy with Anderson over the last couple of weeks, as have many fans. However, I am not someone that is just anti-Mike Anderson and believes he has to go no matter what. I want it to work with Anderson. And, on some level, we might NEED it to work with Anderson. But he put me back on the fence with those losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt. We'd be tied for 1st with Kentucky and Florida right now if he had those boys ready for those games. I believed that he would have use prepared to get those two very, very winnable games and he broke a lot of trust with me when he didn't. So, no, I don't believe right now. Not yet, anyway. But I'm watching and waiting. Let's see what happens against Ole Miss and the rest of the season. Let's see if he is really going to coach or if the last 3 halves have been an unsustainable aberration. If it's REAL change, he'll earn my trust back and I'll truly believe in him. Right now I'm just hoping more than anything and he has to get me to the point of believing and trusting and less just hoping we come through. I think that's a reasonable expectation for a fan of a program that truly does have a good coach. Good coach find consistency. Show me.

We have 19 wins and Mike currently has the Hogs in position to be in the NCAA tournament 2 out of the last 3 seasons. When you look at the numbers and what Anderson has done since becoming coach at Arkansas there is no reason to have a conversation about replacing him. I'm hoping the hogs can win 4 of the next 5 but I believe winning 3 of the next 5 games will have the hogs in the tournament.

[ShadowHawg]

You are so full of it.  Your complete disassociation from reality has me bowing out of this one.

You just lost the debate the second you resorted soley to personal attacks.

[azhog10]

We are in one of weakest basketball conferences and one of the strongest football conferences.  Keep on grasping at straws to make Mike seem better than he is.  I don't bring up basketball coaches in MMQB to make me feel better about CBB, like the fact that MA has only gotten us to the NCAA post-season twice in five years and has gone 2-2 in those appearances and CBB has gotten us there 3 out of 4 and won 2 out of 3.  You know why I choose not to do that?  I choose not to do that because I realize win totals and post-season play is completely different in those two sports and to compare them is an act of deseration.

Again, I'm not comparing win pct's of the two sports. I know you want to keep going there but that's not where I'm going. My point was, and is, that we have had recent success from a coach that has proven that Arkansas football can win and win big. Hence us playing in a BCS bowl. Arkansas basketball however, has not had that recent success from any other coach other than CMA. Heath couldn't win and keep our APR up, Pel couldn't win and keep our APR up, Nolan from 99 on couldn't win and keep our APR up.

So in football we have proof that Arkansas can win football games, but our current coach just isn't living up to that bill. BUT, in basketball we don't know if coaches or any coach can come in and be as successful as CMA because he has been the most successful basketball coach here in 20 years. CBB has not been the most successful football coach in the last 20 years. Unfortunately he isn't even #2.

[azhog10]

You are so full of it.  Your complete disassociation from reality has me bowing out of this one.

That's right, you've relied on opinion while I have given numbers, not out of context numbers, just actual win pct's over the course of each coaches career here at arkansas......Sorry it doesn't fit your argument.

[Hawg Red]

We have 19 wins and Mike currently has the Hogs in position to be in the NCAA tournament 2 out of the last 3 seasons. When you look at the numbers and what Anderson has done since becoming coach at Arkansas there is no reason to have a conversation about replacing him. I'm hoping the hogs can win 4 of the next 5 but I believe winning 3 of the next 5 games will have the hogs in the tournament.

There has been plenty of reason to have a conversation about replacing him. There is a definitely a competitive pros vs cons list with Anderson for his time at Arkansas. If he can get the team in the tournament this year and not collapse, he'll get a lot of people off his back and then the conversation will be over for awhile (hopefully forever). But we're no tournament lock and we should be, so naturally the conversation is fair.

[Biggus Piggus]

As to the OP: After the past six games, I don't know what to believe.

[Letsroll1200]

There has been plenty of reason to have a conversation about replacing him. There is a definitely a competitive pros vs cons list with Anderson for his time at Arkansas. If he can get the team in the tournament this year and not collapse, he'll get a lot of people off his back and then the conversation will be over for awhile (hopefully forever). But we're no tournament lock and we should be, so naturally the conversation is fair.

I don't think coming into this season that this team was a tournament lock. This team is right where many of the experts thought they would be on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. The hogs finish this season strong they will be in the dance pre SEC tournament.

[azhog10]

The only thing that is going to get me to BELIEVE in Mike Anderson is him showing me that he is going to COACH better than he has in his time here CONSISTENTLY. Mike has been better than any coach we've had since Nolan in many areas, but I'm hesitant to put too much stock into the W/L improvements because the SEC has become gradually weaker since Nolan was fired. That's part of the reason for frustration. The SEC has been regularly putting in 3-4 teams in the SEC tournament this decade. That is weak. So I would expect a truly good coach to be able to capitalize on that, and I don't think Anderson truly has. Now, winning on the road -- that is real improvement. No denying that. That is encouraging. But the Missouri game in Columbia? Baffling. Losing to Vanderbilt in BWA when their leading scorer is suspended.....and by 20 points and we were never at any point in the game? Mind-blowing. That's on coach. He has to have them ready to compete and we've seen too much uneven preparedness in his tenure. We've seen a general unwillingness to adapt or change from his desired gameplan. He has bucked that trend over the last 3 halves of basketball. That is encouraging but also confusing. Why has it taken this long for him to realize something like that if he truly has realized it and it isn't just a flash-in-the-pan adjustment?

I've been very unhappy with Anderson over the last couple of weeks, as have many fans. However, I am not someone that is just anti-Mike Anderson and believes he has to go no matter what. I want it to work with Anderson. And, on some level, we might NEED it to work with Anderson. But he put me back on the fence with those losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt. We'd be tied for 1st with Kentucky and Florida right now if he had those boys ready for those games. I believed that he would have use prepared to get those two very, very winnable games and he broke a lot of trust with me when he didn't. So, no, I don't believe right now. Not yet, anyway. But I'm watching and waiting. Let's see what happens against Ole Miss and the rest of the season. Let's see if he is really going to coach or if the last 3 halves have been an unsustainable aberration. If it's REAL change, he'll earn my trust back and I'll truly believe in him. Right now I'm just hoping more than anything and he has to get me to the point of believing and trusting and less just hoping we come through. I think that's a reasonable expectation for a fan of a program that truly does have a good coach. Good coach find consistency. Show me.

I'll be the first to admit I wasn't able to watch any of these two games due to coaching my own team into the playoffs. BUT, I did watch the Minny game and the OSU. Everyone wants to blame CMA for both of those losses, but our buys just flat out didn't play. Against both of those teams we turned it over, didn't shoot well, and just didn't have the engagement on defense. Not saying that Anderson isn't to blame at all for any of those. I have made my displeasure clear about our defense and his role in that. But for us to act like it's all on Anderson is a bit amusing. We still aren't where we need to be players wise, but losing to Vandy and Mizzou screams more to me about our youth than anything. Whether it's freshman or first year JUCO's you are going ot have games that you should win but you lose bc they look at the name on the front and don't come with the right focus.

Hell it's happened to me as a coach at the high school level. You try to do everything to keep it from happening but sometimes there's not a thing you can do.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

This was really really nice. Very big win but we've been burned before.

I'm elated about the w and plan on watching again but the skeptical side of me remembers the horrific week we had after beating bama, the horrific game we played at stillwater after the amazing comeback in Nashville, and the last stretch of 13-14.

We went into Lexington and beat the national runner up then dominated ole miss and Uga at home before flaming out and falling to the NIT.  We had a home grown/ all time Arkansas great and STILL couldn't make the dance.

This win puts us in a fantastic position but we've been here before. I want to see us finish strong for a change.

[azhog10]

There has been plenty of reason to have a conversation about replacing him. There is a definitely a competitive pros vs cons list with Anderson for his time at Arkansas. If he can get the team in the tournament this year and not collapse, he'll get a lot of people off his back and then the conversation will be over for awhile (hopefully forever). But we're no tournament lock and we should be, so naturally the conversation is fair.

Why should we be a tournament lock? What part of our team coming in to the season made us a lock? I felt we could make it, hoped we could make it. But we were far from a lock. The only "lock" was that Long was going to feel some very very extreme heat if CMA didn't make the tourney to fire him. That's about the only "lock" going into the season.

[ShadowHawg]

As to the OP: After the past six games, I don't know what to believe.

LOL! So true.

[Hawg Red]

I don't think coming into this season that this team was a tournament lock. This team is right where many of the experts thought they would be on the bubble for the NCAA tournament. The hogs finish this season strong they will be in the dance pre SEC tournament.

No disagreement. But we're in Year 6, so fans were universally expecting to be in the NCAA tournament. Being that that has been in doubt this late in the season, the conversation about moving on is fair, IMO. I'm a little more objective than you are, though.