JaCorey Williams has been DISMISSED

[Hawg Red]

Per university press release.

[pigture perfect]

That answers the first question.

[jjdlc]

Was pretty sure that one was coming after the second incident, now we wait and see about the others.

[Cresthog]

Awesome.

It really sucks being a Hog fan. It's constant suffering.

[Hawg Red]

I'm relieved that I will not be put in a position to cheer for him this season.

But I do hope he learns from all of this and can become a better person.

[The_Iceman]

Current Roster Now:

Whitt / Durham / Beard (Suspended, not dismissed yet)
Bell / Hannahs
Watkins / Jenkins
Kingsley / Miles
Kouassi / Thompson

Yikes. Gonna have to play one of the 3 Centers at PF to make the lineup work. If Beard comes back, you can move Whitt down to that 3 position and maybe move Jenkins into the rotation at 4 and go small.

[MrsThree]

what a shame

[Breems]

Glad we're trimming the fat. Interested to hear the news on the rest.

[hoglady]

Been a tough week for us Hog fans (football and basketball).
I'm about ready for some good news.

[JayBell]

Williams was a guaranteed starter on this team.  He was going to play 20+ per game.  He had to.  Miles is the only other person on the roster that can play the 4 the way Anderson likes it.  Maybe Jenkins can be that next guy now.

[JayBell]

That said, I'm glad Williams is no longer on the team.  His on-the-court behavior always seemed detrimental and I was always disappointed Anderson liked him so much.

Apparently his poor behavior continued off the court as well.  The Arkansas basketball team takes a hit with this dismissal, but the program gets better.

[JayBell]

Current Roster Now:

Whitt / Durham / Beard (Suspended, not dismissed yet)
Bell / Hannahs
Watkins / Jenkins
Kingsley / Miles
Kouassi / Thompson

Yikes. Gonna have to play one of the 3 Centers at PF to make the lineup work. If Beard comes back, you can move Whitt down to that 3 position and maybe move Jenkins into the rotation at 4 and go small.

No.  When does Anderson ever play someone taller than 6'5" as a guard?  That's a 4 in his system.  Miles and Jenkins are the only two who can play the 4 the way Anderson likes it.  Otherwise Kingsley, Thompson and Kouassi will have to be on the court together and Anderson isn't a guy that changes very often.

[Hawg Red]

I agree with that, I just can't believe some are painting this as just trimming the fat, like Jacori was just going to be a 5 minute a game mop up guy.

He wasn't a bad player, but it sounds like he might have been a bad kid. For that reason, I'm glad he's gone. Didn't want him on my team after the assault allegations (which have obviously be confirmed through Anderson's actions).

[Thepigdoctor]

Jacorey sealed his fate with that second incident. I know kids make mistakes, but my goodness, to have a major legal issue pending then to get yourself involved in something else that was completely avoidable, just shows that he is very immature.

With the amount of charges pending against Beard, I'm not confident he'll make it back but will let the legal process play out first. I think his exchanging counterfeit bills is going to be very tough to overcome. If it were just the purchases, the "we didn't know they were fake" excuse may have flown. Once he exchanged the counterfeit bills for actual bills, I have a bad feeling that will sink him. I really hope he can clear his name and get a second chance, but if I were to assign a percentage chance of him being a Hog again, I'd say it's less than 10%. Hope I'm wrong, but I just think he's done too. If any of the three go down in that case, it's going to be hard for the other two to get out. At this point, it's best for Mike to plan and recruit as if the other two will not be back.

Really an unfortunate circumstance and something that was completely avoidable. Just a dumb, dumb, mistake by these young men. Hope they all learn a lesson and can overcome this, Hogs or not, hate to see young men ruin their lives over something so stupid.

The 2016 class is going to completely reshape the future of the program. There are a ton of scholarships available and I just hope we fill these with young men who place value on education and strong moral behavior, in addition to talent on the court. Mike has a chance to completely rebuild the team the right way, similar to how CBB is doing with the football team. All is not lost, this is not a death sentence for the program, but an opportunity to rebuild with great kids.

All that said, 2016's class truly is make or break, can't afford to swing and miss on too many prospects. Ferguson was a long shot, but he's off the board now. Seems we've also missed out on Davis as well, since we didn't make his top three.

We really need to land Monk, Fisher, Curry, Smith, and hope that Kapita stays committed. A top 5 or 10 class would go a long way in healing wounds and restoring faith that Mike can get it done here.

[JayBell]

The rotation is more likely to be:

WITHOUT BEARD
Whitt / Durham
Bell / Watkins
Hannahs / ?
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It'd sure be great to have Babb right now.  I think we'll see some 4-guard lineups this season.  Foul situations and matchups will likely force Anderson to play two of Kingsley, Thompson and Kouassi together more than he'll want to.

WITH BEARD
Beard / Durham
Bell / Hannahs
Whitt / Watkins
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It's sad that Beard is easily worth 2-3 wins with this roster right now.

[RazorPiggie]

See Ya! Personally I never did like his game. He tired to do everything too fast IMO.

Plus his shoe incident was dumb as all get out.

[The_Iceman]

The rotation is more likely to be:

WITHOUT BEARD
Whitt / Durham
Bell / Watkins
Hannahs / ?
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It'd sure be great to have Babb right now.  I think we'll see some 4-guard lineups this season.  Foul situations and matchups will likely force Anderson to play two of Kingsley, Thompson and Kouassi together more than he'll want to.

WITH BEARD
Beard / Durham
Bell / Hannahs
Whitt / Watkins
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It's sad that Beard is easily worth 2-3 wins with this roster right now.

The Babb loss is really starting to hurt us. Some people can't see beyond the stats and realize that kid has loads of potential. He would have had a big breakout year for us if he and Mike could have worked things out. Too bad Mike really mishandled him last season.

[RazorPiggie]

The rotation is more likely to be:

WITHOUT BEARD
Whitt / Durham
Bell / Watkins
Hannahs / ?
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

I just don't see a lot of wins with that line up.

[hoglady]

The rotation is more likely to be:

WITHOUT BEARD
Whitt / Durham
Bell / Watkins
Hannahs / ?
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It'd sure be great to have Babb right now.  I think we'll see some 4-guard lineups this season.  Foul situations and matchups will likely force Anderson to play two of Kingsley, Thompson and Kouassi together more than he'll want to.

WITH BEARD
Beard / Durham
Bell / Hannahs
Whitt / Watkins
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It's sad that Beard is easily worth 2-3 wins with this roster right now.

I think you're underestimating the value of Beard - as a point guard and as a leader.
From what I saw last year - this team was going to be Beard's.
Don't know who that will be now. Is there a leader on the roster?
Without Beard last year - I think we would have been on the bubble.

[JayBell]

The Babb loss is really starting to hurt us. Some people can't see beyond the stats and realize that kid has loads of potential. He would have had a big breakout year for us if he and Mike could have worked things out. Too bad Mike really mishandled him last season.

So true.  He would probably be Arkansas's 5th or 6th best player on this year's roster.  Four of the top 5 players on the team are going to be guards: Whitt, Bell, Hannahs, Durham.  Five if Beard makes it back.

Anderson will have to use 4-guard lineups out of necessity because he's going to need his best players on the court more than ever.  Babb could have been such a key contributor.  A guard rotation of Beard, Whitt, Bell, Hannahs, Durham and Bell would not have been too shabby.

[JayBell]

I think you're underestimating the value of Beard - as a point guard and as a leader.
From what I saw last year - this team was going to be Beard's.
Don't know who that will be now. Is their a leader on the roster?
Without Beard last year - I think we would have been on the bubble.

I said he was easily worth 2-3 wins.

[hoglady]

I said he was easily worth 2-3 wins.
[/quote]

I know.
I don't know how many wins Beard is worth.
But I think he may be the difference between being competitive and not.
Who knows - maybe Durham will step up big time this year.

[hogsanity]

I said he was easily worth 2-3 wins.


I know.
I don't know how many wins Beard is worth.
But I think he may be the difference between being competitive and not.
Who knows - maybe Durham will step up big time this year.

Another thing though, even if Beard steps up, who is the backup?  Whitt? He is already going to have play 30+ mpg at th 2 spot.

It is not just Beard not playing ( if that turns out to be the case 0 it is what that does to the rest of the lineup. 

[-Blu]

The rotation is more likely to be:

WITHOUT BEARD
Whitt / Durham
Bell / Watkins
Hannahs / ?
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It'd sure be great to have Babb right now.  I think we'll see some 4-guard lineups this season.  Foul situations and matchups will likely force Anderson to play two of Kingsley, Thompson and Kouassi together more than he'll want to.

WITH BEARD
Beard / Durham
Bell / Hannahs
Whitt / Watkins
Miles / Jenkins
Kingsley / Thompson / Kouassi

It's sad that Beard is easily worth 2-3 wins with this roster right now.

I'm thinking the same thing as far as rotation.  And I agree Beard is worth at least 3 wins. 

[UNCLE BACK]

I am hearing that because of this decision, we will likely go big this year. Moses and Koussi together possibly with three guards. Protecting the paint with a couple of good shot blockers. We shall see I guess...

[hogsanity]

I am hearing that because of this decision, we will likely go big this year. Moses and Koussi together possibly with three guards. Protecting the paint with a couple of good shot blockers. We shall see I guess...

I am still wondering how this team is going to score more than 60 per game.

[RME]

I am still wondering how this team is going to score more than 60 per game.

Because Bell and Hannahs will shoot 80% from 3-pt. DuHhhHHHhHHhH.

[JayBell]

I am still wondering how this team is going to score more than 60 per game.

They'll easily average 60+, especially in Anderson's system.  What's crazy is people thinking this team will outscore last year's team.

Just looking at guys' minutes, Bell and Hannahs could each average 10+, Kingsley 8, Beard and/or Durham 6.  If Whitt averages 10-12, you're already at or near 50.  With the minutes they'll get, there's no way Miles, Jenkins and Watkins don't pitch in some too.

Like I've said before, 3-point shooting will carry/sink this team this year.  They'll win some games they're not expected to on great nights, but they'll lose some games they're not supposed to on some bad shooting nights.

[-Blu]

I am still wondering how this team is going to score more than 60 per game.

Are you kidding me there's no way they can score 60 PPG, especially now that Williams is gone.  They will probably score around 30 PPG and Whitt will have 15 of those.  We'll probably win 3 or 4 home games in non-conference against the sub 200 teams.  We may pull like 1 or 2 upsets in Bud Walton arena in conference, because we'll clearly be the underdog in every game because we are by far the worst team in the conference, probably the nation. 

I'm going to predict a 7-25 record.  Malik Monk signs with Kentucky, the class he has signed is horrible because he misses on every target like he normally does, Jeff Long finally sees the light and fires Mike and Mike has to resort to broadcasting because he's such a bad coach nobody will want to ever hire him again.  Meanwhile, now that the most prestigious job in college basketball is available coaches from all over submit their resumes to host the mighty razorbacks.  Phil Jackson gets the job, and we win the national championship the next year!

[hogsanity]

They'll easily average 60+, especially in Anderson's system.  What's crazy is people thinking this team will outscore last year's team.

Just looking at guys' minutes, Bell and Hannahs could each average 10+, Kingsley 8, Beard and/or Durham 6.  If Whitt averages 10-12, you're already at or near 50.  With the minutes they'll get, there's no way Miles, Jenkins and Watkins don't pitch in some too.

Like I've said before, 3-point shooting will carry/sink this team this year.  They'll win some games they're not expected to on great nights, but they'll lose some games they're not supposed to on some bad shooting nights.

Watkins played 502 minutes last year and only scored 93 points. As a team they averaged 77ppg ( only 74 in sec play including the sect ). 73%, almost 57ppg, of that scoring output is gone. 

[-Blu]

Watkins played 502 minutes last year and only scored 93 points. As a team they averaged 77ppg ( only 74 in sec play including the sect ). 73%, almost 57ppg, of that scoring output is gone.

I agree 100% with you man, your bringing the knowledge and stats this morning! +1.  I mean come on, a CMA team averaging 60 PPG, that's a pipe dream.

[jry04]

Watkins played 502 minutes last year and only scored 93 points. As a team they averaged 77ppg ( only 74 in sec play including the sect ). 73%, almost 57ppg, of that scoring output is gone. 

Minutes leaving means more minutes for other players. We may not be a good team, but we will not average under 60 ppg. It is really silly to suggest. I won't question anyone about their W/L prediction, but to suggest this team may not score 60ppg is either dumb, or over-dramatic.

[-Blu]

Minutes leaving means more minutes for other players. We may not be a good team, but we will not average under 60 ppg. It is really silly to suggest. I won't question anyone about their W/L prediction, but to suggest this team may not score 60ppg is either dumb, or over-dramatic.

Get with the program.  JaCorey Williams getting dismissed = under 60 PPG.  Players can't get better and improve stats when other people leave, they stay the exact same, it's a proven fact.  Did you not see the stats hogsanity posted?

[Adam Stokes]

Watkins played 502 minutes last year and only scored 93 points. As a team they averaged 77ppg ( only 74 in sec play including the sect ). 73%, almost 57ppg, of that scoring output is gone. 

Just some stats to think about.

In 2011, our worst offensive year under Anderson, we shot the ball 43.4% from the field.  Since then it has been 43.5%, 44.1%, and 44.5%.

In 2011, we had our lowest FGA per game at 58.1, followed by 61.3, 61.9, and 61.0.

In 2011, we averaged 71.8 PPG, followed by 73.1, 80.1, and 77.4.

So as we can see, 2011 was our worst year for offensive production by far.

With the shot clock lowering, our opponents will be shooting the bar at a quicker rate.  It likely won't affect our speed too much, but it will lead to us getting more shots in a game.

Even if we were to shoot the same amount of shots as our 2011 team, we would have to shoot under 36.5% for the season to be under 60 PPG.  That isn't going to happen.  No P6 team shot under 40% last year.  In the past four years the difference between the best and worst FG %'s was a mighty 1.1%, so I'd be willing to bet it is highly unlikely that we will even shoot under 42%.  We will still hit 70 PPG.  Chances are it'll be in the mid 70's.

Keep in mind that our best players on that 2011 squad was freshman BJ Young, and the top 5 minute getters were Young, Julysses Nobles, Ricky Scott, Madracus Wade, and a freshman Madden.  We won't be worse than that squad on offense, regardless of him grim it looks. 

We need to worry more about having fresh legs for defense; that'll be the biggest difference between our W's and L's, not exactly our offense.  This past year's team made leaps and bounds due to their improved defense, not their offense.

[hawginbigd1]

I'm relieved that I will not be put in a position to cheer for him this season.

But I do hope he learns from all of this and can become a better person.

+1 wish him no ill will, but not sad to see him leave.

[hawginbigd1]

The Babb loss is really starting to hurt us. Some people can't see beyond the stats and realize that kid has loads of potential. He would have had a big breakout year for us if he and Mike could have worked things out. Too bad Mike really mishandled him last season.

I am not 100% positive that MA handled him bad or not, but losing him was big IMO, regardless of who else we lost, potential to be a Josh Richardson type player IMO. Game/build just seemed to be a prototype of an MA BB player.

[GuvHog]

I agree with that, I just can't believe some are painting this as just trimming the fat, like Jacori was just going to be a 5 minute a game mop up guy.

I agree. Losing Jacorey isn't trimming the fat, it's losing a starter and that hurts.

These people who actually believe that Beard has even a decent shot of being re-instated are just fooling themselves IMHO.

[poloprince]

The Babb loss is really starting to hurt us. Some people can't see beyond the stats and realize that kid has loads of potential. He would have had a big breakout year for us if he and Mike could have worked things out. Too bad Mike really mishandled him last season.

Lol ok

[sickboy]

Are you kidding me there's no way they can score 60 PPG, especially now that Williams is gone.  They will probably score around 30 PPG and Whitt will have 15 of those.  We'll probably win 3 or 4 home games in non-conference against the sub 200 teams.  We may pull like 1 or 2 upsets in Bud Walton arena in conference, because we'll clearly be the underdog in every game because we are by far the worst team in the conference, probably the nation. 

I'm going to predict a 7-25 record.  Malik Monk signs with Kentucky, the class he has signed is horrible because he misses on every target like he normally does, Jeff Long finally sees the light and fires Mike and Mike has to resort to broadcasting because he's such a bad coach nobody will want to ever hire him again.  Meanwhile, now that the most prestigious job in college basketball is available coaches from all over submit their resumes to host the mighty razorbacks.  Phil Jackson gets the job, and we win the national championship the next year!

Is this sarcasm?

Obviously, how a team scores and how the players on said team scores is entirely dependent on the pairing of players and their style of play on the floor at any given time. I'm speaking to others, because you know this. You're a smart poster.

You can't accurately carry over a kid's averages from one year and think it will hold weight the next year if the make-up of the squad is entirely different. It's pointless. Again, I'm speaking to others, because you know this. You're a smart poster.

Next season is so unquantifiable that it's ridiculous to try and put numbers on what we're going to be. And FYI. There are almost 350 division one basketball programs in America. Of those -- 25 averaged less than 60ppg. That's about .07% of basketball programs.

And in case you were wondering... here's what Anderson's teams have averaged every year of his career.

PPG by year by Anderson's Teams
UAB 2002-2003 = 77 ppg
UAB 2003-2004 = 76 ppg
UAB 2004-2005 = 78 ppg
UAB 2005-2006 = 75 ppg
Mizzou 2006-2007 = 78 ppg
Mizzou 2007-2008 = 77 ppg
Mizzou 2008-2009 = 82 ppg
Mizzou 2009-2010 = 77 ppg
Mizzou 2010-2011 = 81 ppg
Arkansas 2011-2012 = 72 ppg
Arkansas 2012-2013 = 74 ppg
Arkansas 2013-2014 = 80 ppg
Arkansas 2014-2015 = 77 ppg

That's an average of 77 ppg. With the lowest being the squad he took over from Pelphrey -- a squad full of players that weren't even his -- and he still managed 72 ppg.

And just to put these numbers into perspective -- this is where those yearly PPG rank nationally...

National PPG Rankings by year for Anderson's teams
UAB 2002-2003 = 77 ppg -- 9th in the nation.
UAB 2003-2004 = 76 ppg -- 32nd in the nation.
UAB 2004-2005 = 78 ppg -- 49th in the nation.
UAB 2005-2006 = 75 ppg -- 69th in the nation.
Mizzou 2006-2007 = 78 ppg -- 103 in the nation.
Mizzou 2007-2008 = 77 ppg -- 67th in the nation.
Mizzou 2008-2009 = 82 ppg -- 2nd in the nation.
Mizzou 2009-2010 = 77 ppg -- 36th in the nation.
Mizzou 2010-2011 = 81 ppg -- 18th in the nation.
Arkansas 2011-2012 = 72 ppg -- 119th in the nation.
Arkansas 2012-2013 = 74 ppg -- 88th in the nation.
Arkansas 2013-2014 = 80 ppg -- 30th in the nation.
Arkansas 2014-2015 = 77 ppg -- 11th in the nation.

If this team were to score below 60 ppg, it would be 18 ppg less than Anderson's average. And put our team at around 330th in the nation in scoring, that's 211 spots lower than his lowest year ever.

In other words... fat chance this team only musters up 59ppg or less with Mike Anderson at the helm.

[JayBell]

Is this sarcasm?

Why ask if a post is sarcastic and then waste an hour and a half on a statistical analysis before you get the answer that the rest of us already know?

[Mick Hogger]

Yes, it's sarcasm.

Hate this for the young man, but I'm glad to see we're holding people accountable regardless of what it does to impact the season.

[UNCLE BACK]

After B.J and Powell left, we were worried about who would score. the following year was our best offensive year. We will be just fine guys. Mike will get it done.

[sickboy]

Why ask if a post is sarcastic and then waste an hour and a half on a statistical analysis before you get the answer that the rest of us already know?

Is this sarcasm?

[Edit: No seriously -- the post wasn't for Blu. There are tons of other people reading who would be helped by seeing a bit of context.]

[Hawg Red]

After B.J and Powell left, we were worried about who would score. the following year was our best offensive year. We will be just fine guys. Mike will get it done.

Not everyone worried.......because we had a McDonald's All-American coming in and it was pretty obvious the ball wouldn't stop as much.

[-Blu]

Is this sarcasm?

[Edit: No seriously -- the post wasn't for Blu. There are tons of other people reading who would be helped by seeing a bit of context.]

LOL, you know me sickboy. I was just trolling hogsanity because he goes in every single thread and says outrageous stuff, so I decided to join him.  The sad thing about it is, I think he actually thought I was agreeing with him.

[hogsanity]

LOL, you know me sickboy. I was just trolling hogsanity because he goes in every single thread and says outrageous stuff, so I decided to join him.  The sad thing about it is, I think he actually thought I was agreeing with him.

Hardly. Also, I have hardly posted in jump ball for a few weeks, so I have not been in every thread.

How, though, is it outrageous to wonder where the scoring on this team is going to come from?

[jry04]

Hardly. Also, I have hardly posted in jump ball for a few weeks, so I have not been in every thread.

How, though, is it outrageous to wonder where the scoring on this team is going to come from?

You said you are wondering how this team will even score 60 points. That is pretty outrageous that you do not know how the team will be able to score 60 points. 

[-Blu]

Hardly. Also, I have hardly posted in jump ball for a few weeks, so I have not been in every thread.

How, though, is it outrageous to wonder where the scoring on this team is going to come from?

It's outrageous to say a coach that has never had a team score less than 72 PPG in his 13 year coaching career is going to all of a sudden not be able to score 60 PPG, because JaCorey Williams (4 PPG) is dimissed, then use Manny Watkins (a walk on) stats as proof of that claim.  Actually the word "outrageous" doesn't even justify your claim. 

And let's not forget to mention the shot clock is shorter this year as well, which means more possessions, which means scoring is going up in general.

[WarPig88]

Hardly. Also, I have hardly posted in jump ball for a few weeks, so I have not been in every thread.

How, though, is it outrageous to wonder where the scoring on this team is going to come from?

There is always turnover in college basketball. Anderson has coached less talented scoring teams in the past and come up with 70+ every time.

Jacorey Williams was not going to suddenly become a scorer. Hannahs is a scorer/shooter. Witt is a scorer. I expect Kingsley to get double digits, somewhere closer to 10 than 15.

Bigger question is how can you NOT see that this team will still score points in this system?

[ICEman]

Jacorey sealed his fate with that second incident. I know kids make mistakes, but my goodness, to have a major legal issue pending then to get yourself involved in something else that was completely avoidable, just shows that he is very immature.

I think JaCorey has left the halcyon days of being a kid.