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2015 Season: Final Assessment

Started by HognitiveDissonance, March 29, 2015, 11:39:59 pm

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HognitiveDissonance

All precincts have reported so it's fair to offer my $0.02 on the season.
Don't have time to find past threads containing comments/expectations.
Basically I've been one of those beating the drum about road games, road games, road games. Home wins have always been there, no matter the coach. If Hogs could get up to an acceptable level of road SEC victories, everything should fall in place. Lack of those was keeping Hogs out of the tourney, much less a decent seed.
Looking at the SEC vs Hog roster, I thought it was possible to go 9-0 at home, but 8-1 more likely. I thought 5-4 on road, but would grudgingly settle for 4-5. Most likely SEC record would probably be 12-6.

So....although surprising to drop two home games, they were in fact to NCAA teams, so no big sweat there, and it all revolved around road games anyway. Hogs exceeded my expectations with a 6-3 record. Add it up to 13-5. I have zero complaints. Hogs finally broke through the road barrier; sure, margin of victory was tight in some(72-71 over Ole Miss, 61-60 over a bad Mizzou team, etc) but style doesn't matter: Ws and Ls matter.

Trust me, the national pundits have noticed Ark's road woes for years, so this will go a ways in gaining respect. Those road wins, plus a good showing in the SECT, led to a solid seeding. I thought we were a little unlucky with the UNC draw, a team that obviously has talent always and likes to run as much as we do. Many teams I would have rather played than the Heels.

Also pleased with some recruiting results(assuming Kapita makes it).

All in all, I would give this season an A- . After a dismal week in December with a horrible effort at Iowa State and a very bad loss to Clemson, things looked bleak. But the Hogs re-focused and showed a lot of grit afterwards on the SEC road.

I'm hopeful Ark can establish the program as a place than in-state recruits want to be. What hurt with some guys like K Allen is failure of recent success. We have some of that now. There has been real good talent in-state recently(Portis, K Allen, Monk, A Goodwin, etc) to be very competitive nationally...if we can keep them here. This year should help quite a bit. Anderson will never be a super salesman recruiter, but he has shown he can get a few out-of-state guys(Whitt, Kingsley, Kapita) that were highly recruited.

Pigliophile

Agreed. Now that we have the momentum I hope we keep the ball rolling.

 

root_hawg

B- , pretty close to what I expected.  An average season which would be a C is to be in the big dance, win a game in the tourney gets you a B, sweet 16 gets you a B+, past that and we get into the A category.  Playing in a different conference with a stronger field then it would change but in reality it was Kentucky, Arkansas and then a bunch of average teams

3kgthog

B- here also. Mike HAD to make the NCAAT this year and he did. I grow increasingly frustrated with our inability (or refusal) to adapt to what is working on a game to game basis. For example, don't try to press teams that are bigger, faster, and more talented than you. UK and UNC proved it with all their easy points in the paint and in transition. If I never see another 3 pass breaking of the press ending in a dunk, it'll be too soon.

All in all, it's progress and while I'd rather be a top 15 team annually, I get the feeling we'll have to settle for staying put in the 20-25 range every year. Our style just leads to too many ups and downs and we'll always be missing a guard here or a forward there. That's just the way it goes in recruiting since we aren't willing to take a dump on the system and its loopholes like UK does. Maybe someday we'll build a football or basketball only dorm/4-star hotel that meets the rules criteria by having 3-5 regular students living downstairs. I doubt it'll ever happen, though.

daBoar

Finished #2 in the SEC regular season and in the SEC Tourney.  Solid Round of 32 game against UNC, who gave Whisky all they wanted. 

Several road wins, including a very good win over SMU.  Most importantly, the improvement over last season for both Portis and Qualls was huge; gotta give a lot of credit to the coaching staff.  And, to top it off, the staff has secured 2 very nice recruits for the 2016 season.

Some disappointments but not enough to move the needle. 

I'm with the A- guys.

hogsanity

The losses to LSU and Clemson keep it from being an "A" season. Otherwise it was about what was expected, a good year with a good team. Won most of the games they should have, the two mentioned being the exceptions. Did not upset anyone by winning a game most thought they should not. Finally won some SECt games, and a NCAAt game.
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

Rump Roast

Quote from: hogsanity on March 30, 2015, 10:00:37 am
The losses to LSU and Clemson keep it from being an "A" season. Otherwise it was about what was expected, a good year with a good team. Won most of the games they should have, the two mentioned being the exceptions. Did not upset anyone by winning a game most thought they should not. Finally won some SECt games, and a NCAAt game.

Pretty sure we were 6 point dogs @Georgia.  Weren't favored @SMU or @Ole Miss.

bighog2255

I'll give it a solid B. MA HAD to make the tournament, which he did. Winning one game was nice, and we had a decent showing against a more talented UNC team. Making it to the SEC tournament final was also something that was nice to see.

Cresthog

A-/B+ without a shed of doubt.

We had a crappy rd of 32 matchup or we'd have been in the sweet 16. And we kept that game damn close most of the night anyway.

We were one solid guard away from being extremely, extremely dangerous.

BDSCT51

I'm in the solid "B" camp too. Far exceeded my expectations on the road. Another fan down here and myself back in January thought this could be a sweet 16 team with a break or two. I still like how it panned out.
Bleeding Razorback Red

HSVhogfan2

B+. I expected AR to get to the Sweet 16 back in December. If they were in any other region but the West, they would have. 2 bad losses, Clemson and Ole Miss at Home. 27 wins is top 6 in program history, I think. It's a shame Beard didn't finish the season healthy.
"The post you have just read was used with the express written consent of HSVHogfan2."

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Deep Shoat

The results say "B".  You don't get an "A" on a test if you get 40 out of 50 right, even if you only got 20 of 50 on the last 15 tests.

Arkansas is not a "win one in the NCAAT and be happy" program, even though we've sucked for 20 years.
All Gas, No Brakes!

HognitiveDissonance

Quote from: Deep Shoat on March 30, 2015, 11:06:15 am
The results say "B".  You don't get an "A" on a test if you get 40 out of 50 right, even if you only got 20 of 50 on the last 15 tests.

Arkansas is not a "win one in the NCAAT and be happy" program, even though we've sucked for 20 years.
I agree with that, but the fact that Hogs haven't made the NCAAs since 2008 factored into my grade of A- somewhat. I think a minimum expectation of a basketball coach who has established himself and had time to build is to make the NCAA each year. So I probably wouldn't have given an A- grade if this were, say, 2018. But there were a lot of things happen this year that haven't happened in a while so I'm willing to be generous on the grading scale. 

 

hogsanity

Quote from: Cresthog on March 30, 2015, 10:18:39 am
A-/B+ without a shed of doubt.

We had a crappy rd of 32 matchup or we'd have been in the sweet 16. And we kept that game damn close most of the night anyway.

We were one solid guard away from being extremely, extremely dangerous.

Always love the " if not for a bad matchup " argument. If the Hogs were truly a sweet 16 team, they would have been there.

Quote from: Rump Roast on March 30, 2015, 10:08:07 am
Pretty sure we were 6 point dogs @Georgia.  Weren't favored @SMU or @Ole Miss.

Do you really think any of those teams were better than the Hogs?

Plus I was more alluding to the games against Ky, ISU and NC. Games where the Hogs winning would have caused people to nationally to take notice.
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

PaintballHog

A - compared to reasonable expectations. Our regular season hasn't been as good since the 90's, and a very difficult draw in the tourny which got us 1 win.

gmarv

Quote from: HSVhogfan2 on March 30, 2015, 10:28:55 am
B+. I expected AR to get to the Sweet 16 back in December. If they were in any other region but the West, they would have. 2 bad losses, Clemson and Ole Miss at Home. 27 wins is top 6 in program history, I think. It's a shame Beard didn't finish the season healthy.
you said most of what I think also. going with the B+

HognitiveDissonance

I see a mixed future for Arkansas.
On one hand, the program has made progress and may continue to improve.
On the other hand, it's scary how many good coaches are in the league now. Where are the easy wins going to come from. No more Rick Ray at Miss St...no more easy wins over Auburn.

Pearl is at Auburn.
Ben Howland is at Miss St.
Rick Barnes is at Tenn.
Calipari still at UK.
Even Mizzou will not be any worse than they were this year.

Breems

Proud member of the "Left Before Halftime" football club.

Quote from: Breems on January 27, 2011, 08:42:29 pm<br />SCREW VANDERBILT<br />

HOGINTENNESSEE

Quote from: HognitiveDissonance on April 01, 2015, 09:44:36 pm
Even Mizzou will not be any worse than they were this year.

Not so sure about this one after the J Williams transfer

WarPig88

Best season in 20 years and there are dipsticks saying it is a B because our program should be this or that.

I think after 20 years, you have a pretty good picture of what your program IS, not what it should be.

Not to mention, I have not seen even one of the whiners mention the recruiting class we have coming as a part of this season either.

Recruiting is part of the game and CAN'T be left out of the equation.

Best record in 20 years and two top 50 recruits = A to reasonable fans.

azhog10

LOL at all the people saying we finished where they expected. I could go back to the timeframe of ISU and Clemson and many of you "expected us to be in the rd of 32" people would have been saying we won't make the tourney and would be lucky to get in the NIT. But now you are saying we finished exactly where you thought we would so CMA gets no credit because he did "average" and didn't overachieve. He did what you all expected him to do and that's just mediocre.

Let's ignore the fact it was our first NCAAT game in many years, we got past the first round to play the same team we played last time in the NCAAT only this time we didn't get blown out by 30 points. Sure different seed, and all. But this team played well. I'm a B+/A- kinda guy. Not huge on giving grades but if I had to that would be mine.

PonderinHog

B+ or better.  It's hard to say where we should be ranked.  One can argue that we should be ranked anywhere from 15 - 30 and not be wrong.   :razorback:

Hogimus Prime

The Hogs did great for a team that lacked a guard that can break a defense down and constant play at the 4.

hogsanity

Quote from: azhog10 on April 02, 2015, 08:44:34 am
LOL at all the people saying we finished where they expected. I could go back to the timeframe of ISU and Clemson and many of you "expected us to be in the rd of 32" people would have been saying we won't make the tourney and would be lucky to get in the NIT. But now you are saying we finished exactly where you thought we would so CMA gets no credit because he did "average" and didn't overachieve. He did what you all expected him to do and that's just mediocre.

Let's ignore the fact it was our first NCAAT game in many years, we got past the first round to play the same team we played last time in the NCAAT only this time we didn't get blown out by 30 points. Sure different seed, and all. But this team played well. I'm a B+/A- kinda guy. Not huge on giving grades but if I had to that would be mine.

When the season started many said they were a NCAAT team. While expectations changed at points during the year, the NCAAT was what was expected at the start.
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

 

HawgWild

Getting off the schnide on road losses was the biggest accomplishment for me. That had to get into the player's heads and I don't miss the TV guys talking about it every game one iota.

azhog10

April 02, 2015, 12:26:46 pm #25 Last Edit: April 02, 2015, 12:46:00 pm by azhog10
Quote from: hogsanity on April 02, 2015, 09:21:39 am
When the season started many said they were a NCAAT team. While expectations changed at points during the year, the NCAAT was what was expected at the start.
It was an expectation for many. I know I was leary to start the season based on information that was given to me about the team leading into the season. Most said NCAAT not because the team/players that we had, but because CMA was going into his 4th season and hadn't made the NCAAT yet. Many thought he should have had us back there already and that if he couldn't get it done in year 4 he needed to go.

There's a huge difference from having an NCAAT final 32 team and expecting CMA to have us back in the dance.

Went back and looked at some threads from the start of the season. In a "Bold Predictions" thread some stated a bold prediction would be winning 26 games. In another thread many discussed that we would have to win close to 23 games to get in the tourney and that it would be a hard feat to do so. We won 24 in the regular season with three post season tournament wins. Many predicted a possible NCAAT birth but for sure an NIT birth. So I would hardly say that almost everyone thought this was an NCAAT team much less a round of 32 team.

jgphillips3

I think I have to go B+.  They met the expectations I had for them of #2 in the SEC and a NCAA win.  I could have bumped it to an A if we hadn't had bonehead games, had beaten Kentucky once or had gone sweet 16.  Overall, a very, very good year after a C- last year.

DLUXHOG

"Don't go in anyplace you'd be ashamed to die in..."
(you might get this someday)

root_hawg

Recruiting - 1 recruit in the top 50 not 2 and #6 in the conference, 23rd in nation

Atlhogfan1

I thought RazorAg's assessment was thorough and fair and I don't recall LOL's or accusations of being a whiner.

We had this discussion before the LSU game but I guess we'll do an update now that it is over.  Mike and the staff did a good job this season.  Would not call it mediocre or average.  The team finished the regular season about where many of us expected.  Perhaps a game or two better but with few surprises.  And for me, this is one of the biggest achievements of the season and where Mike deserves credit.  Throughout his career, his seasons have included bad losses including some blowout losses to bad teams.  The type of losses that affect postseason seeding.  We've talked about the rollercoaster.  But as far as W/L, we didn't ride it this season.  And because the coaches and players didn't they were seeded 2nd in the SECT and were rewarded with a 5 seed in the NCAAT which gave a better opportunity for early round success. 

Now in games, the inconsistency was remarkable at times.  And we've beaten those reasons to death so no reason to go into them again.

Perhaps it took Mike a little too long to figure out the lineup mixes but in hindsight with the way Beard broke down late season after barely a month of extended playing time, his options were more limited than we perhaps thought.  This wasn't a team that fits what he wants to do defensively.  To their credit and the staff's, they had a lot of success anyway.  This was the fewest steals per game we've averaged for a season since Mike became coach.  I didn't go back to his UAB or Mizzou teams but I imagine it would be low in comparison to many of those.

I don't think the schedule was very tough this season.  The non conference schedule was setup well.  And we don't of course create our own conference schedule.  But we almost couldn't have been given an "easier" conference schedule considering the number of teams at the bottom of the conference we played twice vs the top of the conference once.  We also benefitted multiple times throughout the season from opponents being shorthanded due to injury or suspension.  And the offensively challenged SEC already had teams with little depth.  The 11 game stretch in the SEC schedule starting with Bama in BWA contained only one good offensive team and "good" team by SEC standards and that was Ole Miss.  Winning there was impressive and it was a good defensive effort by the Hogs.  Much of the conference was turnover prone and lacked offense to the point they had to "ugly" games and we saw quite a few.  Again to the Hogs credit, they won them. 

Quote from: jbcarol on March 12, 2015, 09:05:50 pm
Jimmy Hyams @JimmyHyams  ·  5 hours ago
SEC teams 59-67 on road this year with 6 having as good or better road record. Last yr teams were 38-88 on road, none as good/better on road

SEC teams were better on the road or worse at home this season depending on how you look at it.  It has been said and with good points that the conference being a little deeper this season contributed to this huge increase in road wins.  This was the highest road win % in years for the conference.  Again, to the coaches' and players' credit the Hogs of course were one of those 6 turning around the narrative for now at least. 

When looking ahead to the season, a few thought this team wasn't going to be better than most every team on the schedule.  It didn't make sense.  Even through some inexplicable play and decisions, this team was still going to the NCAAT barring an injury to Portis.  Having usually the best player in the game and sometimes the two best when playing in the current SEC or BWA in non conf is going to lead to a lot of wins. 

As far as recruiting, guard recruiting has been subpar.  In a system that is driven by guard play on both ends, it has had too many misses or reaches.  Whitt of course appears to be what we need and Beard looks as if he will be as well.  And as Root has pointed out and I have asked, what service has ranked Whitt in the top 50?  Not saying they won't re-rank and he won't be in it.  Close enough now to know he is a highly respected recruit anyway.  And Kapita looks like a great fit at F.  Still need more versatile F's.

RazorAg went into individual players so no reason to rehash. 

The team and staff deserve praise and credit for their achievements this season. 
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. 

hawg IQ

Quote from: HognitiveDissonance on March 29, 2015, 11:39:59 pm
All precincts have reported so it's fair to offer my $0.02 on the season.
Don't have time to find past threads containing comments/expectations.
Basically I've been one of those beating the drum about road games, road games, road games. Home wins have always been there, no matter the coach. If Hogs could get up to an acceptable level of road SEC victories, everything should fall in place. Lack of those was keeping Hogs out of the tourney, much less a decent seed.
Looking at the SEC vs Hog roster, I thought it was possible to go 9-0 at home, but 8-1 more likely. I thought 5-4 on road, but would grudgingly settle for 4-5. Most likely SEC record would probably be 12-6.

So....although surprising to drop two home games, they were in fact to NCAA teams, so no big sweat there, and it all revolved around road games anyway. Hogs exceeded my expectations with a 6-3 record. Add it up to 13-5. I have zero complaints. Hogs finally broke through the road barrier; sure, margin of victory was tight in some(72-71 over Ole Miss, 61-60 over a bad Mizzou team, etc) but style doesn't matter: Ws and Ls matter.

Trust me, the national pundits have noticed Ark's road woes for years, so this will go a ways in gaining respect. Those road wins, plus a good showing in the SECT, led to a solid seeding. I thought we were a little unlucky with the UNC draw, a team that obviously has talent always and likes to run as much as we do. Many teams I would have rather played than the Heels.

Also pleased with some recruiting results(assuming Kapita makes it).

All in all, I would give this season an A- . After a dismal week in December with a horrible effort at Iowa State and a very bad loss to Clemson, things looked bleak. But the Hogs re-focused and showed a lot of grit afterwards on the SEC road.

I'm hopeful Ark can establish the program as a place than in-state recruits want to be. What hurt with some guys like K Allen is failure of recent success. We have some of that now. There has been real good talent in-state recently(Portis, K Allen, Monk, A Goodwin, etc) to be very competitive nationally...if we can keep them here. This year should help quite a bit. Anderson will never be a super salesman recruiter, but he has shown he can get a few out-of-state guys(Whitt, Kingsley, Kapita) that were highly recruited.
This will sound critical, but not meant to. I think the fair assessment us, we hogs needs to understand we only had two quality players this year, Qualls and Portis. The rest were and are very average players.
   Each player needs to find ways to contribute and out side of those two not much. I know Madden shot free throws well, but always found how to create an unforced turn over at very crucial times.
   Would like to have seen someone come forward. I will agree beard got close, but folded like a cheap tent down the stretch. A. Harris shot beyond his ability far too much. Bell was cold more than hot on his threes. MA needs to continue to stress defense- too many easy baskets at times. We need more over all team quickness to play 94 feet of defense.
   We did achieve about maximum wins for talent we have, which outside portis, qualls is not really marginal. Fans got runner up sec and one game streak in march madness and that's right on cue IMHO.
go hogs go !