Column: Mike Anderson Insists He'll Win a National Championship

[mhuff]

It takes a special sort of player to be a 'true PG' in MA's motion. Nobles would have been another combo guard who took a backseat to the B.J. Young show. IMO Nobles, had he been here, would have played minutes similar to Wade did that year. Wade really struggled offensively that season, but he averaged the 2nd most minutes/game among our guards.

I have never cared for the motion offense. Variations have been around for years. I had an AAU team back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. I ran the motion because they were running it in the four schools I had on my team.At Arkansas I know Rotnei never could get screens to get open for good shots. Plus when we go to the basket we hardly ever dish it off to an open man as most schools do. Our lack of a good offense made me want to vomit most of the time. That last game we played embarrassed our school...... worst coached and played game of the year.

[azhog10]

sorry I don't see an ncaa title in the cards for the hogs...when you play street ball all the time and don't play defense it wont happen

I love fast break offense and pressure defense. However, we have not had the offense or defense to be a good team. I am not impressed with what I have been seeing. I just wish CMA and our team the best of luck. Perhaps we will have better shooters next year... and someone to distribute the ball.

I do have argument with this comment. Our offense was actually pretty darn good as compared to the rest of the country ranking 17th in points scored. Where we weren't good was on the defensive end. We weren't consistent enough to even be considered an okay team. That comes with growing pains on implementing this pressing style of basketball when you don't have all the right pieces. That in no way is an excuse for CMA and not having those pieces. I think we should have been much better. I can understand some of the arguments about adapting your style to the players you have. I do think we tried to do that some, and we did it very well at times. But other times we didn't do it very well, and IMO our missing the tournament had a lot to do with that inconsistency on defense. We lost a few games by a free throw, a layyup, and a jump hook. Had we had one or two more stops throught the game, those shots are really irrelevant.  But our offense was good. Defense not so much.

[donbro]

Louisville does not play defense like MA.....No one plays that crazy  Kamikaze double team the ball all over the court and leave the shooter wide open defense the we play....there is nothing fundamentally sound about it...

What team do you coach?

[root_hawg]

Ill take this bet

[bkjbearcat]

I wonder if Gregg Marshall will win a championship before MA?

[rzrbackramsfan]

Not really. No logic or insight given (typical for you).

Ju Nobles was a much better Razorback than Kikko and helped the team more (on the court). I'd love for you to dispel that.

They're pretty close in stats per minute played.  Nobles dominated the ball though.  He didn't make much happen for being the main point guard.  28 minutes, 3 assists, and low shooting percentage.  At least kikko was more efficient shooting 42% from three where nobles was 33%.  An if he was sec caliber, why did he end up at Jackson st?

[HawgAdvocate]

I do have argument with this comment. Our offense was actually pretty darn good as compared to the rest of the country ranking 17th in points scored.

We were 44th nationally last year in the same category, which doesn't look that bad either...on the surface, yet we know a lot of that is due to the higher # of possessions/game we generate and give up. It is improvement though, nonetheless.

I have a preference for points/possession as a better offensive metric, since it favors efficiency over quantity (opposing teams score more when they play us anyways due to pace), and we were certainly better in that area this past season (1.09  - 78th nationally) than we were the prior season (1.04 - 116th nationally). In SEC play, we improved from 11th to 7th.

[Hawg Red]

They're pretty close in stats per minute played.  Nobles dominated the ball though.  He didn't make much happen for being the main point guard.  28 minutes, 3 assists, and low shooting percentage.  At least kikko was more efficient shooting 42% from three where nobles was 33%.  An if he was sec caliber, why did he end up at Jackson st?

Nobles as perhaps our best on-ball defender at the time (was better than a then-sophomore Wade). He also had 99 assists to 58 turnovers (played 909 minutes -- that's a turnover every almost 16 minutes which is pretty solid) his junior year and was a solid 3 point shooter. He was definitely an SEC-caliber reserve guard. The problem was -- he wasn't a reserve guard for the Hogs. I think you're confusing what his role actually was the Razorbacks for what his role should have been and judging him accordingly. That doesn't mean he wasn't SEC-caliber. Nobles should have been in the 18-21 minute range instead of playing nearly 30 minutes a game. Obviously not his fault. That wasn't what he was recruited to be.

And he didn't end up at Jackson State because of his on-court play. Just about everyone knows that. I don't know why you don't.

[rzrbackramsfan]

A slightly worse than 2-1 assist turnover ratio is not solid, neither is 33% three point shooting.  I don't remember his defense being anything special.  I don't even remember why he transferred, please refresh my memory.

[Hawg Red]

A slightly worse than 2-1 assist turnover ratio is not solid, neither is 33% three point shooting.  I don't remember his defense being anything special.  I don't even remember why he transferred, please refresh my memory.

33% (and, actually, it was 34%) from behind the 3 point line is most definitely solid. Would love to hear your thoughts on Anthlon Bell (33% from 3) and Madden (2.8 APG to 2.3 TOPG). He would have led the team in assists this past season with that assist average (would have second last season). Again, we're only talking about be a worthy SEC rotation player here. You seem to have unrealistic standards as there are varying degrees of caliber at the major conference level. Nobles definitely qualified for at least one of those levels.

And it doesn't surprise me that you would not remember him being one of our better defenders.

Nobles was dismissed for off court reasons.

[rzrbackramsfan]

Fine.  Once again, you're right hawg red.  He could've cracked the line up.  I don't think he would be really a step up or step down from what we had though.

What was his off the court doing though? I just remember hearing he was transferring and not hearing a reason why.

[rzrbackramsfan]

It doesn't surprise me that you're not surprised that I don't remember nobles being one of our better defenders.

[Hawg Red]

What was his off the court doing though? I just remember hearing he was transferring and not hearing a reason why.

Wasn't getting it done in the classroom. There were rumblings of a couple of other things but it really came down to poor academics. Probably why he ended up in the conference with the lowest academic standards in Division 1.

[Smithian]

So much whining. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Either Anderson will succeed or he won't. Just go to the games, give them your money, talk about the practice facility some more, and hope for the best because if Anderson fails then this next coaching search will be no fun for anyone.

[hawgmasta]

So much whining. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Either Anderson will succeed or he won't. Just go to the games, give them your money, talk about the practice facility some more, and hope for the best because if Anderson fails then this next coaching search will be no fun for anyone.

/Thread

This is where I'm at; we have gotten better each year CMA has been here. I'm fine with just making the tournament next year. It would be nice if we made a run, but, tournament or bust hopefully. The only thing that worries me is recruiting. We do need some above average guards for this style of play.

[mhuff]

33% (and, actually, it was 34%) from behind the 3 point line is most definitely solid. Would love to hear your thoughts on Anthlon Bell (33% from 3) and Madden (2.8 APG to 2.3 TOPG). He would have led the team in assists this past season with that assist average (would have second last season). Again, we're only talking about be a worthy SEC rotation player here. You seem to have unrealistic standards as there are varying degrees of caliber at the major conference level. Nobles definitely qualified for at least one of those levels.

And it doesn't surprise me that you would not remember him being one of our better defenders.

Nobles was dismissed for off court reasons.

[Hogwildtwo]

I'm trying not to feel this way, but he sounds like Nutt at the end when he knew his seat was getting warm. Mike almost seems to be begging for forgiveness or a stay of execution.

He speaks in terms of close calls and promises, but the current rules will not allow his style of play to win. By style of play I mean sloppy, disorganized defense played with the hands and not the feet. The turnovers we force are a smoke screen for the easy layups we allow and the huge FT differences we usually face. It's like playing 6 on 5 against teams with good guards we can't hack the ball away from.

I love Mike and want him here, but it's time to show something. Don't tell me every year that we're a player or two away or that we got so close the prior season. Adapt your system to the rules, teach better defense, and stop getting in your own way.

Yet with very little experience and no true point guard we beat Kentucky twice ? A team that went to the final four ? I love that sucky defense !!!! I know that our defensive strategy takes some risk. The point is to wear other teams down as well as create turnovers and to force them to play at a much faster pace then what they are accustomed too. Once Anderson has the players who fit his system he will win at Arkansas. And be competing for titles.

I bet everything you just said is similar to what Frank used to tell Nolan before he won it all and made Frank look stupid. The same Frank who said the spread wouldn't work in the SEC ? Frank did a lot of good for our program. But at the end he did and said some pretty stupid things. You fail to see what this frenzied defense accomplishes. Wait and see we will be a power in basketball again. And would have been in football if we had been smart enough to hire Gus or not fire Petrino to start with. Our leadership just refuses to let us get into modern times. If things hadn't gotten so horrible in basketball then we wouldn't have finally gotten lucky enough to get Mike.

Sadly its going to take that in football before we get a good coach there. Thats where you should be concerned.. Basketball is the bright spot in Razorback athletics.

[mhuff]

I do have argument with this comment. Our offense was actually pretty darn good as compared to the rest of the country ranking 17th in points scored. Where we weren't good was on the defensive end. We weren't consistent enough to even be considered an okay team. That comes with growing pains on implementing this pressing style of basketball when you don't have all the right pieces. That in no way is an excuse for CMA and not having those pieces. I think we should have been much better. I can understand some of the arguments about adapting your style to the players you have. I do think we tried to do that some, and we did it very well at times. But other times we didn't do it very well, and IMO our missing the tournament had a lot to do with that inconsistency on defense. We lost a few games by a free throw, a layyup, and a jump hook. Had we had one or two more stops throught the game, those shots are really irrelevant.  But our offense was good. Defense not so much.

Always respect your opinion AZ..... BUT........ points scored might be a good barometer..... BUT in this case did it get us into the NCAA's? Can you honestly look at the last game or many others and tell me we ran an offense that resembled good BB. We did not run the ball through the Big guys as we should have to take advantage of Portis and Kingsley. Furthermore they should have been in the lineup together. Maybe we will have them together next year. That last game were there any adjustments made or did we just keep shooting threes until we were like 3 for a hundred. I don't appreciate a game where there was obviously not a game plan or coaching. You gotta show me something. You are right that we did not have the right pieces. That will be on our tombstone.

Good coaches help put their teams in a position to win..... We lost many games to teams that were not as good as us.

[mhuff]

The following article has us as a team that is on the rise. I hope for our sake and MA's that this will be true. I said before the start of last season that I just wanted to see some improvement and good coaching. I believe he will have a better complement of players to pull this off. I am not looking at the rent a wins but at decent teams as the barometer for improvement. I give him cudos for the Ky wins this year, but I want to see consistency and good coaching and leadership. I don't think this is too much to ask from any Arkansas coach.
http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/12_college_basketball_teams_on_the_rise_for_2014_15/16541011?linksrc=story_team_st_louis_cardinals_right_head_16541011