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With many of the popular sportsbooks pushing out over/under numbers on college football win totals, many people, including myself, have tried to predict the Razorbacks' schedule to see if they'll hit or miss on their line of 8.5 wins this season. Before you go off predicting the schedule for yourself, think about the defense – lots of depth up front, but lost key pieces – and the schedule. It's brutal. From what I've heard and read, Arkansas is the only team in the SEC who will play back-to-back road games in league play. It's also an odd-numbered year, meaning trips to Alabama and LSU are imminent. I'm not trying to keep you from predicting the Hogs going 10-2 or 11-1 and a earning a spot in the playoff – go for it if that makes you happy. But Vegas didn't set the line at 8.5 for no reason.
I alluded on Twitter to a feature in Sunday's ADG by Tom Murphy on newcomer Will Gragg. It's really worth a read. He talks enrolling early and how it's allowed him to grow as a player, and relives his "welcome to the SEC" moment during spring ball.
When you think great sports movies, Field of Dreams, Miracle, 42, White Men Can't Jump and many, many others come directly to mind. But in basketball, Hoosiers is typically toward the top of any list. It's the classic 'underdog makes it to the top' movie, and it's about a high school in Indiana, where people care more about basketball than nearly anything else. Jimmy Chitwood is a film hero to a lot of people, but not if you ask the 2015 NBA draft class – save Sam Dekker. Michael Qualls is in the video, so it's actually worth watching.
Speaking of our man Q, and if you watched the above video, you can see his personality is infectious. His game is right there, too. And when news broke of his knee injury while working out for my Suns, lots of people – not just Razorback fans and coaches – were absolutely sick. The man's chasing his dream of playing pro ball and providing for his son, MJ, and an ill-timed injury (which all injuries are) could set him back. While we hope for a quick and full recovery, Q has a lot of people on his side, pulling for him to make it.
As many of you heard or read yesterday, unless you've been far, far away from the world, Diddy got INTO A FIGHT WITH A COLLEGE FOOTBALL STRENGTH COACH at UCLA. And as Jason Kirk lays out for us, he's done some crazy things, but this tops the list. It also got me thinking about what would happen if he came at Arkansas' strength coach Ben Herbert with a kettlebell. I have to believe Herb would have put that kettlebell where the sun don't shine, folks. Here's a pic of Herbert holding Bielema back on the sideline at Wisconsin, because that's what S&C coaches do on the sidelines now.
Tweet of the Week
@ericwbolin their tactic worked because I'm really interested in this new softball coach all of a sudden.
— Ryan Higgins (@rhiggins479) June 20, 2015