Arkansas Fight: All Posts by Evin Demirel

Arkansas and the Beating of National Powerhouses, Now and Then

2022-03-02T17:35:53-06:00

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

by Jim Harris

Tonight will likely be the last time that senior star J.D. Notae laces them up in front of a Bud Walton Arena home crowd. Same goes for senior transfers like Au’Diese Toney, Trey Wade and Stanley Umude. Most likely, the two only players to return next season who have logged big minutes will be Jaylin Williams and Devo Davis. Granted, they will join a star-studded incoming freshman group, but this kind of turnover is simply par for the course these days in college basketball.

It makes me feel sorry for everyone 40 years old or younger who never saw in person the kinds of teams Arkansas played in-state 1984 and 1991 that were No. 1 at the time. The early exit to the NBA for everyone who is considered pro-qualified the moment they show up on campus has destroyed what was, for me and many others, a terrific sport to follow as late as, say, 2000.

This is not to say that Arkansas’s resurgence under Coach Eric Musselman, and its run to the Elite Eight last year, has been without fun. Still, having also enjoyed pinnacle moments of Arkansas basketball in the late 1970s, the near-misses of the first half of the 1980s, and the takeover of college basketball in the first half of the 1990s, all this seems short of the mark.

This is what college basketball is. The early exits have at least given opportunity to the transfer portal to the late-bloomers at smaller schools who can bring their developed skills and bolster rosters with ability and maturity. That appears to be the tradeoff to the changes in the game over the past two decades, particularly for the likes of Arkansas.

But, to imagine that Corliss Williamson would have gone pro after half-a-freshman year if he played now, and the only thing that Arkansas would have only enjoyed with him is reaching a Sweet 16 only to lose to eventual champion UNC, is an uncomfortable thought. To know that I saw a UNLV team that ran away from No. 2 Arkansas in 1991 in Barnhill and imagine it NOT having Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony or Stacy Augmon (both surely would have been much earlier entrants in the NBA were the game like today) is just as depressing.

UNLV, which would go on to lose in one of the monumental upsets of all time in the NCAA Tournament play when the undefeated Running Rebels fell by a point to Duke in Indianapolis later in March 1991, may have been the greatest team assembled in the shot-clock era, just a nod above Rick Pitino’s Kentucky team of 1996, which lost twice but were dominant in nearly every win and produced seven NBA regulars.

Those thoughts are mirrored with the pre-shot clock 1984 North Carolina team of a junior Michael Jordan, seniors Sam Perkins and Matt Doherty, and sophomore Brad Daugherty. Arkansas had the honor of taking down that No. 1 UNC team (21-0 at the time) in Pine Bluff, of all places, before a national television audience, with Arkansas what would have been a prohibitive underdog by NCAAB Betting standards. The Pine Bluff Convention Center held fewer than 8,000 fans, so the court storming doesn’t quite look as stunningly massive as what was witnessed in Fayetteville some 38 years later.

Why were the Hogs and Tar Heels playing in Pine Bluff, anyway? When Dean Smith and Eddie Sutton agreed to a two-game home-and-home matchup between the traditional Atlantic Coast Conference power and Sutton’s Southwest Conference upstarts, with NBC’s national coverage in mind, they also decided they’d play it in locations the teams considered “neutral,” though in-state. UNC used Greensboro and Charlotte as its other “home” courts then, and Arkansas was playing two or three games in Little Rock’s cow palace of Barton Coliseum before also adding the Pine Bluff facility, much nicer than Barton, to the rotation.

UNC and Arkansas first met in 1979 at Greensboro, where the Sidney Moncrief-led Hogs battled gamely against Al Wood and Heels but couldn’t get over the hump and fell narrowly. Still, it took five more years before Smith and Sutton could get that return match in Arkansas and, presumably, Little Rock; it appeared Smith was hoping it might be forgotten and he also didn’t want to play in Barton Coliseum. Sutton said, “How about Pine Bluff then?” Smith said yes.

The rest is history: Arkansas only arrived in Pine Bluff two hours before tipping off after beating SMU the previous day. Half the team was sick from the private plane flights. Hog reserve forward Darryl Bedford had the game of his life with uncanny accuracy from the top of the key, future Olympians Joe Kleine and Alvin Robinson kept the younger Hogs in control, and Charles Balentine made the shot on the left baseline from 6 feet or so that defined his career.

Michael Jordan didn’t decide to take control for the Heels until the final minutes, but there was just enough of an opening after a pair of Jordan baskets for the Hogs to steal the game back, 65-64. Smith showed the Pine Bluff crowd his genius as timeout usage, managing to get the ball from under his basket to the other end, then a left corner shot from Steve Hale that clanged the rim, and the red court storming began. TV infamously showed an angry Smith getting a red-and-white pom pom waved in his face, but he was gracious later in response to a Pine Bluff letter writer who apologized for his fellow fan’s actions.

Coincidentally, just as Auburn was missing its point guard on Tuesday night at Fayetteville, the Tar Heels had seen their 5-star freshman point sensation Kenny Smith sidelined by a broken wrist suffered the week before. Nobody complained on the other side that No. 1 had been felled without one of its stars. Kenny Smith would return by the time the Tar Heels entered that NCAA Tournament as the top seed with two regular-season losses, but Bob Knight and Indiana sent Dean Smith and UNC home in the Sweet 16 in a shocker.

And, what was really weird about all that: UNC was the top seed in the East Regional, while Arkansas was No. 2 in the East. They were bracketed for an Elite Eight matchup. Virginia, the seventh seed, ousted Arkansas in the second round in East Rutherford, N.J., on a last-second rebound basket from the right side and about the same distance as Balentine’s winning shot on the left baseline against UNC. Virginia kept winning and didn’t have to play ACC-rival UNC because of the Indiana upset win, and the Cavaliers then shocked the fourth-seed Hoosiers and advanced to the Final Four. Arkansas’s SWC rival, Houston, dispatched the Cavs in a close one in Seattle before being overwhelmed by Patrick Ewing, Michael Graham and Georgetown in the title game, losing the championship for a second year in a row.

Looking back and comparing it to now, those were unbelievable teams with seasoned, highly skilled juniors and seniors who would not have been playing college basketball if the game then was like it is now. Jordan would have been one-and-done after leading Dean Smith to his first of two national titles in 1982. Sam Perkins would have long been playing in the NBA. Dean Smith might not have one the ‘82 title without his star veteran that year, James Worthy, who played multiple college seasons instead of making an early exit to pro ball.

As exciting as last Tuesday night’s well-watched game was, and as awe-inspiring as the court storming was (and as great as the attention was for Arkansas from media outlets coast to coast, in spite of a $250,000 league fine for the exercise) the teams that occupy the No. 1 ranking today are pretenders to what college basketball featured a generation ago.

Those were the teams you beat and rush the court for. Or, in the case of UNLV, they were the powerhouses that you camped out for days and spent two hours in a frenzy, only to watch them punk you. And, rather than court storming, you trudged back home hoping for better days against the best.

Those days for Arkansas came three years later, winning an NCAA championship with a team quite similar to that UNLV squad, with power inside and deadly 3-point shooting throughout the lineup, disrupting defense, and clutch play and leadership from the guards.

For you folks 40 years of age and younger, be thankful you don’t have that to compare to, as far as seeing it in person. It’s not even close today. Enjoy the game you’ve got.

Jim Harris is a member of the HogZone Team on KTHV Channel 11 and has covered the Razorbacks for decades.

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See more about Arkansas basketball here: Ridiculous NET Ranking Has Hogs Right Where Nolan Richardson Would Have Wanted Them

Three Reasons Treylon Burks Leaves Arkansas as the G.O.A.T. of Razorback Receivers

2021-12-16T21:54:49-06:00

Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

These days, it’s all about what’s next when it comes to Treylon Burks. Since the Arkansas junior receiver declared for the pros last week, most 2022 NFL Draft analysts seem to feel he’s bound for the first round.

In the days following his announcement, ESPN’s Mel Kiper had him as the No. 24 best prospect, for example, while The Athletic’s Dane Brugler slotted him as the third-best receiver available.

“The Razorbacks deployed Burks as a do-it-all weapon,” enthused the man behind the curtain at SI.com. “He lined up as an H-back, F receiver, and X/Z receiver. Electric with the ball in his hands, he has quick feet and sudden movements that help him separate and find grass after the catch. He also wins with body positioning and outright size as his frame is far too much for opposing corners to handle on 50/50 balls.”

For the most part, fans are cool with Burks sitting out the Outback Bowl, even if his absence does slightly affect the Arkansas Razorbacks bettings & upcoming games.

In the coming months, we’ll have plenty of time to dissect Burks’ NFL future and if the likes of Jadon Haselwood, Warren Thompson and Ketron Jackson can replace his production next season. Now, though, is the time to put a bow on his college career and take stock of what he did.

Treylon Burks has left his mark as “absolutely the best receiver in Arkansas Razorback history,” former Hogs quarterback Quinn Grovey said on the Razorback Daily podcast.

“I think you can confidently say it. I mean, just with his size, his speed, his mindset, what he brings to the table.” Then Grovey and his co-host Matt Zimmerman list a few other contenders for the crown, guys like Jarius Wright, Anthony Lucas, Cobi Hamilton. James Shibest, Derek Russell, Chuck Dicus and Lance Alworth (who wasn’t a true receiver at Arkansas, playing more of a hybrid role along with halfback).

No disrespect to those legends and others, but Treylon Burks is in a class unto himself. Here are three top reasons he is the greatest Razorback receiver of all time:

Individual talent and abilities

Very few Razorback wide receivers, outside of Boo Williams and Greg Childs, combined the kind of size and strength that the 6’3” 225 pound Burks has. Nobody in Burks’ size neighborhood, however, comes close to possessing the same kind of speed.

Those jets, combined with precise route running, Burks got open enough to put his elite ability to good use, leaving future NFL cornerbacks in his vapor trail again and again. And if they happened to close the gap on him, they were often turned away by a massive paw. Burks and Darren McFadden should be considered co-tenets of the Razorback Stiff-arm Hall of Fame.

Oh, and Burks’ massive mitts helped in other ways too. He was one of the most sure-handed receivers in program history.

Statistical production

So, yes, in terms of career receiving yards and touchdowns, Burks trails guys like Jarius Wright, Anthony Lucas and Cobi Hamilton. But it’s short sighted to focus on the career numbers when Burks was head and shoulders above the rest on a per-game basis.

For instance, he is tied with Cobi Hamilton in catches per game (4.6) and trails only Wright and Lucas in yards per catch.

The real eye-opener, however, is looking at the below apples-to-apples comparison of the receivers’ first three seasons:

(See more stats from other all-time Razorback greats like Jarius Wright here in Connor Goodson’s piece)

Burks ranks No. 1 in most categories. His individual accomplishments on a per-season basis speak for themselves.

Plus, almost all great modern players leave after three seasons instead of staying all four years. Derrick Henry, for instance, had only one truly great season for Alabama, but he was so good that many Alabama fans think he is the best running back in that program’s history (just as Kevin Kopps became the best Razorback pitcher ever because of his otherworldly 2021 season).

Or consider Larry Fitzgerald, who played only two seasons at Pitt. Most would still consider him the greatest receiver in Panthers history.

The bigger picture

No, Burks didn’t play on great teams that won big games in the postseason. He didn’t take his Hogs to the mountaintop a la Corliss Williamson in basketball. Or even close to the mountaintop as Sidney Moncrief did in the late 1970s.

But that doesn’t mean what Burks helped to do should be considered any less vital. The foundation, after all, is every bit as important as the home upon which it’s built. It’s the same when trying to construct an elite program.

Burks’ legacy is inextricably linked to the most impressive turnaround in Razorback football history, from the end of the Chad Morris era to the highs of first bowl season under current head coach Sam Pittman.

It’s clear PIttman is building something special, and without Burks’ contributions the speed of Pitttman’s rebuild wouldn’t have been nearly as fast.

The Big Red Flag that Eric Musselman Looks for when Interviewing Potential Arkansas Basketball Transfers

2021-05-21T09:48:43-05:00

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Entering Year 3 in Fayetteville, Eric Musselman keeps pushing on the recruiting front like he’s still got something to prove.

In theory, he could stand to let off the gas pedal a bit. He has proven to all the doubters that he’s a top-notch college basketball coach by turning around two programs in major ways.

He’s already off to the most successful start in Arkansas basketball history and just last month signed a new $5 million contract making him one of the nation’s highest paid coaches.

But Musselman and his staff are still going as hard as ever on the recruiting front, trying to put together a roster in the next few years that will be capable of going further than the Elite Eight Arkansas recently made.

A big part of that, of course, is working the transfer portal — a skill Musselman has mastered in his six years of coaching college ball.

“I actually love the challenge of putting a group of six new players together and trying to have your system in place by Nov. 1,” he recently told The Athletic’s Seth Davis.

“I thrive on it.”

Musselman’s pro basketball experience helped him develop the roster shuffling skills that have brought to Arkansas game-changing transfers like Jalen Tate and Justin Smith.

Musselman is the former head coach of two NBA franchises, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, that are nowhere near the top of the teams most likely to win the Western Conference in 2021 according to basketball best odds.

Musselman also coached for years in what’s now known as the G-league.

All those experiences, plus the multiple states he’s lived in throughout his life and while trying to climb the college coaching ladder, have helped give him a more varied life than most college head coaches.

That, in turn, probably allows him to find common touch points with almost anybody he converses with.

And, man, Musselman is talking with a lot of people.

Seth Davis points out that Musselman and the staff that make up his “transfer operation hub” — Anthony Ruta, Hays Myers, Pat Ackerman and Michael Musselman — have an in-depth process for figuring out who to pursue when it comes to transfer portal prospects.

It starts with a look at advanced analytics. The numbers show about 80% of all Division I transfers on the market can be eliminated right away.

Drilling down further, the staff estimates that only 5% are good enough to earn significant minutes at Arkansas and only half of those could actually move the needle in helping to win big games.

The competition is tough for players in that last bucket. New Arkansas transfer Stanley Umude, one of the nation’s best scorers last season at South Dakota, is a great example.

Musselman and his team recruited Umude hard after his name popped up in the transfer portal during the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Even while the Razorbacks were advancing, Musselman would carve out time to call the 6’6” shooting guard.

“As soon as I entered the portal, Coach Muss called me, even though they were still in the tournament,” Umude told Davis. “I was a little surprised because it was a crazy time for them, but that made me feel real good because it showed I was a priority.”

If only looking at physical skills and basketball ability, adding Umude to next year’s roster would have been a no-brainer.

But Musselman was more interested in discovering whether Umude would be a good fit in other ways. Specifically, did he have the right mentality to play on a loaded team in which minutes weren’t guaranteed to anybody?

“The player’s goals have to fit with your goals. You’ve got to be really truthful about that, or else the locker room gets turned upside down,” Musselman said.

As Davis wrote, if during the interview process, a prospect “starts asking about the other players in the program, it’s a major red flag.”

“The most successful guys we’ve had never asked who else was on the roster,” Musselman added. “You should be ready to compete.”

To make sure he covers all his bases, Musselman and his staff talk to numerous folks who know the prospect at different levels.

Davis points out that in Umude’s case Musselman spent a long time chatting on WhatsApp with his older brother Sidney Umude, a professional overseas basketball player.

It’s a two-way street, naturally. In the case of another new Razorback transfer, Au’Diese Toney, Musselman spent a lot of time chatting with his mother because his mother had a lot of questions about the chemistry and culture of the Arkansas basketball program.

Heading into the summer, Musselman still has two scholarships to give, but he is careful about how and whether he fills them. Arkansas is reportedly in the mix to land another highly-sought transfer like the 6’4” Bryce Hamilton, UNLV’s leading scorer this season.

But there are only so many minutes to go around, especially in the loaded backcourt. So it may be better for overall team chemistry to go with a long-term development project who doesn’t expect to play much in 2021-2022.

Looking forward, Musselman’s ability to work the transfer portal likely won’t remain so unique as so many other programs up their own transfer portal skills by necessity.

If competing coaches increasingly focus their time and energy on pursuing transfers to keep up with masters like Musselman and Baylor coach Scott Drew, then it’s likely high school recruits won’t feel the same level of love they once did.

If that’s the case, Musselman will be ready to strike.

“When he first loaded up on transfers at Nevada, Musselman was praised for thinking outside the box, but now that all of college basketball is jammed inside that box, he is wondering if it might be time to jump back into the high school pool,” Davis wrote.

Now would be a great time.

In the class of 2022, Arkansas is producing its best in-state crop of talent in decades. Which explains why Musselman and his guys are recruiting this class harder than any other class he’s gone after as a college coach.

Learn more about one of the crown jewels of the class here:

Joe Johnson Takes Super Recruit Derrian Ford’s Game to the Next Level

This Whole Mike Woods to Oklahoma Thing is Getting More and More Meta

2021-04-26T21:35:28-05:00

Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports

Four days after Mike Woods announced he was dumping Arkansas fans and hooking up with the Oklahoma Sooners, there’s still no absolute sense of closure on the whole thing.

Yes, we know that the transfer portal, on the whole, has helped Arkansas athletics more than it’s hurt them. The basketball program under Eric Musselman is Exhibit A here. And football has been getting in on the action in the last few days after getting commitments from two gargantuan defensive linemen.

But, for many, Mike Woods’ departure still simply feels wrong.

Sure, they know Arkansas returns plenty of talent heading into next season, but they disagree everything is going to be alright in the wake of Woods’ departure.

That was the general message to Arkansas fans in a recent video from college football analyst RJ Young. He said fans should “chill out” about Woods’ leaving for a few reasons including:

a) the Hogs still have plenty of offensive talent coming back to join some promising freshmen

b) the defense will still be salty under defensive coordinator Barry Odom

Well, we can throw that second reason out the window right now.

In today’s SEC football, if your offense isn’t sufficiently explosive, you can have a top three SEC defense and still get run out of town against half the teams in the league. The days of realistically hoping you can beat Alabama or Georgia, or even Auburn or Missouri, while scoring less than 25 points are over.

Arkansas needs a significantly more explosive offense than it showed in the second half of last season to get into any kind of quality NCAAF bowl game.

As Young sees it through his rose-colored glasses, even without Woods, Arkansas should be good enough to contend in any division in college football except the one it’s currently in. Indeed, he thinks if the 2021 Razorbacks were in the SEC East, they would compete with Florida for No. 2 behind Georgia.

But in his analysis Young brushes over some worries that many fans have about the Razorback offense in the wake of Woods’ departure.

Pig Trail Network’s Ty Hudson brought those concerns up in a recent video covering R.J. Young covering Woods’ decision. (Yes, the modern sports media world is meta madness.)

Hudson points out that Woods did more than just produce — he did so in a way that almost perfectly complemented the route running of Arkansas alpha receiver Treylon Burks.

“It was a big part of the reason why you were able to stretch the field out and why you had quarterbacks feeling pretty good about throwing the deep ball,” Hudson says in the below video.

“The separation that these two guys created between themselves and the corner or the defender was top notch going into the 2021 season... Your one and two receivers could be one of the best, not the best, in the SEC in the veer-and-shoot offense with Kendal Briles.”

Arkansas is skilled and deep enough at wide receiver to find a No. 2 behind Burks who will get at least 35 catches in 2021. Maybe that ends up being Trey Knox, De’Vion Warren, John David White, Jaquayln Crawford, Ketron Jackson or somebody else.

Regardless of who it is, there’s no shortage of candidates who could take that role.

The question is whether that next receiver will have the speed, balance and route running chops to help open up the offense as consistently as Woods did.

That’s a big wait-and-see. Knox seems like someone who is eminently capable but, as Hudson points out, will Arkansas get the 2019 or 2020 version of him?

True freshman Ketron Jackson has all the tools, but is on the mend from a knee injury.

De’Vion Warren showed out in the first half of last season before a season-ending injury ACL tear. Will he get back to where he was?

There are too many lingering questions for Arkansas fans to totally chill out about Mike Woods’ hasty departure. Not only about his replacements but about the timing of the exit.

If he knew he wanted to upgrade his draft status by heading to Oklhaoma, why did he wait until late April to do so? He could have left after a spring practice or two.

As Hudson asks: “Why wait until the end of spring camp, when other guys could have had the opportunity to run with the ones to get their opportunity to get in sync with KJ Jefferson, the presumed starter at quarterback?”

These are the kinds of issues that will gnaw at fans until Woods’ replacement does enough to show he won’t be missed after all.

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For more on Arkansas fans and Mike Woods, see: Mason Jones Gets Blasted After Congratulating Mike Woods on “Smart Move” to Oklahoma

Will Lack of the “Clutch Gene” in a Small Sample Size End Up Costing Moses Moody Millions of Dollars?

2021-04-18T20:38:12-05:00

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

In the big picture, if things go as planned, Moses Moody’s last two games of the 2021 NCAA Tournament will go down as a mere smudge on the much larger, beautifully-woven tapestry that will be his overall basketball career.

In his only season at Arkansas, Moody won SEC Freshman of the Year and averaged 16.8 points a game, finishing ahead of Joe Johnson and Todd Day in the record books for most points averaged by a Razorback freshman. He also finished behind only Sidney Moncrief in rebounds per game by an Arkansas freshman guard.

Looking ahead, Moody projects to spend at least a dozen years in the NBA as the kind of prototypical “3-and-D” wing player who could do for future NBA champions what Sean Elliott did for the San Antonio Spurs and James Posey did for the Boston Celtics.

Even though Moody probably will never be an “alpha scorer” type of player, he has most of the tangible and intangible qualities NBA executives want to fill complementary roles around the likes of Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokoumpo.

So, in the long-term narrative of such a promising career, it doesn’t seem like a couple of games should mean so much.

As Razorback fans know well, this Little Rock native, after all, is a lot more than the combined 6 of 30 he shot against Oral Roberts in the Sweet 16 and against Baylor in the Elite Eight. And he’s a much better shooter than the overall 17.6% he shot in the NCAA Tournament would indicate.

The problem is, some NBA personnel put more stock in what they see as the “clutch gene” than others.

And that could end up costing Moses Moody millions of dollars when the 2021 NBA Draft rolls around.

The “clutch gene,” in basketball offense terms, is the ability to hit the biggest shots in the biggest games.

It’s what Kemba Walker evinced so well in UConn’s title run in 2011, and what freshman Jalen Suggs showed in spades for Gonzaga through this most recent March Madness.

When it comes to the upcoming NBA Draft, Suggs was already projected to go in the Top 5 in most mock drafts. His NCAA Tournament performance, highlighted by the game-winner he hit against UCLA, certainly didn’t hurt.

In a recent ESPN mock draft, Suggs is forecast to go at No. 3 to the Detroit Pistons, which is among the least likely teams to win the 2021 NBA title according to sports betting sites.

Moody, meanwhile, was projected to go in the top 10 through much of the season but has dropped to No. 21 (Houston) in ESPN’s mock draft.

The difference between the two spots is more than $3 million.

If Moody were drafted as the No. 10 pick, he would make a guaranteed total of $7.4709 million in two seasons. By dropping to No. 21 in the draft, he would make $4.362 million in two seasons based on the NBA rookie salary scale.

Yes, Moody’s underwhelming March Madness performance may further convince some NBA personnel he’s not ready to contribute right off the bat. But the ability to contribute right away isn’t a precondition for being a high draft pick.

“In terms of what he can do at the NBA level right now, probably not that much,” NBA writer Bryan Kalbrosky said on the Ruscin & Zach Show.

“But I think that even guys potentially ahead of him might even be more raw. I think Jonathan Kuminga [projected No. 5 pick] is probably more raw than Moody in a lot of ways, especially with his shot selection and his three point shot.”

Kalbrosky adds that some players, especially the younger one-and-dones, have trouble contributing right away because their frames aren’t yet developed. He points to Golden State rookie Jame Wiseman as an example, and thinks USC’s Evan Mobley could fall into the same category.

Sure, Moody could have left under better conditions. And he may end up getting drafted a few spots lower because of it.

But once he’s in the league, losing out on a few million dollars up front won’t change Moody’s ability to fulfill his potential as the kind of sharpshooting, defensive wing player who can help bring world championships home.

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For more, see: Jimmy Dykes on Moses Moody’s Biggest Potential Red Flags Ahead of 2021 NBA Draft

Can Eric Musselman Become the Dave Van Horn of Basketball?

2021-04-16T10:11:11-05:00

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

For years, Eric Musselman has been on a text message chain with buddies who go back to his playing days at the University of San Diego in the mid 1980s. In the last few weeks they had, apparently, essentially dared him to put a clause into his new contract paying homage to his alma mater.

Musselman, as competitive as they get, took them up on this challenge, as the sports world found out on Wednesday.

In the fine print of his new 5-year, $20 million contract is a clause that states that no buyout is mandated if Musselman leaves Arkansas to coach San Diego after April 2024. (If he leaves to coach anywhere else in the 2024-25 season, he’d owe $1 million.)

Musselman said his former teammates are “going to be really happy when they see that, because no one thought I would actually put that in there or ask Hunter [Yurachek] to put it in there.”

A smile creeping across his face, he continued: “So there’s a lot of burritos that are owed to me when I go back for a three or four day vacation in San Diego.”

Razorback fans need not worry, he added.

“This is kind of a nod to the place I went to school, and I don’t think that University of San Diego is going to be competing with the Arkansas Razorbacks” when it comes to where Musselman will coach in the prime of his career.

That clause is all fun and games, sure, but the larger question remains: For how many more years will Musselman coach at Arkansas?

If he falls in love with Fayetteville enough, can he become the Dave Van Horn of basketball?

Arkansas’ baseball coach since 2003 is among the most consistently successful head coaches ever employed by the University of Arkansas.

Wess Moore, the longtime sports anchor in Little Rock, sees a few similarities between how he and Musselman have begun their Razorback careers.

In 2004, Van Horn, just in his second season, took the Razorbacks all the way to the College World Series — the “Elite Eight” of college baseball. Similarly, Musselman led his group of Razorbacks to the Elite Eight in only his second season in charge.

Granted, there are differences in that Van Horn is an Arkansas graduate who met his wife at the school, while Musselman is from the west coast. Still, Moore asked his Buzz 103.7 FM listeners, “could Musselman be an Arkansas coach that’s going to be here for 15 years? Do you see that? Do you allow yourself to think that far ahead?”

It’s quite a thought.

At 56 years old, Musselman hasn’t coached in any one place for longer than four years since the 1990s.

In the increasingly high-pressure world of college basketball and football, coaches don’t tend to stick with programs as long as they do in baseball, where the money — and pressure — isn’t quite as high.

To last as long as 15 years, Musselman will have to avoid long dry spells when it comes to NCAA Tournament success. So far, that looks unlikely.

Musselman returns what should be a loaded team in 2022, replete with at least three high-powered incoming transfers. Hopefully, this increases’ the Razorbacks’ NCAA championship odds for next season.

Musselman will also need to stay contented enough with Fayetteville to avoid leaving for other programs. A place like Kentucky or UCLA, for instance, could be a serious threat in coming seasons if those jobs open up.

When it comes to sticking with the Razorbacks in future years, a big factor will likely be the relationship between Musselman and Yurahcek.

So far, it’s been great. An exact 180 from the dynamic between former athletic director Frank Broyles and Nolan Richardson, the last Razorback basketball coach to achieve this much success.

Richardson lasted 17 seasons at Arkansas before things disintegrated (to put it mildly) at the end.

Van Horn, too, is now in his 18th season.

For Musselman to make it that long in today’s ever-changing coaching climate would be a small miracle in and of itself.

But sometimes folks tire of seeking greener grass and decide to stick with a good thing once they find it.

Stranger things have happened.

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For more on Musselman’s contract, go here:

“Let’s Hold Our Horses”: Signing Eric Musselman to a $5 Million New Contract Would Have Been a Bad Idea.

Overwhelming Evidence Brandon Boston was Wrong about Arkansas-Kentucky Finish

2021-02-13T11:58:23-06:00

Arden Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Big Blue Nation with some big boohoos

Long ago, some of us like to think, facts used to be facts.

Not so much in today’s world. A significant number of Americans have differing opinions about what entails reality and the meaning of the word “fact” itself.

Looks like there’s a sizable subset of Kentucky Wildcats in this group.

That was never more obvious than in the aftermath of Arkansas’ recent heart-pounding 81-80 win at Rupp Arena. Guard Jalen Tate iced the game on two free throws after a clutch rebound off an errant Devo Davis runner in the waning seconds.

An alternative narrative of what, exactly, happened during that rebound has taken hold of some within Big Blue Nation.

Kentucky forward Brandon Boston, who has fallen behind Moses Moody in NBA Draft mocks, shared his own unedited thoughts in the post-game presser: “I honestly think it wasn’t a foul,” Boston said. “I think the refs gave them that game, that’s all I can say.”

Perhaps Boston didn’t have a good view of the play from his vantage point on the court, or maybe by the time he sat down the media he’d already gotten messages from friends and family who had seen the game on ESPN and heard its broadcasters (including former Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes) openly doubt whether Tate had been fouled.

Boston wasn’t alone in his interpretation.

One of our SB brethren over at Sea of Blue, Kentucky’s team site, wrote: “Making matters even worse was the ‘foul’ called on Jacob Toppin after Kentucky had taken an 80-79 lead in the final seconds. It appeared he got all ball, but the foul was called as Jalen Tate hit two free throws to win the game.”

I get it.

The game of basketball is fast-moving, and observers can’t possibly see everything in real time.

Fortunately, we have cameras. And those cameras conclusively put to rest the question of whether Kentucky was cheated out of a win.

The pictorial evidence is clear: Tate was fouled not once but twice on the play. If anything, he deserved four free throws from the roughing up he received.

First foul, courtesy of Olivier Sarr:

Was Sarr just laying hands on Tate to pray for him??? Or?????? pic.twitter.com/x0wOZL37ff
— Ben Brandon (@BenBrandonHoops) February 10, 2021

Second blazingly obvious foul, courtesy of Jacob Toppin:

Perspective is everything, kitten. https://t.co/Few3ZrLslb pic.twitter.com/Gbb5EKCXnj
— Turbo Buffalo (@buffalo_turbo) February 10, 2021

Voila, case closed.

It’s OK to be sore, Brandon Boston. Lord knows as Arkansas fans we’ve been there, too. But before you publicly complain, try to get the facts straight.

Arkansas Basketball Looking Forward

The Razorbacks have risen to No. 2 in the SEC, although Vegas doesn’t yet reflect that standing. Arkansas’ conference title odds are currently the sixth-highest, behind Bama, LSU, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri.

While beating Missouri on Saturday would be huge in terms of seeding, it almost certainly won’t affect whether the Hogs make the NCAA Tournament or not.

That’s because Arkansas has managed to take care of business against the teams it was supposed to beat, while losing only to teams that are NCAA Tournament-bound. To go dancing, Arkansas just needs to keep beating the bottom feeders and notch a home win against at least one of the three good teams (Florida, Alabama and LSU) that will soon visit Fayetteville, says college basketball analyst Aaron Torres.

Hog fans shouldn’t worry that their non-conference schedule was softer than Charmin, either.

“I think it’s important to remember, nobody outside of maybe Gonzaga really has a great out of conference resume right now,” Torres said on the Aaron Torres Sports Podcast. “And so I know some Arkansas fans are saying ‘We need more quality wins, we need more both.’”

“No, you just need to keep winning the games that you have. And yes, down the stretch, you have a couple of marquee games. Those are games that you would like to win to enhance your resume, move up the seed line. But if you just take care of the teams you’re supposed to, you’re going to be fine.”

Speaking to Hog fans, he continued: “You have zero bad losses on your resume right now. On top of that, it’s a year where you will not be penalized for not scheduling [elite] out of conference teams in the way that you normally would be.”

Check out Torres’ complete breakdown of Arkansas basketball starting at 2:50 here:

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Read more about this situation in my post here: “Kentucky Star Opts Out of Sportsmanship After Blaming Refs for Arkansas Loss”

Isaiah Joe’s NBA Gamble Paying Off So Far

2021-01-17T07:00:00-06:00

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Isaiah Joe took a calculated risk in leaping to the NBA this season instead of staying at Arkansas for his junior year. If he was still in college, he could be pouring in nearly 20 points a game against Arkansas’ early-season SEC opponents. His steady leadership and deadly shooting likely would have meant the difference in what was a close loss at Tennessee.

Instead, after some back and forth, Joe bolted to the NBA. He was picked lower than he would have hoped (No. 49 overall), but the payoff was he landed in Philadelphia — an Eastern Conference contender where he can learn from a championship-caliber head coach in Doc Rivers.

The first few weeks played out like many would have expected for a second-round rookie behind established veterans like Danny Green, Ben Simmons and Seth Curry. Joe barely saw the floor. ESPN, in fact, relegated him to fifth-string on its depth chart.

But in this season, more than any other season, depth can be wiped out in the blink of a mucus swab. Daily COVID-19 testing for the NBA players means whole groups of players can be held out for upcoming games with little advance notice.

That’s exactly what happened late last week when positive tests whittled the 76ers’ roster down to only seven players.

Isaiah Joe proved he was ready for the moment, making three three-pointers in the first quarter of his first NBA start.

Although Joe shot shakily down the stretch of that first game, a loss to Denver, he still saw plenty of action in the following three games.

“His confidence is just getting better and better,” Ben Simmons said of Joe in a press conference. “He’s becoming more confident in taking certain shots. He’s figuring out the game, we’re helping him with certain things defensively and then offensively. He’s learning quick and when you have guys who want to learn and get better, it is a lot easier to coach them and talk to them about certain things. He’s made a huge jump within the past few games.”

In those games, he racked up 18, 13 and 12 points respectively, while shooting a combined 12 of 25 from three-point range. More importantly, he’s also proven he has all-around game, especially down the stretch defending Miami shooters Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson.

Joe even delivered a massive rejection of Herro, the same former Kentucky star he went toe-to-toe with two years ago as a Razorback freshman.

“Everybody knows I can shoot, but I do take a lot of pride on the defensive end,” Joe said afterward. “I think somebody of my stature has to knuckle down on defense and lock in on guys like a Duncan Robinson who can get his shot off with a minimal amount of space. I really took on that challenge and he’s a great player. I learn from guarding players like him and I’m looking forward to future challenges.”

Isaiah Joe’s hard work this past offseason in gaining strength and quickness, coupled with continued dedication to the craft, is paying dividends for 9-4 Philadelphia. Currently, the 76ers’ NBA Championship odds sit as the fifth-highest in the league but they may be gaining momentum.

On Thursday, hot take factory Charles Barkley said he thinks Philadelphia is the favorite in the Eastern Conference, even with Brooklyn going all-in on its recent acquisition of superstar James Harden.

“The Sixers are going to be my favorite in the Eastern Conference.”

Chuck is all-in on Philly. pic.twitter.com/Bkubx86E3w
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 15, 2021

Isaiah Joe’s minutes will probably dip once all of Philadelphia’s starters and top reserves return. But his recent performances show he’s more than ready to step up when needed.

While he will never get to experience a deep run in March Madness with his beloved Hogs, a trip to the NBA Finals as a rookie wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize.

***

For more out Joe’s transition to the pros, see my latest post: Isaiah Joe Shuts Up Rotowire Staff Haters with Breakout Performances

Moses Moody: A Mix of Todd Day, Joe Johnson and Scotty Thurman

2020-12-23T15:12:36-06:00

Give this man a nickname. | Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Perhaps the eyebrow-raising comparison Matt Zimmerman made isn’t so preposterous after all.

First, let’s throw out all the usual caveats — it’s only eight games into the regular reason, the Razorbacks’ non-conference schedule wasn’t what you would call “grueling” and it’s rarely a good idea to build up a freshman’s ego.

There. All the responsible things have been said.

Now we can get to the fun stuff: Namely, that Moses Moody looks like one special talent. The star Arkansas freshman is off to one of the best career debuts in Razorback history. He’s leading the undefeated Razorbacks in points (16.9 ppg) while tacking on 5.6 rbs, 1.9 asts, 1.3 stls, 51.2% FGs (and 41.7% from 3).

While the 6’6” Moody has great footwork and shot mechanics, what makes him truly special is his elite offensive IQ and feel for the game. “He’s really good at not only reading his primary defender, but reading the secondary defender,” analyst Jake Rosen said on the Prep2Pro podcast. “When he takes dribble pull ups, it’s never like, ‘Oh, you really could have had something else there.’”

“He takes dribble pull [jumpers] when people really slide over and cut off his lane to the rim and he reads and reacts. He’s just so quick to see everything on the floor.”

That preternatural court awareness is something shared by my high school classmate, Joe Johnson. Twenty years ago, the 6’8” Johnson showed a lot of the same abilities from the wing in college, even if he was a more deadly passer while Moody is a better shooter from deep.

Their numbers six games into their freshman seasons were eerily familiar:

Joe Johnson's freshman season with @RazorbackMBB compared to Moses Moody's first 6 games as a UA freshman:

Johnson - 16.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.2 APG, 2.0 SPG
46.4% FG%, 36.8% 3FG%, 75.9 FT%

Moody - 16.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.5 SPG
48.4% FG%, 40.7% 3FG%, 86.2% FT% pic.twitter.com/2unjlU5PF1
— HogStats.com (@HogStats) December 14, 2020

In short, Johnson was (along with Ron Brewer) perhaps the smoothest Hog to ever play. Early on, Moses “Smoothie” looks like he might challenge him for that title.

I’m not the only one who sees the comparison.

Matt Zimmerman, the Razorbacks’ radio color commentator, sees Moody as a mix of three all-time greats including Johnson. “There are times when he has smaller guards on him, and he bodies them up, and kind of goes around him and scores on a mid-range. He looks like a smaller version of Joe Johnson,” he said on “Out of Bounds” on the Buzz 103.7.

“He’s fundamental, but yet he can be flashy. He makes play after play. He can shoot, he can hit the mid-range.”

Zimmerman also compared Moody to Scotty Thurman, the former Razorback assistant who became a statewide legend in 1994 by nailing the go-ahead three in the national title game against Duke.

The 6’6” Thurman had broken onto the scene a year earlier, when he averaged a program freshman scoring average (17.4 ppg on 44.2% three-point shooting) that still stands. He wasn’t the most athletic great scorer in Hogs history, but he was heady and played with great pace like Johnson and Moody.

Zimmerman also threw out a comparison that isn’t so obvious — Todd Day, the Razorbacks’ all-time leading scorer. The 6’7” Day was a very athletic slasher who caused all kinds of problems when driving to the rim and attacking the basket with much more regularity than Moody.

Moody, by contrast, is a superior three-point shooter who only drives if that’s what the defense gives him. But Zimmerman said his Chuck Barrett, the Hogs’ play by play man, pointed out what the two players share.

In the season opener, Moody was hitting short corner shots “where Todd used to live. He made some shots from the elbow where Todd used to live. He’d make those three-pointers. And you kind of start thinking about, ‘Well, he’s not really Todd. He doesn’t play like Todd.’ But you know what? That play there, that jab step and hitting that shot — that was Todd Day. That’s what Todd liked to do.”

After essentially saying Moody is a combo of three of the most talented Hogs ever, Zimmerman was quick to add his own caveats. “Don’t roll your eyes and don’t laugh and don’t send me any letters in hatred,” he said.

“I’m not trying to put that kind of pressure on this young man. He hadn’t played a Power 5 opponent yet. But he’s very, very talented.”

The NBA draft analysts agree.

Based on the versatility and efficiency they see in the video clip below, many of them slot Moody in the first round in the 2021 NBA Draft. Bleacher Report even has him slotted at No. 9.

To stay in that Top 10 conversation, Moody needs to show he can keep this up next week when the SEC season starts and the level of competition skyrockets. It’s a wide open race for the SEC title now that preseason favorite Kentucky has taken a nosedive and the odds for teams like Missouri and Arkansas have risen, according to the sportsbooks listed in legalbetting.com. Moody is on the cusp of an all-SEC season if he can play this efficiently in January and February. Then, one day, he would be the point of comparison for the future Razorback stars who are watching him on TV now.

For more insight on Hogs basketball, see my deep dive analysis entitled “At Last, Arkansas Freshmen Better than UK’s ‘One and Done’ Counterparts”

Mike Irwin on KJ Jefferson: “I was as wrong as I could be.”

2020-12-11T14:34:29-06:00

KJ Jefferson | Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Bringing in a transfer quarterback for 2021 no longer seems urgent.

Mike Irwin, like the rest of the Arkansas sports media, didn’t get a chance to see redshirt freshman K.J. Jefferson up close and personal in practice this fall.

Aside from a few brief appearances in games this season, the Pig Trail Nation analyst couldn’t assess how Jefferson had progressed from a true freshman season that delivered a few bright spots but mostly underwhelmed relative to the hype Jefferson had generated as a record-shattering high school quarterback in Mississippi.

With Sam Pittman closing down practices at the start of this season, the last time Irwin and other media saw Jefferson take meaningful game snaps was in 2019, when Arkansas went down in flames in a 36-point loss to then No. 1 LSU. Jefferson completed just half of his passes for 105 yards.

So Irwin, like so many other onlookers, assumed Jefferson hadn’t improved enough since then to take the reins going into 2021. He believed this coming offseason Arkansas coaches would need to snag a graduate transfer quarterback to take the place of Feleipe Franks in 2021 (assuming Franks enters the 2021 NFL Draft).

Irwin thought wrong.

Jefferson’s eye-opening performance in Arkansas’ close loss to Missouri, in which he threw for a career-high 274 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, solidified his status as frontrunner for the Razorbacks’ quarterback spot next season.

In Missouri, he excelled in place of the unexpectedly sidelined Franks. In a recent episode of “Ask Mike,” Irwin said he didn’t see that coming. “It sure looks like I was as wrong as I could be.” He adds: “Except for brief appearances this season I had not seen anything from Jefferson since the preseason. He didn’t look much different to me from last season. But give him credit for getting himself prepared to play and [Kendal] Briles for doing a great job of developing him.”

Against the SEC’s top pass defense, Jefferson led Arkansas to a season-high in yards and points. The Hogs suffered less lost yardage plays and played more efficiently against the Tigers.

“Franks was getting sacked at the highest rate of any SEC quarterback, but it looked like the Hogs called fewer RPOs that required Jefferson to eat the ball if the throw wasn’t there,” as Adam Ford points out. “I think that played a role, as the Hogs had their fewest number of broken plays all season despite a new quarterback”

Jefferson threw 18 accurate passes versus six inaccurate passes (one more than Franks’ season high), according to WholeHogSports.com’s Scottie Bordelon. He was especially accurate late in the game, when he completed five of his last six passes and put Arkansas ahead with 43 seconds left.

Granted, Arkansas benefited from the element of surprise. Missouri didn’t plan to face Jefferson, but they still had a whole game to adjust to the new quarterback. That the 19-year-old still played so well at the end of regulation should give a lot of Razorback fans hope for the future.

Still, as Irwin says, “we have not seen how he will perform against a team that has a week to get ready for what he does.”

That may change on Saturday, when Arkansas takes on the man-eating juggernaut that is No. 1 Alabama. The Crimson Tide, allowing only 8.25 points a game in their last four outings, will enter Fayetteville as 31.5-point favorites according to the latest odds.

If Franks has healed from an apparent rib injury, he will likely start. But if not, or he wants to sit out to avoid potential injury heading into the draft, expect Jefferson to get the nod. Regardless, the Hogs will play this decision close to the vest and force Alabama to prepare for either quarterback.

The question of who starts isn’t as important as what level of production Arkansas will get from the quarterback position behind a rapidly improving offensive line. No matter who gets the lion’s share of minutes, Arkansas will need another career performance from behind center to have a sliver of hope against the powerful Crimson Tide.

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Will Jefferson lead Arkansas to a bowl game? Which one? I dive into those details and more in my latest post: “LSU’s Crappy Bowl Ban Is a Boon for Razorbacks”