Ask Mike: Cal Gets Mad, Hog Hurlers Dominate & Big Changes in Revenue Sharing

Q. Our first question is from mousetown who asks: Is it just me or did our basketball team take a step backwards last week? At A&M Big Z, Nelly, Thiero and Wagner all underperformed. Not good.

A. First off all the team went 1-1 last week. They beat LSU by 12 and even though the Tigers had only 1 SEC win at the time they were coming off a game where they had Ole Miss beat and lost in the last minute. LSU also just beat Oklahoma and now Sooners fans are calling for Porter Moser to be fired. I saw some respected media members calling LSU a bad team when they were up on Arkansas early. Let me state this flat out. THERE ARE NO BAD TEAMS IN THE SEC.
South Carolina, which is 0-12 in the SEC is 10-3 outside the SEC. LSU was 11-2 before SEC play started. So beating LSU last Wednesday night was anything but a win over a pushover team.

Now let’s go to the Aggies. The have the number 2 defense in the SEC. They disrupt their opponents scorers. So Nelly Davis had averaged 17 points a game over the last 5 and A&M held him to 7. Theiro was averaging 15.8 PPG. A&M held him to 10. Wagner, 10. PPG. He scored 4. Z’s average was just 9 PPG going in but he’d averaged 16 the previous 4 games. He scored 13.

However Karter Knox, who was not targeted by the Aggies defense, scored 17. His average was just under 7.

This game was tied with 8:07 left. Arkansas had a chance to take the lead. But Jonas Aidoo was called for a foul, A&M hit a three going the other way and the Aggies went on a 9-0 run. That was the game. They won by 8.

Arkansas lost the game on turnovers. All the other stats were close. Arkansas actually had more second chance points and that was A&M’s strong suit. So defense, and the Aggies are really good at that, won the game but it’s not like Arkansas wasn’t in it. Their scorers didn’t play well. That will have to be a trend before I say they’re going backwards.

Q. Hawgredneck wants to know: What’s your take on Cal after the game. He seemed really mad. I haven’t see that before. What do you think that means? Is he starting to lose it?

A. It’s amazing to me how many fans don’t listen to what he says because he’s been pretty clear from day one where he’s coming from. For a long time it was all about not piling too much on what is essentially a young team, playing together for the first time in a super tough conference. They’ve made progress. A lot of progress IMO. So now it’s time for Cal to get tougher on his players. No more excuses. They’ve got to step it up if they want an NCAA tournament bid. It’s a different strategy toward his players. We’ll see if it works.

Q. KYHog says. Thanks to my wife who is good with computers I’ve been watching these bits from Calipari after the games. Is he benching Adou? He’s their leading scorer. I thought he was ok against the Ag’s. Better than Davis and Wagner.

A. His play has dropped off a bit lately so motivation could be a factor but I think this has to do with something else. A lot of fans haven’t been playing attention but Jonas Aidoo has been getting more and more playing time over the last few games. I think his knee problem/ankle problem, whatever it is, is starting to clear up. He’s the missing piece right now. His post defense and rebounding is good. He needs to start scoring more. In talking about Thiero, Cal mentioned playing Aidoo and Z together. That is big IMO. Z is a good shot blocker but he’s a step slow on defending smaller players going to the basket. They tend to go past him and lay the ball up before he can react. Also against bigs he gets pushed back resulting in short looping jumpers and layups. Aidoo stops that stuff. With both working together inside I think Z can get some assists to Aidoo. He should be scoring 10-12 per game. Not four.

I could see Z staying on the court longer by bringing in Brazile and Thiero when Aidoo goes to the bench. This would be more of an offensive lineup. But I do think a fresh Thiero could also had some strength defensively inside. Of course Cal might decide to send both Z and Aidoo to the bench at the same time with Brazile and Thiero playing down low. We’ll have to see how well it works but to me it sounds promising.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy asks: After next year’s “Hunter shuffle” in BWA, will there be updates to the arena itself? There has been a plan discussed to add more boxes etc.. Has that been dropped? The building is coming up on 32 years old so some renovations may be due.

A. Nothing is imminent. With revenue sharing on the way, adding an additional 23 million dollars to the annual athletic department budget, I’m not sure when we will see improvements to BWA.

Q. Hogbauski asks: Would giving tickets to every high school team in the state willing to attend be considered a recruiting violation? Filling the house with teenagers for the Christmas break game would make up for the lack of current students.

A. It’s a violation to offer free tickets to high school students. The Arkansas Women’s team have a students day every year but for elementary school kids which are looked upon differently by the NCAA.

Q. parallaxpig want to know: What happened to media interest in coming to basketball games? Alabama game the section was about 75% full. Usually about 50% full.

A. The total number of seats in the media section is for a best case scenario, a huge game with national implications. Typically there are a bunch of empty seats normally reserved for national media and media representing the opponent. The reason more seats were occupied for the Alabama game is that Alabama media came in greater numbers than say, a team like Ole Miss or Oklahoma.

Q. To baseball where The Hawk Hawkins wants to know: Where is this change in batting philosophy we’re supposed to be seeing? So far the Diamond Hogs look a lot like last year’s team. Hitting gaps in the line up. Not much baserunning. Still swinging for the fences. Struggling against a team that went 9-21 in conference play last season?

A. Well, they’re 4-0. They’re hitting .314 as a team, averaging eight runs a game. The staff ERA is 1.91. Their fielding percentage is .985. So on paper all of that looks good.

But you do have a point, sort of. In the season opener Arkansas didn’t do much at the plate. Just six hits in a 10 inning game and they made a couple of errors one of which could have cost them the game. However, Washington State’s starter, Griffin Smith, had really good stuff. He was a JUCO all American last season and set multiple records at his school. He looks like the real deal to me. His reliever also looked good. This two guys went 8 2/3 innings and gave up just one run. No question, Washington State handed Arkansas the game in the 10th and Arkansas was lucky to win it.

Game two was a 14 -2 run rule game in 7 innings. The pitching wasn’t nearly as good and Arkansas took advantage.

Game three on Saturday was another low scoring game. It was 3-2 in the 8th when Arkansas scored two more. Wehiwa Aloy hit a two-run home run for the final 5-3 score. Arkansas did leave the bases loaded in that inning.

In game four Arkansas was shut out until the 4th inning but exploded for 12 runs over the next three innings to win 12-2 in another run rule game.

I can see where your concern is. In games one and two there were too many empty at bats.

Here’s the problem. We don’t know how good Washington State is. Their head coach largely rebuilt his team after a really bad 2024 season. They’ve got at least four pitchers that I saw who pitched really well. However you could say that in the SEC Arkansas is going to face good pitching every week and you have to hit good pitching to win.

DVH has options at the plate. Non starters Carson Boles, Zane Becker, Kuhio Aloy and Cam Kozel have been subbed for starters Kendall Diggs, Nolan Souza and Roco Peppi. We’re going to see DVH experiment with his lineup for the next few weeks to get the best hitters in place.

Q. HL McCamish asks: What did you think about freshman pitcher Carson Wiggins? Can He be a starter this season? He pitched just one inning of relief but finished off game three with strikeout in spite of getting some bad calls from an ump with vision issues.

A. I don’t think he will be a starter this season but that could certainly change depending on how effective he is and how the current starters perform. This is the value of having options. Wiggins could remain a closer and become a starter next season. Or he could move to long relief or even to a starting role this season.

Q. EddyLynn says: Arkansas hit the portal jackpot with the Hogs new 3rd baseman. He said he hates the cold weather in Arkansas but you’d never know it. This Aussie hits for average, hits for power and he’s a solid defender.

A. Brent Iredale is a transfer from New Mexico Junior College by way of New South Wales Australia. Through four games he’s batting .467 with 4 runs scored and & 9 RBI. He hit back to back home runs in game three against Washington State and his fielding percentage is perfect. No errors in the four games.

Q. Sgiles says: Arkansas softball team is tearing it up right now. Undefeated with the Division I home run leader and some no hit pitching. I’m getting excited with SEC play starting early next month.

A. They are 10-0 and play in another five-game tournament this week. That’s the best start in program history

Q. RazorAlex88 wants to know: How would you evaluate how our current fan engagement effort is doing? I wish there was a way for fans to consistently raise heck from pregame all the way to final second.

Sometimes we just have to make rowdiness and rambunctiousness a habit each and every game. “Anybody, anywhere, anytime” mentality.

A. I have mixed feelings about the need for a fan engagement effort. Yes, some things need to be done and if a Robken comes along that’s great. But if a team wins fan engagement takes care of itself.

Q. T.L. Slaten says: You and Courtney have argued back forth on whether Revenue Sharing will change NIL deals. Looks like the whole thing will be taken out of the NCAA’s hands. Is that a good thing?

A. Absolutely. This whole time when I’ve been discussing the new revenue sharing plan the one thing Courtney and I have agreed on is that this new system…once it’s in place…. will bring back the cheaters. Those schools with boosters who have always broken NCAA rules. The NCAA has never done a good Job of going after these schools and applying equal punishment. That’s why the cheaters continued to cheat. If the whole revenue sharing plan, including new rules on NIL deals, is turned over to a private entity hired by the power four conferences, I think the enforcement will be much better. If not, fire the company and hire another one to do the job.

From Yahoo:

“Members of the committee — unannounced and kept secret now for months — are from some of college football’s biggest brands, including Ohio State’s Ross Bjork, Clemson’s Graham Neff and Texas A&M’s Trev Alberts.

Others represented include Arizona, Cincinnati, Washington, Georgia Tech and Kentucky. Commissioners, compliance officers and general counsels of the four power conferences are leading the group.

Here’s the way NIL change will work.

“Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services network, will operate the new NIL clearinghouse, which is charged with determining fair market value of income earned by athletes outside of the school (ie: name, image and likeness deals). Deals affiliated with a booster, booster group or any entity deemed to be associated with the school are the only ones subject to the clearinghouse’s more rigorous fair market value standard.

This is the plan that a lot of so called experts on the Internet have said will not change anything. Only now we have a clearer picture of who is involved and why it will work.