Ask Mike: Hogs fall to Sooners, BWA Seating Changes & More NIL talk

Q. Our first question is from Hawgredneck who asks: So we went 1-1 last week. Cal was talking about this team writing its own story after beating Georgia but they needed to go on a run to do that. 1-1 is hardly a run and not what they needed.

A. I agree. 1-5 in the SEC is still a path to the NCAA Tournament. 1-6 looks much more difficult. If you look at Arkansas’ remaining schedule, I see three or four more wins at the most. I don’t think 4-14 or 5-13 will get Arkansas in. So it looks like NIT for the Hogs. I think they should accept a NIT bid if it comes to that and use it for tournament experience for next year’s players who come back.

Q. mousetown says: Calipari called time out with 12 second left and drew up a play. If the play was for Nelly Davis to shoot a short jumper with bigs in his face then it was a bad plan.

A. There was some confusion on the time out where that play was drawn up. On TV you can see Big Z standing up and that back of the huddle. He’s leaning in but it obvious he’s having trouble hearing. You then see Adou Thiero talking to him and explaining the play. After the game Z admitted that he got confused.

Cal indicated that Nelly Davis was supposed to look for a back door layup or dunk. Instead, it looks like to me that Davis tried to get a floating layup to go. After it missed there was a back door tip in attempt but it didn’t go either. They didn’t execute the plan as drawn up. That’s one of the issues with these players. Too many younger guys make too many mistakes.

Q. EddyLynn says: The end of Tennessee, Auburn was very similar to the end of Arkansas, Oklahoma. You draw up a play and see if it works. In both games it didn’t work because the shot didn’t go in. That’s basketball.

A. The difference between those two situations is that Tennessee’s play called for a short right side jump shot. There was no back door attempt. The shot missed and so you are correct. No matter what play a coach draws up the ball has to end up in the net to be successful. Sometimes the shot goes in. Some times it doesn’t. Coaches are trying to come up with a play that has the greatest chance of success based on the personnel that they have.

Q. Sherlock.Hawg wants to know: How many players do you think we might lose to the draft this year? If a good number of the current rotation players return next season, I think we can make noise next year. Expectations this year were just too high.

A. Boogie Flann appears to be the only player on this team with remaining eligibility who might enter the draft. In the preseason he was listed as a potential lottery pick. The last thing I saw on him had him listed at 26th. Sitting will likely lower that some. He’s got a decision to make. We’ll have to wait and see but getting him to come back would be huge. Clearly several players on this team could hit the portal when the season is over so Cal may have to do a sales job on some of them to keep them but maybe not. That’s something we’ll have to wait on as well.

Q. KyHog says: My wife dialed up a podcast for me Saturday night after the game and I could not believe some of the callers. Some guy went off on Davis and what a bad player we was. He scored 18 points. Did this guy watch another game?

A. Overall Nelly Davis played his best game as a Razorback. I think there is hope now that he may be about to become the player Cal thought he was getting because his shots are starting to fall. It’s likely that the caller you mentioned was mad because Davis’ last second shot to win the game (if it was a shot) appeared to be executed poorly. He could have taken the shot sooner when he was open or, after driving to the basket, kicked it out to D.J. Wagner who was open.

Q. Pigsfeat wants to know: Based on current play, do you think Coach Cal will lose recruiting power or come back with a vengeance?

A. I have repeatedly said that under revenue sharing, which is supposed to be in place by April, portal activity will be reduced. College basketball coaches will be back to a more traditional approach of recruiting five star freshmen for one and done or two and done seasons while developing other good recruits into better players by keeping them in their program for three or four years. Cal has a good track record of landing five star freshmen. He needs to get some good 4 stars too and keep them for three years minimum.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy: What are your thoughts on the “Hunter shuffle” that is approaching next year in BWA? Obviously, they want everyone to give more. But in return, wouldn’t you agree that they should tell fans “in order to keep your current seats you will have to give at (whatever) level?” All I’ve gotten is “moving up a level will give you a better chance at your current seats.”

A. I assume the plan is still in place though to me waiting a year might be smart. Yurachek needs money. All SEC ADs need money but raising the cost of season tickets and moving longtime ticket holders out of their good seats without giving a lot more money doesn’t sound like smart thing to do after a season like the basketball team is having. Not offering specific deals is just Yurachek way of keeping his options open. I can see why it’s frustrating but it costs money to win and the AD is the guy who has to figure out they best way to generate that money.

Q. RazorAlex88 asks: How would you grade Hunter Yurachek and the job he has done since coming to UA? I don’t have any complaints right now but I do see some unhappy people on social media (probably blowing things out of proportion).

A. I’d give him a B plus. The fans who are mad at him are ignoring the position he’s in. The SEC is a fight in almost every sport. With revenue sharing coming he’s got to make sure that Arkansas is able to reach the cap on payments to players. He’s got to continue to improve facilities. That’s an arms race in the SEC too. A lot of longtime season ticket holders in football basketball and baseball want the old days under Frank Broyles to come back. That’s not going to happen. College athletics, especially in the SEC, has totally changed. The only suggestion to Yurachek I have right now is that he needs to hire more people with Arkansas connections, previous coaches or players and have them do PR work. Fans will listen to them.

Q. MtElbaHog says: I have a suggestion for opening ceremonies. When the ROTC post colors, have someone lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, then the singer sings the national anthem. What do you think? I would like to hear comments from everyone on what they think.

A. I like it but I’m not sure how fans would react to that. I’ve see that done before Elkins high school football games but nowhere else. Some fans want to get all the pregame stuff over as soon as possible so the game will start. So while I would like to see it because I’m a patriotic guy, I doubt that it will happen at college games. But yes, let’s get some reaction to that. Send your comments to us and let us know who you feel.

Q. Hogdogger says: This years college playoff was one of the lowest watched on tv in a long time. Do you think nil and the portal is starting to turn people off from watching college football?

A. The biggest problem with this year’s game was timing. It was over a month and a half after the last regular season games. It was on a holiday weekend because MLK day was the Monday the game was played which also happened to be Inauguration Day. Too much going on.

Q. Ross Yingling says: I have a proposal. It should be called the Ole Miss tax. Anytime an athlete transfers the school they transfer to must reimburse the previous school at a rate of 50% of the new deal.

A. That would work because it would cut the NIL war chest of a team like Ole Miss in half. Ten million dollars instead of 20 million. But revenue sharing is a better plan and it’s coming supposedly by April. I believe it will dramatically reduce the amount of NIL money going to players.

Q. hobhog says: I guess I’m not smart enough to understand how revenue sharing is going to end the portal poaching and tampering that happens now. Won’t the big boosters that give to collectives to pay “NIL” now just ask the schools who they want and contact the kid’s agent and say “I own Yellowwood Lumber, if you come to Auburn I’ll pay you $1 million a year to wear my Tshirts”?

A. Under revenue sharing the NCAA would send experts in to determine the true market value of the kid’s ability to generate money for Yellowwood Lumber. If they determine that wearing Yellowwood Lumber Tee shirts will only generate $75,000 in additional sales, the NIL deal would be reduced to that. I think they will take a hard look at any NIL offered by prominent boosters.

Q: In response to Mike’s explanation of how NIL deals will be reduced under revenue sharing, a poster on X says speculates that Mike’s info may be coming from Hunter Yurachek. He posted:
“If it’s HY or anyone at UA….and they don’t know the actual rules and what’s going on, which is easy to look up and research…then Arkansas athletics is in a more dire situation than we thought”.

A. In my attempt to explain how revenue sharing will reduce the size of most NIL deals I got hit with a lot of resistance from Arkansas fans who don’t believe it. That’s fine, they don’t have to accept my explanation. But some of them go beyond that. One fan speculated that I was getting my information from Hunter Yurachek. And what you just read was another fans response to that.

I would make several points.

First, my information is not coming from Hunter Yurachek.
It’s coming from someone inside college athletics who will be directly affected by revenue sharing and he’s kept up with what’s going on and the progress that is being made to make it reality by this spring.

As far as knowing the actual rules, there are only two NCAA rules in place dealing with NIL deals and both of them have been challenged and tied up in court for about three years. So right now there are no rules being enforced on NIL deals. That’s why we have the mess we’re seeing in college athletic these days with the open buying of players through NIL deals. There are also no rules in place on revenue sharing and how it will affect future NIL deals because revenue sharing has not yet been approved. When it is approved by congress then yes, there will be rules. Rules that affirm the existing NIL rules which are currently suspended.

As to this person’s third point, that’s what going on with the revenue sharing plan is easy to research and look up, I said to myself, Okay, I’ll do that.
So instead of going by my own research, I went to Google, which any fan can use, and I typed in, “How will NIL deals be affected by the proposed revenue sharing plan?”

I was directed to Clemson University’s website and here’s what I read:

“The settlement also allows for third-party NIL payments to student-athletes. Those third-party payments must be fair market value payments for a legitimate business purpose and not used for pay-for-play (e.g., merely an inducement to enroll or remain at a particular institution.”

So there you have it. Exactly what I’ve been saying. So people at Clemson University are hearing the same thing I’m hearing about this plan. Gee, is Clemson in trouble because their AD believes this too?

Now look, the plan still has to be approved by congress. NIL agents are expected to sue on behalf of their clients and they think they will win. The people who are crafting this plan believe they will win because they have consulted with lawyers and judges who say that NIL was never intended to be used as a recruiting inducement.

We’ll see what happens.