Ask Mike: Hogs vs Kansas (& St John’s?), Boogie Returns & a Big O Memory vs Texas

Q. Our first question is from HL McCamish who says: The selection committee made us sweat and it ticks me off that Georgia is a 9 seed and Mississippi State is an 8 seed. We had the same record and beat both of them. Thought the regular season was supposed to count more.

A. You can quibble over stuff like that but I like what Cal told his players before the brackets were announced, We’re gonna get in. It doesn’t matter where they put us. Let’s go play.

He’s had that attitude for the last two months and his players have bought into it. No matter who we play, no matter what the odds, let’s go play.

I was hoping that Arkansas would be sent to Wichita so Razorbacks fans could show up in big numbers. Now, if Arkansas makes it to the second round the crowd in Providence would be pro St. John’s since it is it not far to New York. But honestly I’d rather Arkansas face St. John’s than an SEC Team like Alabama Or Tennessee. Again, they got in after starting conference play 0-5. That amazes me.

Q. WVHogfan wants to know: How do you see us lining up against Kansas and do you see us getting by St. John’s and making it to the sweet 16?

A. Kansas is no pushover. They’ve been inconsistent. They lost to Mizzou by 19. Lost to West Virginia but played Houston close twice. They were 10-8 in the Big 12. Offensively they are very similar to Arkansas but more like Mississippi State or Vanderbilt defensively. Scores rarely get above the 60’s when playing them.

To me it comes down to how much better is the SEC than the Big 12? Arkansas has played a tougher schedule and has played more NCAA Tournament teams. We’ll see if that makes a difference.

St John’s won the Big East going 18-2 followed by a Big East Tournament title. However, the Big East got just 5 teams into the tournament field while the SEC had a record 14.

Common opponents, St Johns did lose to Georgia by a point, the only SEC team they played. Arkansas beat Georgia by 3. St. Johns also lost to Baylor by 1. The Razorbacks lost to Baylor by 3.

Statistically they’re scoring two points more than the Hogs per game and giving up five less but how much of that reflects the difference in play in the Big East vs the SEC? Considering their record St. Johns is not a great shooting team. They average just six made threes a game. Arkansas has a better shooting percentage from the floor and three point range.

Q. Hawgredneck says: Like a lot of fans I’m worried about how putting Boogie Fland back into the rotation will affect the chemistry of the 7 guys who have carried this team into the NCAA Tournament. If it ain’t broke why fix it?

A. I think you have to look at two factors. Number one, how well can he adjust when he’s been out for two months and his first game back in on an NCAA Tournament Stage ? The other factor, how will having Fland back in the rotation affect the team chemistry since Arkansas has played better since he was injured?

I like what Cal said about that. If Fland plays well, if the team is playing well with him on the floor he will get more minutes. If not he won’t play much. He is still their leading scorer and some believe that he’s a better shooter as an off or shooting guard so we may not see him running the point.

With Fland, Cal goes back to an 8 man rotation. Kansas uses mostly 8 too but St. Johns plays 9. As far as team chemistry, Cal said all of the players are excited to have him back.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy asks: I thought the Seth Davis comment about Boogie coming back, basically saying it was to get a break from the selection committee, was tacky. Are some of the national media THAT hostile towards Cal?

A. I thought that too but then I saw what happened to West Virginia. They were considered to be a 10 seed by all of the bracketologists. They didn’t get in and the explanation from the selection committee was that it was due to a season ending injury to the Mountaineers coaches son who was maybe their best player. He was hurt back in December. So maybe Cal was being smart to announce that Fland was back especially with Thiero still out.

Q. Hogdogger says: I try not to put too much into the SEC Network announcers and how they call a game but these guys seemed bias towards South Carolina.
They barely mentioned Arkansas and called out the referees’ missed and bad calls that favored the Gamecocks.

A. I did notice that. Maybe they go into a game like that thinking it’s better drama for a team whose only chance at and NCAA Tournament berth is to win the SEC Tournament. Not that they think it will happen but both announcers seemed to go bananas every time South Carolina pulled off a big play. But that underdog mentality certainly didn’t apply to the Arkansas-Ole Miss game the following day. I don’t like ESPN anyway. I much prefer announcers from other conferences but it is what it is.

Q. KyHog wants to know: If the SEC is now the best basketball conference is it time to get better referees?

A. That’s a good point. Getting better announcers is a small issue compared to the basketball refs. I watched the entire tournament and I thought some of those refs looked like they were just going through the motions. Too often they seemed to be anticipating fouls instead of reacting to what actually happened.

Q. redleg says: I was not surprised to see Mike Neighbors resign. Who do you hope Yurachek goes after to fill that role? My fingers are crossed for Molly Miller of Grand Canyon University. She seems to be the real deal!

A. The word we’re getting is that she’s not Hunter Yurachek’s first choice but some I have spoken with think that he’s putting that out there to take the pressure off of her while her team is playing in the NCAA Tournament. Others think he wants a coach with SEC experience.

Q. whippersnapper asks: If we are not able to get an already proven HC for the women’s job, who would you pick to get an assistant from? Dawn Staley, Kim Mulkey or Vic Schaefer?

A. A friend of mine in the media says that Schaefer has a really good assistant coach that Arkansas should go after but personally I’d be surprised to see Yurachek hire an assistant coach. Some are telling me that if he hires an assistant head coach it means that the lack of money going into Arkansas women’s basketball is an issue. However, I’ve been told many times that when revenue sharing kicks in the women’s basketball program will have the money it needs to recruit.

Q. Dr. Strangepork says: What a shame Oliver Miller passed away at such a young age. You have any stories about Big O?

A. The thing I will always remember about Big O is how much he loved to beat Texas. He was from Texas and what a lot of Hog fans don’t understand is that there are a lot of college sports fans in Texas who feel the same way about the Longhorns as Razorback fans. Miller would go out of his way to get into the heads of Texas players. He’d pop off before games and infuriate them but he would back up everything he said. In the 1990 Midwest Regional Finals with a trip to the Final Four on the line Big O said some stuff that even had Nolan a little bit worried. Miller didn’t have a great game, like 9 points and 9 rebounds but with a minute to play and Texas trying come from behind, Miller grabbed a rebound and threw a pass that looked like a rocket to Todd Day for like an 8 point lead. When that game was over Oliver Miller had the biggest smile on his face. For a Texas hater like me that was something I never forgot.

Q. RazorAlex88 asks: What are your thoughts on the hiring of are Remy Cofield as the U of A GM of athletics? Coming from the Celtics, sounds like an outstanding hire although I never heard of him before today.

A. It’s interesting, he was the director of scouting for the Celtics but was the GM for their G League team. As I understanding it the GM job at Arkansas involves recruiting only in that he will be involved in negotiations with athletes in multiple sports when it comes to the revenue sharing contracts they sign. The coaches will still recruit the athletes.

Q. tophawg19 says: There’s talk that the GM will be involved in talent evaluation and recruiting but we didn’t hire a football guy? Is he football, basketball or all sports?

A. Again, all sports. It will be his job to help manage the total revenue available in each sport and assist the coaches in getting the players they’re recruiting while staying within the salary cap. I have compared the job to a floor salesmen at a car dealership. That salesman knows the price the dealership wants to get for each car. If a customer is trying to lowball that salesman periodically he will go to his sales manager and see how much he’s willing to come off of the price. The customer doesn’t deal with the man who actually determines the final price of that car.

In the case of college athletics, it’s generally agreed that it’s not a good idea to have coaches talking money with recruits or athletes already in the program. The coaches, or in some cases the athletic director, will have the final say on how much an athlete receives but the face-to-face negotiations will be between the GM and the athlete, the athlete’s parents or the athlete’s agent.

Q. Pigsfeat wants to know: How can Arkansas’ Men’s T&F team be knocked out of the 4X400 and a chance of a national championship and have no recourse?

A. Texas A&M was disqualified in the incident where an Arkansas runner was interfered with and bumped off the track. However the winning team was not involved. That’s all that could be done really. You can’t run the race over. Afterward coach Chris Bucknam told his guys, this stinks but it happens from time to time. “I’m proud of every one of you,” he said. “Let’s start getting ready for the outdoor season.”

Q. Mousetown says: After the first week of SEC play it looks like Arkansas is down in 5th place with three other teams. Not good for the # 3 team in the nation. Our best pitchers got rocked by Ole Miss.

A. Well Arkansas is still number three. They took two of three on the road against number 13 Ole Miss. Let’s look at the four teams that went 3-0.

Tennessee was at home but no question their sweep of number 7 Florida was impressive. They are undefeated for a reason.
Texas got a road sweep at Mississippi State but the Bulldogs were unranked going into that series. They are not off to a great start.

LSU was at home against Missouri. 18-1 vs 7-9. That sweep was not a surprise. LSU is number two for a reason.

Number 17 Alabama swept the Aggies in College Station. Normally that would be a shocker. However, the Aggies were struggling at 10-7 going into that series.

As for the Hogs, they are 5th in the SEC in hitting with a .318 team batting average and tied for 3rd in home runs with 46. They scored 30 runs in the three games. They are much improved at the plate this season.

The issue is pitching. Arkansas gave up 22 runs in the series with several of their best pitchers getting rocked.

Zach Root got a Friday start. He lasted just 3 innings and gave up 7 runs on 10 hits.
Landon Bedelschides went just 2 1/3. He gave up 4 runs on 4 hits.
Colin Fisher who had a .8 ERA going in went just 2/3 of an inning and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits.

However, Parker Coil, Will McEntire, Haden Jimenez and Carson Wiggins all pitched well in relief.

So what went wrong? First SEC game for some of these guys and it was Arkansas first true road series. It wasn’t Ole Miss batters. Root, Bedelschides, and Fisher were all grooving the ball to the tone of 6 combined home runs. Their accuracy was off. Really off. We’ll see if they settle down this weekend against South Carolina team that scored 21 runs against Oklahoma last weekend,