Ask Mike: Sweet 16 Pain, Cal’s Guys, Who Stays, Who Goes?

Q. Our first question is from Cajun Hog who asks: Which is worse, not making the tournament at all like last year or getting within a minute of the Elite Eight and blowing it? I was empty last year. This year it’s pain and pain hurts.

A. Short term, a day or two, getting close but blowing it is worse. But most fans start to put things into perspective within a short period of time and they start to realize that getting to the Sweet 16 is a really good thing. For one thing it gives them something to shoot for next season. Instead of having a goal of just getting in they start thinking Final Four or maybe more. We’re already starting to see that from fans who are posting, ‘hey come back next year’ to players like DJ Wagner, Carter Knox, Billy Richmond, Adou Thiero, even Trevon Brazile. With the comeback that this team made these players have become a part of the Razorback family, something that wasn’t true earlier in the season. Cal already has the No. 3 recruiting class signed with another top five player possible. He’s just started working the portal but I have to believe that he will do very well there too.

Q: mousetown says: I’m glad these guys went as far as they did but in the end they were still doing that same ole stuff. Rushing shots with a minute or two to go with a three possession lead. As hard as he tried Cal could not get them to burn the shot clock down.

A. That was frustrating to watch, especially knowing that Texas Tech was a team that had a history of making late runs. It’s a lack of mental discipline. The natural instinct when you’re up 9 with three to go, is to make it 11 and you rush a long jump shot. A smart move is to go inside after burning `15 seconds or more and maybe get fouled. But that game really came down to a missed free throw by Jonas Aidoo with :27 left. He could have had Arkansas up by four or five but it was a one and one. He missed the first free throw, Tech came down and hit a three and it went to OT.

Arkansas has also won some games like that and, of course, two days later Texas Tech had Florida beat and did the same thing. It happens that way more than you may think. Arkansas and Texas Tech were both underrated by the experts. Both came within a hair of advancing. Who knows what would have happened to either team, if it had gotten a break or two in the final seconds.

KyHog asks: Who do you think comes back next season? Do Fland and Thiero enter the draft? Will Z and Wagner jump into the portal? Or does this team stay together?

A. Z has already hit the portal. I think Fland and Thiero are gone. Brazile might come back. I would be surprised if Wagner leaves. Richmond and Knox are almost a lock to come back in my mind.

Q. CowHog32 wants to know: Do you think Cal will get us to a National Championship game? What should expectations be for year 2?

A. I don’t have a crystal ball and I’m terrible at predictions. I don’t know how much longer he will coach. This team could have a better, older and more experienced roster next season and run into the wrong team at the wrong time and not get as far as it did this season. In ’95, after winning a national championship and with the same players coming back, Arkansas almost lost in each of the first two rounds. The Hogs beat Texas Southern by a point in the round of 64 and needed overtime to get past Syracuse in the round of 32. Yet that Arkansas team eventually made it to the championship game. The NCAA Tournament is often a crap shoot.

Nonetheless, the expectations for next season are there and I don’t think it’s out of line for fans to start talking Final Four next year and an eventual national title under Cal.

Q. WVHogfan says: This was a tough loss, but over 300 teams wished they were in the sweet 16. What was your toughest lost to get over?

A. In basketball there were two. In the 1995 Final Four Arkansas used up so much energy beating North Carolina the players were flat against UCLA. Also Scotty Thurman didn’t do much in either game and that put a lot of pressure on Corliss Williamson. He scored 21 against the Tar Heels but just 12 against the Bruins. Finally a freshman small forward, Toby Bailey, who was averaging under 10 points, a game scored 26 against Arkansas.

So that was tough just from the standpoint to getting to the national championship game with the same players who had won it the year before and watching Nolan’s guys shoot blanks.

But the toughest was the ’79 Elite Eight game against Larry Bird and Indiana State. Arkansas had a chance to win the game but US Reed was tripped by a guy guarding him too closely and the refs called it a turnover on Reed. There was no shot clock and Indiana State worked the ball down to three seconds. Everybody thought they would go to Bird but they got it to a guy named Bob Heaton and he just threw the ball up. It tried every way in the world to rim out but finally dropped in. It was Sidney Moncrief’s last game. He deserved better.

Toughest to watch in any sport was the dropped foul ball in the 2018 CWS game against Oregon State. Catch it and Arkansas wins the national championship. A nano second away. It was there and then it wasn’t. Maybe Arkansas can finally do something about that this season.

Q: PopularPorkster asks: Can you break down where this ego from Kentucky fans comes from and any thoughts you have on the future of this basketball rivalry between the Hogs and Cats?

A. I think it comes from decades of success. Passed on from generation to generation. Look there are plenty of normal Kentucky basketball fans. Good people that you could sit down and discuss Kentucky vs Arkansas, Cal and a lot of other issues without things getting heated. Also every fan base has its share of annoying Internet experts. However, the difference with Kentucky is that it has fans that will get in your face and talk serious trash before, during and after games, especially SEC tournament games.

The future of the rivalry? It will was big under Nolan and Rick Pitino. Came back some with Anderson, Musselman and Cal and I’m sure it will amp up under Cal and Mark Pope. This is a good thing. The TV people love this stuff. It makes for high ratings which helps recruiting.

We have two questions about the timing of the portal opening for college basketball players…..

Q. Hogdogger says: Not a good idea to open the portal while the tournament is going on. Why couldn’t it wait until March madness is over?

…and PennHOG wants to know: Who makes the decision to have the portal open during the NCAA tournament and during the football playoffs? Are they just throwing darts at a calendar and hoping it works out? I can’t understand how anyone benefits from this. Help me understand.

A. A lot of things the NCAA manages seem to be like throwing darts at a target. The coaches don’t like it. I don’t think the fans like it if their team is still playing.

I keep saying this and it has to be approved, but revenue sharing will cut down on the number of portal transfers because teams will be operating under a salary cap and while there might be some difference between what a player can get, one school compared to another, in most cases it won’t enough get a player to transfer. Transfers will go back to being for traditional reasons. You want more playing time. You have issues with your coach.

Also I suspect that the Power 4, which is running revenue sharing instead of the NCAA, will set the rules and timing for the transfer portal in the various sports. I think a lot of these issues will be cleared up by a year from now. Just be patient.

Q. EddyLynn says: I had a bad feeling about the Diamond Hogs after they blew that eight run lead in the 9th against Missouri State. We don’t usually play well at Vanderbilt and they were on a roll. Glad I worried about nothing.

A. Vandy had won five straight and was coming off 10-0 midweek win but yes, Arkansas bounced back big time, not just because of its hitting but the pitching bounced back. The three starters went a combined 18 1/3 innings and gave up just five total runs.

Arkansas has moved up to third in the SEC in team ERA, second in hitting and third in home runs but needed a sweep to stay in a first place tie with Georgia, Tennessee and Texas at at 8-1. The conference is brutal.

Q. Iwastherein1969 says: This season the Porkers snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Years past were polar opposite. I say this is DVH’s year to win the last game of the season.

A.You make a good point about this team’s toughness. They find ways to win. They have the offense and defense. If their pitching continues to improve they could go all the way but a big test is looming. Georgia leads the country in home runs by a wide margin and Arkansas’ pitchers give up a lot of home runs. That series in Athens will tell us a lot.

Q. sglies asks: What’s wrong with the softball team? Deifel and her staff supposedly cleaned up in recruiting and yet they’re sitting in 8th place in the SEC.

A. Okay, its not as bad as you think. They are a game and a half out of being tied for third place. That’s how jammed up it is right now. Arkansas is 14th in the country right now but they have seven SEC teams ranked ahead of them including five in the top five. Arkansas finished 9th in the SEC in basketball and made it to the Sweet 16. So softball will be fine. Their hitting is good, fourth in the SEC in slugging percentage and sixth in team batting. They just need to get the pitching going.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy says: I agree with your comment about the Florida baseball player with the bat toss. Why has almost all humility left sports? Please coaches, teach players to respect your opponent AND the game you’re playing.

A. This is entirely on the coach. Some have said the umpires should have stepped in and suspended the Florida player for the rest of that game and the next conference game. No. Kevin O’Sullivan should do that. It’s his player and it’s his fault that Ole Miss came back and won that game.