Momentum From Mizzou Win, ’25 Hogs Bond With Nolan’s Final 4 Guys & DVH Faces Hitting Decisions

Q. Our first question is from KyHog who asks: Do you think the win over Missouri proves Calipari is not just a recruiter? This is a different team from what I saw in that zero and five start in conference games. Kentucky fans have gone quiet.

A. Only an idiot or somebody with an agenda would claim the man can’t coach. But you’re right, he’s disproved that theory big time. On January 21st Arkansas sat at the bottom of the SEC. Over the last month they’ve moved up five spots and that wasn’t easy with the schedule they played. Arkansas had a close loss to the number one team in the country ON THE ROAD and they stopped the momentum of maybe the hottest team in the SEC. Missouri was coming off a 12 point win over # 4 Alabama. The Tigers have been underrated the whole season. I think they could beat just about any team in the SEC on a neutral floor and before Saturday night they were 4-2 on the road in SEC play with a one point loss at Tennessee and a three point loss at A&M. Florida is in second place in the SEC. The Gators have lost on one game at home all season and that was to Missouri. Yes, Arkansas’ win over the Tigers was big time.

Q. Mousetown wants to know: Does the win over those jerks to the north get the Hogs into the NCAA Tourney? That’s what I’m hearing.

A. First of all don’t compare Dennis Gates and his basketball team to Missouri’s football team. He’s a nice guy and has never popped off about Arkansas to my knowledge. After the game he gave a lot of credit to Arkansas fans. He even mentioned the 1990 Final 4 team that was being honored.

Is Arkansas in the Dance with that win? Of course not. They’ve still got four games left in the regular season. I think they need three more wins but every year there are one or two big surprises on selection Sunday. There’s no way to know for sure until it happens or doesn’t happen.

Q. Hotdogger asks: Can we dig out of the hole our basketball team is in? I’m so depressed I’m going to go write a country song.

A. This question was submitted before the Missouri game. Hold off on the country song Hotdogger. The hole isn’t nearly as deep as it was.

Q. Razorcal asks a similar question: Do you think basketball needs to win out during the regular season to lock up a tournament bid? If we don’t, how many do we need to win in the SEC tourney in your opinion to lock up a bid?

A. Just a guess. Win out and Arkansas is 9-9 in SEC play. Unless something really crazy happens with the committee they’re in. Wining two of three gets them to 8-10. That will likely get Arkansas a bid but there are no guarantees. Going 2-2 would be dicey.

Q. Hawgredneck says: After a string of near misses against really good teams Arkansas finally pulled off another Quad 1 win. What was the difference?

A. For one, they did more than just play good defense. All eight guys who played scored including all five starters in double figures. That’s why Arkansas scored 92 points. They also avoided any scoring gaps in the last few minutes of the game.

Also I’ll take Dennis Gates assessment. He pointed out that Arkansas went just 1-10 on three point shooting in the first half but came back with 5 of 8 in the second half. He also mentioned a 30-14 margin off turnovers, 22-4 on fast break points and the fact that the Hogs outscored Missouri 28-13 on free throws.

Q. Eddy Lynn wants to know: Did anything shock you about the win over Missouri? What was the biggest surprise?

A. Trevon Brazile actually helped win the game. Here’s a funny story. A fan I know who is really down on Brazile was at the game. He texted me back in our sports studio where I was watching the basketball and baseball games at the same time. The text read something like, Brazile needs to be benched and stay there. As soon as I read that I looked up and Nelly Davis fed Brazile for a huge ally oop slam putting Arkansas up by eight with 2:30 left in the game. As I said everybody contributed in this game.

Q. RazorAlex88 says: From what I heard on the postgame show with Chuck Barrett, Coach Cal addressed the fans after the Mizpoo win. And just handing things out to some fans after the game? I must say, he is definitely embracing the Hog! I love it!

A. He is a part of the Razorback family and he’s doing his best to make sure the fans feel that his player are too. Bringing in the 1990 Final Four team to be honored before the game and to have them meet with his players at Friday’s practice, was big. Both Davis and Big Z said after the game that they were inspired by meeting with players who were such a big part of school history. It made them play even harder. Having Nolan and his guys at the game got the fans pumped up. The arena was rocking. Again, Dennis Gates mentioned all of that.

Q. whippersnapper says: I personally loved seeing both Mike Anderson AND Houston Nutt pop on my TV screen late in the 2nd half. Wish they could come back for more games.

A. Both Anderson and Nutt currently live in Dallas but Nutt has plans to move to NWA I think we’ll be seeing more of him at a lot of different Arkansas games in various sports. I agree that that sort of thing is good for the fans.

Q. Marty Byrde’s proxy asks: Why do they no longer show replays on the big screen at BWA? Does the conference have a rule on this or is it self imposed?

A. They do still show replays but they seem to be cutting back on it some. I’ve asked about it. So far no official answer. Courtney told me that they definitely show replays on the big board at Kentucky. It’s possible that there are some staffing or technical issues involved

Q. To baseball where The Hawk Hawkins says: The Diamond Hogs could have easily gone 0-3 in Texas. To me the hitting is still a big question mark. In the course of a long season I’m not sure the pitching will be able to bail team out. Last year again?

A. Baseball is an unpredictable sport. Kansas State, which came to Arlington at 1-4 on the season, won all three games there. Arkansas actually got seven hits in that game but they couldn’t string anything together because they struck out 11 times. So yeah that’s a lot like last year.

Against TCU they had just 3 hits but won 2-1 on outstanding pitching. There were just 7 k’s in that game. Arkansas batters were driving the ball more but right to people. Michigan, Arkansas got it going with 10 hits while striking out just 7 times.

Here’s the problem. The team batting average is down to .269. Arkansas has just three guys hitting well. The Aloy brothers are both at .417. Brent Iredale is at .375. Those three have over half of the teams’ RBI.

Ryder Helfrick is hitting .222 but he does have five walks with three runs scored. Nolan Sousa has started in four games, is batting under a hundred and he’s struck out nine times. Rocco Peppi has five starts and is under a hundred at the plate. So DVH has has to adjust his lineup some.

It looks like Kendall Diggs is coming around. He’s up to.235 with an RBI and two runs scored after a really slow start. Also centerfielder Justin Thomas is only batting .235 but he’s walked 8 times and scored 6 runs because of his speed.

Q. Axle says: Noticed the umps are checking all the pitchers gloves and hands for fingernail files, sandpaper, Vaseline, WD 40 and IEDs. What’s up? New rule this year?

A. It’s not a new rule. I know they did it last season. I think it started in the Major Leagues and the NCAA adopted it for college baseball. They do it before most innings but can ask at anytime if they get suspicious that a pitcher has a banned substance on his hands or glove.

Q. Sglies says: Texas became the first SEC team to lose to South Carolina in basketball. I’m sure that made you happy. Curious, are there any Longhorn players or coaches that you actually like?

A. I liked Darrell Royal. I figured that if Frank was good friends with him he must be a good guy and he was. Both of those coaches went out of their way to help the media do their jobs in way that you just don’t see any more. Darrell had a great sense of humor. He was a lot of fun to talk to. Besides, technically Darrell wasn’t a Longhorn. He was a Sooner and I like them fine,

There are a couple of actual Longhorns that I like. One is the golfer Ben Crenshaw. I had to interview him many years ago. He was incredibly nice. Also Earl Campbell. He came to Bentonville a couple of years ago with his son to help the coaching staff at Bentonville West with an FCA thing they were doing. Again, a super nice guy. Fun to talk to. We had a long visit about the 77 Arkansas-Texas game.