Arkansas Razorbacks: Here, there and everywhere

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will try to improve on last season’s 7-6 finish, but it won’t be easy since the schedule is much tougher as far as the non-conference portion.

Last season, Arkansas went 3-1 outside the SEC and should have gone 4-0. It took a series of miscues to find a way to lose at Oklahoma State. Eliminate just any one of those miscues and the Hogs likely leave Stillwater with a win in regulation,

This year, it starts off with Alabama A&M (6-6) on Aug. 30. The next week they will face Arkansas State (8-5) in Little Rock. The Razorbacks will face Ole Miss on Sept. 13, but then one week later they will be at Memphis (11-2). Arkansas will finish up the non-conference slate on Sept. 27 when Notre Dame (14-2) comes to Fayetteville. Notre Dame lost to Ohio State in the national championship game.

That is a brutal non-conference slate. Why Arkansas would ever agree to go to Memphis for a football game is mind boggling. Memphis is a very good team. If the Hogs beat them that is what the fans expect, but if they lose it will leave supporters very mad. Arkansas State has wanted this game for many years and it will be their super bowl.

If Arkansas could duplicate last year’s 3-1 record it would be a very good job. What Arkansas doesn’t need to do is go 1-3 particularly with a trip to Ole Miss also in the September schedule. If the Razorbacks started the season 1-4 it would get very ugly in Fayetteville.

Missing Chance to Create Excitement

It seems that Sam Pittman is missing an opportunity to generate some enthusiasm for the program. The Hogs hired Nick Perry to replace Deron Wilson and no press conference has been held to introduce the new secondary coach.

Due to a hip replacement surgery, the Razorbacks had no recruiting presser during the early signing period. The media did get a chance to ask some questions later during bowl prep talk, but by then the signing day was long gone. I understand Pittman not rushing back from hip replacement surgery to talk football recruiting, but not sure it would have hurt anything to have Bobby Petrino and Travis Williams meet with the media to discuss it. Pittman has taken the Kirby Smart approach to media talking to assistants. Smart took it from Nick Saban at Alabama. Arkansas isn’t Georgia or Alabama. A few press conferences would maybe generate some excitement about football.

This isn’t a criticism of Pittman only a thought. I understand the coaches were on the road recruiting when Perry was hired, but would have been nice afterward to have a presser. Perry seems to have very good credentials and it would probably excite Hog fans to learn even more about him. Pittman has done a very good job of hiring assistants, with one or two exceptions, since being named the head coach.

Do It Coach

John Calipari did address the possible pairing of Zvonimir Ivisic and Jonas Aidoo following Saturday’s loss to No. 8 Texas A&M.

Ivisic provides offense at center, but other than being able to block shots his defense is lacking. In addition, some of the bigger opponents are able to cause physical issues for Ivisic. But he brings a big boost to the offense. His 3-point shooting has only gotten better and better as the season moves along.

On the other hand, when Aidoo entered the game against the Aggies the defense was definitely better, but the offense lacked production at times. Aidoo at center would allow Ivisic to be a stretch 4. It’s my wish that Calipari gives this pair some time on the court together Wednesday night against No. 1 Auburn. Also, if it doesn’t product the immediate results then I hope Calipari doesn’t scrap the idea after one game.

Calipari rightfully so praised Karter Knox while bringing up the idea of Aidoo and Ivisic pairing together.

“Karter played good, but you can’t miss every open shot,” Calipari said. “Karter played well, Jonas played well. I thought Billy (Richmond) played well, but he turned it over. But he fought and did pretty good. The reason I didn’t play Z more, if you were watching the game, why didn’t I play him more? Okay, so I just need to know if you’re really watching the game. So, he got scored on, got scored on, got scored on. He doesn’t block, so I got to go with another guy. Jonas played well. Jonas played the way I needed him to play. The surgery set him back, but Jonas played. I may have to play both of those two together to get the offense, to figure out what we’re going to do defensively and how we’re going to play. It means Adou maybe takes a little more of a backseat.”

Arkansas (15-10, 4-8) has a chance to finish the regular season with some momentum. With six game remaining three are in Bud Walton Arena. After Auburn, the Hogs still have trips remaining to Vanderbilt and South Carolina. The Gamecocks are winless in the SEC, but have an interesting game at LSU tonight with the tip at 8 p.m. Vanderbilt is 5-7 in the SEC so right there with the Hogs separated by only one game (think home loss to Oklahoma and road failure at LSU earlier this season). Just like Oklahoma State in football those two losses will continue to bite the Hogs in the rear.

But if Arkansas could come out of the final six games with a 4-2 mark that would get them to 19-12 and 8-10 in league play. They need to win the final three home games which won’t be easy, but if they want to play in the NCAA Tournament it’s almost a must. They will host Missouri, Texas and Mississippi State.

The clock is winding down on Arkansas’ chances of getting to the NCAA Tournament, but there’s still time, but a very, very slim margin for error.

“Normally you say you are what your record says you are, but in this league, the way this is, you just got to get it going at the right time,” Calipari said. “And I thought we did. And Alabama’s, they’re really good too. This team is really good. Guess what? We had a chance at both of them, but we didn’t. And for us to bust through, we’re going to have to beat somebody. We can say what we want, like I wanted to make sure they weren’t happy. ‘We’re going to be okay.’ No, if we won that game, we’re in the tournament. If we won that game, we’re in the tournament. So it’s not okay to say we’ll be all right. Now you’re going to have to go get somebody else.

“I didn’t want to put that on them, because I got some guys a little bit fragile, so I’m having to hold them accountable but keep picking them up. They’re a little fragile. But when you’re losing some games or you’re not playing well, that happens. I still love coaching these guys, but I gotta hold them accountable. You pick them up. You know, the out of bounds play for the three. My guy that was supposed to go, just didn’t go and he came over and he said, ‘My fault.’ Was that, like, a turning point in the game? Yeah, your fault. No shit. I mean, but again, I don’t want to take away from A&M, 2-seed playing good. We’re fighting everybody we’re playing since the beginning, where we were struggling a little bit.”

Love Those OmaHogs

Yes it was Washington State, but Arkansas is 4-0 and I’m very impressed with Dave Van Horn’s team.

The schedule will only get tougher and tougher as the season goes along, but I really like this baseball team. They have at least four legitimate SEC starters in the rotation. Many very good teams struggle to find the Sunday starter, but Van Horn’s only struggle barring injuries in that regard is figuring who to leave off the weekend starting rotation. Gabe Gaeckle, Zach Root, Gage Wood and Landon Beidelschies all were very impressive this past weekend. Van Horn will have to make a decision regarding who to not start in Arlington this weekend.

Just guessing I would think Gaeckle and Root are going to be in the rotation this weekend. That would leave the third spot between Wood and Beidelschies. Wood pitched both out of the bullpen and then starter some last season. Beidelschies was the Friday night starter for Ohio State. Both pitched well against Washington State.

The Razorbacks seem to have some weapons among the position players as well. The two times Van Horn started more reserves the Hogs run ruled Washington State. It’s safe to assume some position battles will be ongoing for awhile.

“We’ve told the guys all along, this is the way we start, doesn’t means that’s the way it’s going to be all the time,” Van Horn said. “You’ve got to keep working and earn your position. It does have some… I think the competition amongst the players is good, it’s healthy. Obviously everybody wants to play. You can’t play them all. I try to move them in and out of the lineup as best we can. Obviously we’ll settle in on something and it might be a little bit different off a left-handed pitcher. But usually your starters are going to be about seven of them and two might flip a little bit with a right- or left-handed pitcher. But it definitely keeps everybody on their toes and everybody working. That’s what goes on with our pitching staff all the time. Those guys are competing against each other and it makes them better when they get on the field competing against somebody else.”

The Hogs will face Kansas State, No. 22 TCU and Michigan in Arlington this weekend.