[00:00:01] Speaker A: You're listening to the Hog Sports Network daily podcast.
Now here's your host, Matt Jones.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: The next game for Arkansas basketball is going to be the waiting game. That's what Ethan Westerman wrote yesterday after the Razorbacks lost Ole Miss 83 to 80 in Nashville at the SEC tournament. We're going to know now in about two days at the by the end of Sunday if Arkansas made the NCAA tournament. Did they do enough? We'll talk about it today with Anthony Christensen. He joins us from Nashville, will be joined a later by Christina Long. We'll talk about a busy, busy week here for the Razorbacks. Not only the NCAA tournament selection show, you've also got Arkansas baseball at Ole Miss this weekend, a big softball series here in Fayetteville with Oklahoma, the four time reigning national champion, coming into Bogle Park. NCAA Track and Field Championships for this weekend too. We'll get into all that a little bit later with Christina, but Anthony joins us from Nashville. Anthony, just your thoughts on how that transpired yesterday in Arkansas losing to Ole Miss at the buzzer?
[00:01:08] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, I think both coaches post games said it. I mean that was, that was a March basketball game, right?
It was, it was very entertaining. I thought it was an awesome game just to, you know, sit there and watch as a neutral. And it was, it was a lot of fun. And I think one of the things that I kind of took away from it was just Arkansas obviously having the short rotation that became shorter when Jonas Adu, you know, went out with his, with his fifth foul and with Savannah Miravisic not able to play or not being, I guess healthy enough to play extended minutes with his, his wrist or his thumb or you know, whatever that injury is, which, that'll be interesting to see down the line if that becomes an issue for, for the postseason. But that's a, I guess a question for then.
But guys, it was, it was a great game of basketball. I think both teams, you came back from pretty, pretty big deficits and in the end Ole Miss made one more play than Arkansas and I mean obviously not just one more play, but they made the plays down the stretch then ended up winning the game and it was a lot of fun to watch. I thought that the shortened rotation really hurt Arkansas, but that's just kind of how things go at this point of the year and need to find a way to battle through that. And Ole Miss, Ole Miss found a way in Arkansas. Now like you said, you got to play the waiting game. But overall just an awesome game of basketball to watch.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: I was a Little surprised at the end how maybe dejected John Calipari was, you know, because he said before they went to Nashville that he doesn't, I don't remember exactly what his words were, but the gist of it was that he doesn't like conference tournaments, that, you know, the main objective is the NCAA tournament next week. This is what John Caliperi had to say after the Razorbacks lost Ole Miss. And keep in mind this is him coming in right after, I mean, this is within minutes of Arkansas losing that game. And so you got to keep that in mind too. It's, this is a person who's real competitive and they just lost a competitive game. This is what John Caliperi had to say, though, about that loss to Ole Miss.
[00:03:17] Speaker D: Good college game, hard fought, probably fun to watch. I didn't like the ending, but it was, kids fought, they battled for a minute. It looked like we get bum rushed by 30 and the kids kept playing proud of them.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: So John Caliperi on Arkansas losing to Ole Miss, probably fun to watch. He said, Anthony, I don't know that he thought it was too fun to coach in that game. I think that those type of games, they can, they can really add the years onto coaches lives.
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Yeah, no, like you said, he didn't like the ending, but he did say it was fun to watch. And I agree with him there. It was an awesome game.
But now, I mean just the, I mean buzzer beaters are just a big, big thing in March, right? It's just, and I mean lest we forget, Billy Richmond was like a half inch away from winning the game on that half court heave. So I mean just, just an awesome game of basketball. But you mentioned him, you know, looking, sounding dejected. I mean that was the most obviously I've been at every game this season. I've been on the road and seeing Arkansas at its best and at its worst. And that was the, that was the most sad I've seen him after a game.
So yeah, that, that, that's, I guess just kind of shows the competitiveness and you know, just how big some of these, these tournament games are and they only get bigger from here assuming, assuming Arkansas hears its name called on Sunday.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: So, and, and I want to talk more about the, the tournament here in a minute, but Trevin Brazil got a lot of heat online after the game yesterday and I, I want to talk about what happened with him. I want to play this John Caliperi soundbite here real quick. What he had to say about Trevin Brazil. But the the stats for Trevin, 15 points, 11 rebounds, 6 of 8 from the floor, 2 of 4 from 3. He made a huge three pointer where he rose up and shot it right over a defender within the last couple of minutes of the game. Got Arkansas, I think within three points at the time, maybe within two points. But just, you know, he, he. Arkansas is not in that position without Trevin Brazile. But then also this is a couple of free throws, fouls, a guy underneath that sets up a three point play. And then whether or not this is Brazil's man or not, he's the one with his arms outstretched as Sean Padula hits the three over the top of him. And that has been an issue this year with Brazil not closing out on three point shooters. So this is what John Calipari had to say, though, about what he said to Trevin Brazil in the locker room.
[00:05:58] Speaker D: I told him in front of the team, look at me. That did not cost us the game. The reason we were in the game is because of you. That's why we were in the game. You have gotten so much better. And I mean, you can look at different things. You know, when you're in a close game like that, this turnover, that missed rebound, that foul near the basket to give man ones, it was all kind of stuff.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: So John Calipari on Brazil, it's one of those deals where I think, Anthony, a lot of people want it to be either or, you know, either it was his fault or it was his fault that they were. It was his fault that they lost or it was his fault that they were in the game to begin with. And, you know, I look at it like, you know, both things can be true. He was the reason that they had or a reason that they had a chance to win at the end. But when you get into late game situations and you get into late game situations, especially in March, the mistakes are magnified. And so the foul underneath on Matthew Morrell that allowed Ole Miss to tie the game, the two missed free throws, you know, these are, you know, as much as he helped his team and say the first 39 minutes of the game, he hurt his team in the last minute.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you're, you're right in saying that there is, you know, this, this middle ground, if you will, that it's not, you know, black and white. It's not one way or the other. I mean, I thought obviously for the most part in that game, Trevin Brazil was big for them. He kind of was part of the comeback there in the first half when the debt went down by 15. And I think, if I'm remembering correctly, I think he gave them the lead at one point as well. I could be wrong about that.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: Yes, he did.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: But. Yeah, so, I mean, there is kind of the, both sides of it.
Those are the plays that are magnified, obviously with. I don't remember the exact time, the little less than seven seconds on the clock when he missed those free throws. But Arkansas also missed a lot of other free throws in the game as well. So there's, there's that. And you, you never want to say that this one play wins or loses a game. I mean, sometimes it is like that, like with Sean Badula hitting that three, that one in the game. But there's, there's a lot of different factors that go into it. It's just those moments that are obviously magnified and everything, but you know, those are, those are the big things that I guess need to be cleaned up when you're getting into tournament play, when you're in these winner go home situations. And you know, maybe, maybe that helps down the road now that, you know, he's had that, that experience, that kind of.
I don't, I don't know the word I'm looking for, but that, that, that experience, you know, just having, having lost in that, in that way and you know, maybe, maybe it helps them down the line. Maybe, maybe gets two free throws in the NCAA tournament and knocks them both down and that would be that. But, you know, we'll, we'll see where, where that lies. But I do think you are correct in the assertion that, yeah, it's not just one way or the other. Is always a, a bit of a middle ground in there.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Well, you know, and Brazil's not a great free throw shooter. He's under 60% this year, just went one of four yesterday. But nobody talks about when you miss two free throws with left in the first half. You missed two free throws when it's a tied game and it's six seconds, seven seconds left in the game, that's a little bit different. I was texting somebody yesterday about this, you know, talking about how the end of game situations are magnified. Think about Chris Weber at Michigan and everything that he did for Michigan and putting Michigan basketball on the map. What's the play you remember Chris Weber for at Michigan? It's the timeout that cost his team a national championship, potentially against North Carolina. That's just, that's just the way it works. And it's kind of like, I think a lot of people Pay attention to basketball now, who don't pay attention to it in the regular season. And so, you know, these games become a lot more magnified than maybe mistakes during the regular season, too. It's just how it is. You know, I think for Arkansas, Anthony, this, this really, this week went well for them. They beat South Carolina. So, you know, they kind of in a way erased the worst loss that they had of the season.
And they went toe to toe with Ole Miss, a game that, you know, obviously could have gone either way right there at the end, could have gone to overtime, you know, so they got to 20 wins and now they get to get out. And they weren't going to win the SEC tournament, not with seven players. You're not going to win five and five days with seven players. You're just not going to do it. And so now they get to come home, they get to rest. Assuming they get into the NCAA tournament, you know, they're going to have a week or more of rest before they have to play their first game. I just felt like as disappointing as I'm sure the loss to Ole Miss was for them, you step back and you look at this big picture and you say that this week was probably about how, you know, you probably wanted it to go unless you win the entire thing.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, I think I would agree with that. And then not just looking at Arkansas alone. I mean, you look at who other teams kind of perceive to be on the bubble. Ohio State losing early in the, in the, in the Big Ten tournament helps. I mean, Nebraska not even making the Big Ten tournament helps. Xavier losing the other night to Marquette helps. So, I mean, it's not just, you know, their performances in the SEC tournament this week. It's also some of the other things that happened around the country that also help in terms of being on the bubble and whatnot. And you can argue whether or not they're on the bubble at this point. I think Joe Ben already put them back in the last four buys last night, so still kind of, kind of bubbly. But you would, I mean, it would need to be quite the, quite the, the change of pace if they, for them to miss the tournament, I would think. But yeah, I mean, it is.
And I, I honestly, I, I've just kind of started going off of my own chain here. But Arkansas is, I, I view it as being in, into the tournament and, you know, getting that time off now, especially with, you know, Savannah Miravisic's wrist or thumb being, you know, messed up a little bit, maybe that gives him some time to, to get that healed and be ready for, you know, wherever they end up and, you know, gives them some time to, you know, rest and get people healed and do all that stuff. And then also gives them a little bit of time to maybe decompress. Obviously that's a big emotional loss they had yesterday despite, you know, like you said, all the good things that went there that went their way this week. So it gives them some time to deal with that and also, you know, look ahead, heal and do all those other things. But yeah, I would definitely say it's been a productive and good week for Arkansas.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: Last time Arkansas had a week between games was between the OU loss and the Kentucky win. So it's been a little while since they've had this much time off. Okay, so on, just on, you know, so called bracketology, I try to avoid that word. It's a word that kind of drives me crazy, to be honest with you. But on the brackets that have been announced this morning, we'll start with Jerry Palm. He updated his at CBS Sports. He's got Arkansas still as a number 10 seed playing BYU at Rupp Arena. I think he's trying to have some fun with people there, potentially with Calipari and BYU going to Rupp arena, but that's where he's got him as a 10 seed. And then Joe Linardi's, he's actually dropped Arkansas back to the bubble as one of the last four teams that would get a buy. So one of the last four teams that would stay out of Dayton, Ohio. And he's got the Razorbacks playing Louisville in Lexington, cut in Lexington at Rupp arena as a 10 seed, Louisville as a number seven seed. Leonardi also wrote this morning, he said that ESPN gives Arkansas a I'm trying to find it here. I think about a 62% chance in ESPN analytics to make the NCAA tournament after that game yesterday against Ole Miss. He said he thinks Arkansas is going to have to ponder on selection Sunday because of their, some of their metrics. So, you know, we'll see.
Anthony. I think they're in. I just, I feel like the way they close the season when they win all those games at the end of the regular season and like I said, they got to 20 wins at the SEC tournament. It just feels like they've done enough. But you always, you always, you know, wonder if they're going to, you know, like, does a team, you know, what happens with Texas this weekend at the SEC tournament? Do they, you know, go on a run and do they Potentially hurt Arkansas seating. You know, you just never know until, you know when it comes to the NCAA tournament.
[00:14:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I guess you, you do not truly know until, until you hear your name called on Sunday. Texas is an interesting little case study because I mean, just kind of depending on, on who you ask, you know, maybe they need to make it a Sunday or maybe they've already gotten in or you know, whatever may happen, I mean like, like I said earlier, I mean Xavier losing helps Arkansas and other bubble teams as does, you know, Ohio State losing early, as does Nebraska not making it to the Big Ten tournament and some stuff like that. So there is that. I, I would be personally stunned if Arkansas didn't get in just because of, you know, where, where they stand on all of that and hitting 20 wins and all those things. But yeah, I would be, I would be pretty, pretty shocked if they, if they didn't get, get in. Especially like you said with the, just how Arkansas is kind of closed the regular season playing really well down the stretch with the exception of that South Carolina game, which obviously does hurt Zill. But I would be, I would be very, very surprised if Arkansas didn't get it.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Anthony, we appreciate your time. Be safe traveling back from Nashville.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: Will do my best. Thank you, sir.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: All right, I want to end this segment with a couple of sound bites here. The first one is what John Calipari had to say yesterday. It wasn't really in response to a question about the NCAA tournament, but you know, in typical Calipari fashion, it got all over the board whenever he's asked a question sometimes and he started talking about the SEC and the resume and the non conference wins that Arkansas has racked up. And this is, you know, basically kind of what he had to say about Arkansas's resume as they go into selection Sunday now with a record of 20 and 14.
[00:16:42] Speaker D: We've had two games that were duds, literally two games that were duds. I think in our non conference we played probably four or five or six teams that will be in the NCAA tournament. Out of those 13 and then the games we played against this league, I mean you tell me how many of these teams are going to be in.
So it's, there's this team has proven it all year and they've made me proud. I told them this is one of the most rewarding years that I've had.
Someone may get mad and say, well what about this year? What about that year? I'm talking for me as a coach that all that we were up against these kids Never stopped and they just kept coming.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: So it was great to see John Caliperi. He's been very reflective. It feels like here over the past week. You know when he mentioned the non conference teams that Arkansas played and are going to get into the NCAA tournament, Lipscomb like we mentioned yesterday, won the A Sun. So they're going to get the automatic spot out of that.
Would have to check on some of these other teams. I probably haven't done enough homework here. But you expect Baylor's going to be in there. You expect Illinois is going to be there. Obviously Michigan is going to be in the NCAA tournament. The race backs do have that win over Michigan which obviously helps their resume. They lost to Baylor, lost Illinois during the non conference season and we'll see what happens in some of these other tournaments. Whether or not there's some other teams that can jump up and get into the NCAAs. Want to end here on this clip? It was Chris Beard. He was asked about Arkansas after the game yesterday and and really had some insightful things to say about the racebacks.
[00:18:25] Speaker E: Yeah, here's my look on it. You know, it starts with Coach Cal has been doing this a long time. Not just the Kentucky lead story on SportsCenter every night, but also at other schools around the way, you know, UMass, Memphis and others. So you know he knows what he's doing and it's proven over time. So I think their team, like most teams has changed throughout the year. They had a lot of adversity early with injuries, things they couldn't control. But now when the dust settles again, in my opinion this is a second weekend type team. The seven guys in their rotation right now are really, really good players. So we value this as a huge win, almost like a second weekend type win for us. And I think with Cal, you know, I think when it got to 05 or something and I just kept explaining to our guys in the locker room as we watched the SEC list, you know, when I say these are NCAA tournament teams, I never had Arkansas not on that list even despite the 05 because with that talent on the roster and that coach, you know, it's just a matter of time until they figured it out. I would argue they're playing the best basketball of anybody in the country right now. Is it six out of the last seven in the SEC or five out of the last six wins? And you think about this league and you think about that like a two game winning streak in this conference is like, you know, a honeymoon, a vacation. You know, they want to build a statue for you if you can get to three in a row. So for Arkansas to be playing the kind of ball they're playing right now in late February and March I think speaks a lot about their talent and.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: Their coach, Chris Beard. After the Rebels beat Arkansas 83 to 80 yesterday, Troy, also from the Sunbelt Conference, has clinched its automatic bid. So that's another team that Arkansas beat in the non conference. One day you can get the latest breaking news on all razorback
[email protected] most in depth source for all Arkansas sports analysis, latest in recruiting, unique stories on all your favorite teams. Subscribe
[email protected] going to be a busy weekend here at our website. Lots of Razorback sports going on. We're going to talk about it with Christina Long when we come back. But first a word from our sponsors at Kindle King.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: We're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall King, Soapbox and Shopcart. Together these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are Design.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about our friends at Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. Committed, professional and versatile. If you're looking for a quality leader in northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship, look no further than Bentonville Glass for all your glass market needs with the highest quality products. You can come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com 44 years ago today, one of the great moments in March Madness history, really the birth of March Madness. And it was US Reed hitting a half court shot against Louisville in Austin, Texas. This is how it sounded on NBC with the usb. Let's see, do they stay attacked?
[00:21:44] Speaker C: It's all over.
[00:21:45] Speaker B: Arkansas has defeated Florida. U.S. reed hitting from fit points. Incredible victory. U.S. reed hitting a half court shot for Arkansas 44 years ago today. You know everything about March Madness really flows out of that, that play. They, you know, you don't, you don't get the billion dollar NCAA tournament contracts. I don't think unless you have that kind of moment that sets up, you know, the kind of the obsession with college basketball this time of year. And so really cool to go back and look at that shot and just how much NCAA tournament has changed since then, since U.S. reed beat Louisville, who, by the way, in 1981 was the defending national champion and a team that a lot of people thought might be able to repeat that year. Christina Long joins us now. You know, Christina, if they had that play now, they would spend 10 minutes at the replay monitor to see if he actually got the shot off in time.
[00:22:46] Speaker F: They absolutely would. You're so right.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: You know, the length of these basketball games has been driving me kind of crazy.
You know, Even at the SEC tournament, the South Carolina game was 2 hours and 20 minutes. The game yesterday against Ole Miss was 2 hours and 22 minutes. We've had games this year that have gone over two and a half in regulation, close to 240. It's just I really hope that at some point the powers that be in college basketball will go get a, you know, get a reign, kind of rein in everything that's causing these games to go longer. We'll see if it happens, but hopefully it does. It doesn't make, you know, it doesn't make the games any less appealing or entertaining or exciting, but, you know, certainly they're. They're very long. And you think about a tournament setting where you're trying to play four games in one day.
You know, if all your regulation games are going two and a half, they. When they set up this tournament setting, you know, many, many years ago or even the NCAA tournament games were like, you know, hour 55, two hours. And now it's really adding a lot of time. And then if you get an overtime game where lo and behold, a double, triple overtime game boy can really throw off and cause for some late nights at these venues.
[00:24:03] Speaker F: Yeah, it really makes it difficult come tournament time. And yeah, you're trying to cram all these games into one site. And I wonder, you know, if they. If it keeps going like this, if they adjust kind of how they schedule, you know, how they set up the games, if they end up just allotting more time for some of these, or if they try to, you know, preferably go the other way and try to, you know, keep the games rolling a little bit more and get them back on kind of the timeline that they.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Used to be on, you know, then go to quarters. If you go to quarters, it eliminates a media timeout each half. And, you know, and so, you know, some people will say, well, tv, they're not going to want to do that. They're not going to eliminate a media timeout. But I also think there's a desire by the networks to be able to kind of better fit these games within windows. And so there's maybe a little bit of give and take. They're very comparable to, you know, what they've done with, I mean, they're trying to cut down on the game times of college football. They're doing some things to try to do that. College baseball, obviously, or all levels of baseball pretty much have gone to pitch clocks that have sped up the game, you know, and they've done some other things that have helped speed up the game in baseball. I think they could do it with basketball, and I think the networks probably would be kind of receptive to it because these games are really dragging out. And you listen to Jay Billis talk yesterday, you know, it's like, you know, do we have to have 30 seconds every time that somebody fouls out? So it'll be interesting to see if and when college basketball leadership tries to get the time of these games under control. Arkansas baseball is going to open SEC play today a little bit earlier than we thought they would. It's going to be a four and a half hour ahead of the originally scheduled time. 2:00 this afternoon against Ole Miss down in Oxford. There's going to be some bad weather that's going through Mississippi beginning tonight. In fact, if you look at. I'm kind of geeky when it comes to weather. I read all these National Weather Service bulletins that come out on a daily basis. They're talking about, you know, potential for some really bad storms across the south this weekend. You know, hopefully for the Razorback's sake and Oxford's sake, it. It spares Oxford. But there's going to be some bad weather. And I have to think, Christina at a place like Swayze. Ole Miss is off to their best start that they've had, you know, really, since the national championship three years ago.
You get to play them on a Friday and you're probably not going to play them in front of the full 10, 11,000.
I think this benefits Arkansas potentially. The fact that, you know, they're going to get to play them in probably more of a.
A tempered environment than they otherwise would.
[00:26:39] Speaker F: Yeah, definitely. You know, it's funny you say that we're talking about weather and I'm just hearing, I think, thunder right now, which shocks me because it was sunny earlier. Am I insane? Like, is it.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: No, I'm looking. We've got a window over here that I can finally see out of. I couldn't see out of it for, you know, months and months. But we've got a Curtain pullback and it's starting to cloud up here. So I think it's probably thunder. I don't think it's a train.
[00:26:59] Speaker F: I had a moment of like, is somebody bringing their trash cans in? But anyway, I mean, I. It's funny we're talking about the weather, but. No, I mean, I think you're right that this does kind of benefit you as far as, you know, that crowd situation. I, I don't know what the weather's going to be like there for the rest of the weekend. I don't know if it's supposed to be kind of damp or not very nice there on Saturday and Sunday because, you know, maybe, maybe you get those bigger crowds those next two games. But I think, yeah, starting this, starting the series this way will help some with that kind of home field advantage that Ole Miss might have. And yeah, I haven't gotten to keep up with a lot of what Ole Miss has been doing here in the early season, but yeah, I mean, considering how down they had they got after, you know, that national championship, having them get off to the start that they have gotten to, you know, I think has probably really been a boost for, for that team.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: Doesn't look real favorable before playing games Saturday. 90% chance of severe thunderstorms during the daytime, a 60% chance of severe thunderstorms at night there in Oxford. So there's a very good chance. It feels like that after they play at 2 o'clock today, you may not see them play again until Sunday. And if they have to go to a Sunday doubleheader, SEC rules say that the games have to be seven innings, both of them on Sunday. So we'll see how this plays out this weekend. But looks like they're going to be able to get the game in today. I would say tomorrow is very much in doubt. Just based on the forecast and based on what the weather service has been saying about that part of the country. Zach Root is going to start for Arkansas. Bubba and I talked about the possibility of that yesterday. You know, you see him charting pitches on a Tuesday night. Again, it's not a telltale that it's going to happen, but it's an indication that it might happen. And that's what happened. And you know, Dave Van Horn didn't want to commit to a starting rotation on Tuesday night. In terms of an order of pitchers, they're going to keep the same three pitchers. This is going to go Root and then Gackle and then Vitalshees on Sunday. Root's going to face Hunter Elliott tonight. The really good Ole Miss left hander or today. So that should be a pretty good matchup between left handed pitchers Zach Root and Hunter Elliott. You know, I think that there's three things that potentially went into this decision to move Root to Friday night and I think that there's a good chance that all three things played a factor. Number one is how well Root has pitched. He's been Arkansas's best starting pitcher this year and it's really not even been that close. And it seems like his outings have gotten better each weekend. You know, he built on a good outing against TCU and then he had a good outing against Charlotte and had the best outing that he's had this year against Portland last week. Gackles struggled. He was better last week against Portland, but still there's been some struggle there for him. And the number three, it gives you the ability to break up your left handed pitchers where you're not throwing your left handers on consecutive days. So what they're going to do is they're going to go left hand, right hand, left hand for this weekend against Ole Miss. I'm really interested to see how Zach Root handles this this afternoon, Christina. I mean, everything, you know, you and I have both talked to him and you know, we've been around him and you know, everything about him just says that the moment's not going to be too big for him. But still, it's his first time. I think it may be his first time ever starting on Friday. I mean, keep in mind he was behind a first rounder at East Carolina last year. He was their number two pitcher. And so you still, you know, there's still a little bit of that intrigue of how is he going to handle this moment.
[00:30:15] Speaker F: Yeah, definitely. I hadn't realized that. I hadn't thought about the fact that he might have never started on a Friday before. And yeah, that's definitely something I'd be, I'll be interested to hear, you know, what he has to say about that when next time we get to talk to him. But yeah, I mean, I think you're right. He does not strike me as a guy that, yeah, would, would get overwhelmed by that or, or would have a hard time with that. I think he's ready for it. I think especially with how he's pitched this season, I think he has a lot of confidence and they obviously have a lot of confidence in him. I'm also just curious to see how Gackel responds and, and to see how, you know, and, and I think it was the story you have
[email protected] today about, about the move, I can't remember if it was Van Horner or Matt Hobbs that you talked to. And he said, you know, that these guys have done a really good job of not, you know, of. They have the mentality of whatever is going to help the most, whatever's going to make the team the best. You know, that it's not necessarily, you know, whatever day they have to go, whatever role they have to pitch in, that they will do that. And so I think that says a lot, especially for a young guy like Gackel, a guy that came in with a, a lot of hype and, you know, has had some, some tough outings early. You know, like it is early. And so I think there's a good opportunity for him to kind of get, get right. But he has to do it soon now against, against SEC competition here. But so I'm curious to see what he does Saturday or Sunday, if they play to Sunday, and kind of how he responds to that and how they work on kind of getting him back to, to what they thought he was going to be.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Well, I think he pitched well last week and, you know, it was, it was encouraging. It was Matt Hobbs who I talked to and you can read more about this, you know, at our website wholehogsports.com but, you know, Matt said that whenever Gackel gave up two hits early last week, it's like, oh, you know, oh, no, here we go again. And then those were the only hits he gave up. He gave up, you know, hit the rest of the outing. And so still some command issues, still walking some batters. He walked three last week, you know, so there's some concerns there, but, you know, we'll see how this goes. But I think that, I think he's on, he's back on track. How good can he be? I think that's still to be determined, but I think he's back on track. You know, you look at Ole Miss offensively, they're being led right now by Ryan Moorman. He's a transfer in from Illinois at.397 average, 8 doubles, 7 home runs, 24 RBI. One of the hottest hitters in the league. They've got Luke Hillback, he's hitting.358 right now, 11 RBI for them. And then they've got Hayden Federico. And it was kind of interesting. I saw the last name and I checked and yes, he is the son of Ulm's head coach who Arkansas played a couple of weeks ago. Michael Federico, he's hitting 3. 33 for the Rebels. Isaac Humphrey hitting. 314. As a team, their offensive numbers, they're not as good as Arkansas's. Now, obviously, you know, neither of them have played SEC teams yet and so you wonder, you know, who's played the, the better schedule. So, you know, I think we'll find out some things about that this weekend. But you know, from a. Sometimes you go into these games with Ole Miss and I don't think it's been this way in the last couple of years. But you think back to the really good teams that they had in 19 and 21 and 22 and you know, you go into some of those games and you look at their offensive numbers and you look at Arkansas's offensive numbers and you say, this may be tough. I don't think you look at it that way. Not to say that Arkansas is going to win the series or anything, but I think Arkansas offensively matches up a lot better with Ole Miss than they have in past years. And then you just look at the pitching numbers. Elliott's really good. It's going to be a tough competition for Root today, but then they're going to throw a couple of right handers whose numbers aren't as good on, you know, Saturday and Sunday or Sunday and Sunday, depending on how this goes this weekend. It feels like a very winnable series, I think, Christina, for the Razorbacks, it does.
[00:33:53] Speaker F: I think this is a good way to open as good a way to open a SEC play as you could. You could have. I was talking about this on the radio the other day about, you know, in the sec, there's, there's not a lot of easy series. The only one you can really look at is Missouri as kind of a favorable one that you can chalk up pretty easily as a series win.
That's really the only one. And so you know it. There's not a lot of easy ways to start and I don't think this is easy. But I do think that of all the teams they could have opened with, especially opening on the road, I think that this is a pretty solid way for them to start. Start and they have a real opportunity to get off on the right foot.
[00:34:25] Speaker B: And fielding is something that gets overlooked. Defense, Arkansas Fielding989, Ole Miss Fielding970. So across the board, statistically, Arkansas is either, you know, right there with Ole Miss or better got to play, you know, in the road environment. But again, this is based on the weather, a 2 o'clock game, a potential Sunday couple of seven inning double headers, maybe no Saturday game. You may dodge a bullet here just in terms of playing in front of real hostile crowds down in Oxford this weekend. One of the things Matt Hobbs told me too was that, you know, as of right now, Carson Wiggins is Arkansas's primary closer. And I think that was a little bit of a, I don't know if I would say surprise, but you know, just, just to hear it said that way was kind of striking the other day. You know, he said that based on matchups, Christian Fouts might be the guy. You know, I think that there's also some thought that, you know, if you have back to back days with a closing situation, they're not going to bring Wiggins in both of those days just because of how hard he throws. You know, Hobbs told me that, you know, when you have a real hard, you know, a high fastball guy like that, that, you know, some, a lot of times you don't want to throw them two days in a row that you want to at least give them a day in between. You know, as they get older, maybe you, you learn to trust them a little bit more in that situation, you know, But Carson Wiggins, he might be the, he might be the first guy that comes out or the last guy, I guess in Arkansas's case that comes out of the bullpen in this, in this series against Ole Miss. So it'll be interesting to see how that goes. He's pitched well since that outing that he had in Dallas. That wasn't good for him down there at the Rangers ballpark. But outside of that, he's been really good in the slider has come along lately and I think that has really made him a much different pitcher. Okay, we got a lot more to talk about. We're going to talk about softball coming up in Fayetteville this weekend. Also get Christina's thoughts on the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Virginia Beach. The Razorback women trying to go for their third in a row. Razorback men trying to win their second national title in three years. We'll get Christina's thoughts on that in just a moment. First word from our sponsors.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: At Kendall King, we're proud of over four decades of design. We're continuing the legacy of great creative design by combining our brands of Kendall king Soapbox and ShopCart. Together, these brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas. Through our design expertise, supported by a team of talented professionals, we showcase our best. We are Kendall King. We are Soapbox. We are Shopcart. We are designed foreign.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: To tell you that Scott Tabor, the Razorback great pitcher, is coming to the Hogs Illustrated Sports Club. It's going to be March 26th at noon at home. Two suites in Springdale. You can reserve your seat
[email protected] O Z A R K S T I X.com Arkansas track going for another national championship this weekend. A lot of people I hear from, they'll watch like a spring practice video and they'll say, why is there a 51 flag flying over the top of the football stadium? Well, it's actually across the street at the track and it's the total number of national championships that have been won. Combined between the men and the women, it could be 53. I think it should be 53. Arkansas's men had a couple of national championships taken away from them outdoors in 05 and 06. I think that should be given back and I think at some point as the NCAA continues to lose its teeth, Christina, that may very well happen. But they're hoping to have another flag raising ceremony next week and I think they've got a good chance to potentially win at least one national championship, if not sweep it. This week in Virginia beach, both the men and the women are ranked number one, which is based on this is not a human poll. This is just based on, you know, how their athletes have scored and all the different events and how they project to score at the NCAA meet. The men have more entries than any other team. The women have more entries than any other team. You talked to both coaches this week, Christina, and it seems like both of them feel good about their chances this weekend.
[00:38:41] Speaker F: Yeah, they really do. And I think, you know, the interesting storyline has been with the men's team after the disappointment that they had at the SEC championships, coming in second and you know, they came in second indoors nationally last year. And coach Bucknham had a line that was so funny. I mean it was the way that he said, you know, we're doing a zoom press conference and he's sitting in his office and he was talking about last year's NCAA finish and he said I have the runner up trophy right here above my desk and every time I see it I feel like jumping off a cliff. And he was just talking about how and then Chris Johnson, the women's coach mentioned later, he said, you know, they are in such a unique position at Arkansas with in the track and field programs to where the men's team finishes second at NCAA is right Secs and everybody Says, what happened? They don't celebrate. They go, what went wrong? And, and that's such an interesting, you know, perspective that they take. And you know, this is one of the only programs in Arkansas where that might be the case. And, and they talked a lot about that. And, and one thing that was interesting about talking to the coaches was they talked about how they, they feel like they want some more, you know, fan support and, and some more attention paid to their programs because of the dominance that they have had. But as far as, you know, this weekend of competition, you know, I have it pulled up right now on my computer. They're doing some of the multi events right now. They'll start getting into some of the prelims for the running events and some of the field event finals this afternoon. But yeah, they feel really, really good about the group that they're bringing. You know, the men's team especially, there was a lot of discussion about how they didn't go on the road at all during the regular season. You know, all their meets indoors were at home. And then, you know, their first road trip is to the SEC championships and it's a huge meet. The men's team coach Buckland talked specifically about how most of their athletes that they brought were competing at SEC for the first time. Whether because they were transfers or they were freshmen. They have a lot of young athletes on this team. And he said that he really felt like it made a difference that this was their first road trip and it was such a big meet. And so we talked a little bit with both of the coaches about how now they've gotten a big, you know, a big road trip out of the way. Now they're, they have one, they know kind of how it works a little bit more and now they're going to the even bigger meet. And so I think getting that one out of the way does help. And you know, I think the men's team is hoping that it's a little bit of a wake up call for them that, you know, nothing is going to be easy and you really have to step up and level up to this competition and especially, you know, at NCAA is when the difference between the top few seed times or marks and you know, the last few, because it's the top 16 and all the individual events can be so small. I mean, like you might be a 16 seed but you are so close to, you know, a four seed. So it'll be interesting to see what happens this weekend and how they bounce back. And you know, there's several events where they have really high seed times and they expect to score a lot of points.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: The, the events are actually already underway here. On Friday morning, the heptathlon began at 8:15 local time in Virginia beach, which was 7:15 our time. The real stuff kind of gets underway though this afternoon about 2:30 Central Time is when you can begin watching all of this. There are some finals today, some jump finals, some distance finals. For instance, the men's 5,000 is going to be run tonight and Yassin Abdallah and Patrick Kiprop for Arkansas both are going to be favored to score highly in that event for the Razorbacks. Peyton no also going to run in the 5000 final for the women this afternoon. There's a chance that she could score some points there too, but, but really tomorrow, you know, and then there's a lot of, you know, semifinals today. Tomorrow's when, you know, you know, most of the points are going to be scored and we'll see if Arkansas can, you know, if they can win this. I think they've, I think they got a good chance. I felt good about their team all year. I think there's something to be said. Christina, you touched on a little bit just the disappointment that they had in College Station from the men's perspective and how, you know, that might help fuel them today. It feels like they've just kind of, when they've, when you've interviewed them, it feels like they've just kind of been a little bit of a bad mood.
[00:42:43] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, Bucknham's angry and in a way that I think will be helpful to them. You know, I think he has talked about how it is so difficult to win in track and field and how they want to get back to that and how they feel that they know what they have to do and they feel the athletes know what they have to do. And especially now, like I said with that SEC sort of disappointment maybe being a wake up call for some of these people that are newer, some of these younger athletes, they have that, you know, he mentioned to me that when you're competing at Tyson all the time, which is, you know, one of the fastest indoor tracks tracks in the country, and, and so many athletes have their best times there or their best whatever there. And when it feels like you go out every meet and you, you get a new personal best every single time you compete and then you go to a brand new facility, you go on the road for the first time, you can't necessarily expect that the same way. And so he talked about how he Thinks that this might be, you know, a little bit of a wake up call for some of those younger athletes that, that got so used to being able to go out on their home track and, and set a PR every single time.
[00:43:45] Speaker B: Arkansas softball, or by the way, track on ESPN plus all weekend if you want to watch that. Arkansas softball is going to be at Bogle park this weekend playing Oklahoma four, last four national championships. Oklahoma's one. They've won eight under Patty Gasso. And really, you know, it's kind of being referred to as the Gaso Bowl. You got Patty Gasso, the Oklahoma head coach. Her son D.J. is Arkansas's hitting coach. And so there's that interesting side story, but then there's also the fact that Arkansas lost Ole Miss the series last week. They went one and two down in Oxford.
They need some wins. It's a home weekend against Oklahoma. This is what I was talking to somebody who. I was talking to somebody this morning about somebody who has softball season tickets. I said this is why you buy softball season tickets for weekends like this when you get a team like OU coming in.
[00:44:36] Speaker F: Yeah, I mean, this is going to be such a huge series. I mean, Oklahoma and Texas both joining the league really changes things in the SEC as far as softball is concerned. And you know, for a team like Arkansas that's been trying to break through to their first Women's College World Series, and they've been right there so many times, the road gets harder when you add these two teams to the league. And you know, Oklahoma is, is a dynasty. They are the top of college softball. Texas as well is right up there. And I just, you know, I think the Gaso bowl of it all really adds something. It's a fun element. But I also think, you know, no matter who was on the staff, this is going to be such a big series for them. And you know, I hope I haven't looked at the weather for the rest of this weekend. I hope it's, you know, they're able to get good crowds out there because I think there's a real opportunity for, you know, this is just a fun.
It. Softball is such a fun sport. And then when you get to watch one of the best teams to do it come to town, I think, think if Arkansas could even get one win, get one of these games, I think that would be huge. Especially after the kind of surprise of the way they lost in those first two games at Ole Miss. You know, they end up outscoring them. You know, the first two games combined in that third game when they run rule Ole Miss, but they score like 20 runs. And so, you know, they ended it on a high note, which I think they needed to do, especially knowing how difficult this series is going to be, because, you know, it was looking for a second, like, what if they start, oh, and six in SEC play with the strength that Oklahoma has. And so I think getting that. That one win really helps them and I think kind of changed the. The mentality that they have and sort of gave them a little bit better feeling heading into a really, really difficult series this weekend.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: I think the. I think the weather's supposed to be pretty good this weekend at Bogle, so I think they'll be able to get all the games played, you know, on time and normal. Oklahoma ranked number one in the national polls this week. Arkansas ranked number 15. Oklahoma's won 26 games in a row, and they've only played 23 this year. So that tells you all you need to know about the. About the Sooners. They won the national championship last year, and like we mentioned, they've won the last four. They lead the series against Arkansas 25 to 2. 25 to 2. Oh, you does over the Razorbacks. There's also a big gymnastics meet tonight, right?
[00:46:46] Speaker F: Yep. Yeah, they've got Missouri. It's their final home meet. You know, it's been interesting to track, really, for the last several weeks, their push to try to get into the SEC Championships because there's only nine SEC gymnastics programs and only eight can compete at the SEC Championships under the current format. And so somebody is going to get left out. And Arkansas has kind of been. It's, It's. It tells you so much about the SEC that Arkansas is 16th in the country and ninth in the SEC. And so it's possible that every SEC program could be a national seed come NCAA is in a couple of weeks, and yet one of them is going to get left out of the SEC Championships. Now, it doesn't hurt you a whole lot to miss SEC Championships. It means you won't have any all SEC gymnasts because that's based on top two finishers at the conference meet. It's one less meet that you get to add into your national qualifying score that determines all of that NCAA regional seating and things like that. But so it doesn't necessarily hurt you a whole lot to miss it, but you would kind of prefer to get that extra competition in, especially before ncaa, so they. They would like to make it. If they don't, it's. It's not a catastrophe. The season's not over. They still have a lot more in front of them with NCAAs. But yeah, it's a big meet. Especially, you know, last home meet is always a big deal. They have a lot of seniors that are really, really talented that they're going to lose and this will be their last home competition.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Busy weekend for us, huh?
[00:48:07] Speaker F: Very, very busy. And then, yeah, not to mention there's football practice tomorrow. There was football yesterday.
There is a lot going on on at the moment.
[00:48:15] Speaker B: Who could forget football practice at a time like this?
[00:48:17] Speaker F: I know you could.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: But we're going to have plenty of coverage on our
[email protected] this week and of course the NCAA tournament selection show like Christina mentioned. I think it's at 5:00 on CBS on Sunday afternoon. So we come back for our next podcast on Monday. We'll be reacting to that. Are the Razorbacks in? Are they out? If they're in, who are they playing? Where are they going? Can't wait to talk about it on Monday. Hope you have a great weekend, everybody. Hope we see you at our website. Hope we see you on Monday.
