Arkansas basketball mid-season player analysis

[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Whole Hog Sports podcast. [00:00:02] Speaker B: And now here's your host, Matt Jones. [00:00:05] Speaker A: We're talking basketball on the podcast today with Anthony Christensen. First, a word from Kendall King. [00:00:10] Speaker C: 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 Design Football Portal Rolling along. [00:00:37] Speaker A: You can read about [email protected] today we're going to talk about Razorback basketball on the show. Anthony Christensen here in studio with me and we're going to do something kind of fun today, which is or at least to start the show. Later in the show, I want to talk to you about your AP Top 25 poll. I want to talk to you about the Ole Miss game tomorrow night. But I want to spend a little bit of time here at the start talking about this year's team and kind of a mid season player analysis. Arkansas's 15 games into the season basically at the halfway point. I mean there's 31 regular season games. Obviously they're going to have more in the postseason. But you know, halftime of the Ole Miss game, that's the midway point of the regular season. So I want to go through all of the players, all of the rotation players and kind of get your thoughts on them, Anthony and what we're going to do is I'm going to give you one minute on each player because I know you like to, you like to win a little bit. I'll give you. And I'm going to pull my stopwatch up. By the way, I pulled my phone out to set my stopwatch and I don't know if this ever happens to anybody else, but my stopwatch was going and it says that it had been going for 4175 hours, 7 minutes and 13.3 seconds. So we had to like first stop it and then we had to figure out what the heck, like when that had been set. And I think we said July 16th. [00:01:54] Speaker B: July 16th. [00:01:55] Speaker A: That's one of my daughter's birthdays. I don't know if maybe we were doing something for her on her, I don't know. But this had been going. No wonder my battery hadn't been charging the way it was supposed to. So I'm going to hit reset Here. And I'm going to give you one minute, Anthony, on these players, and then we'll probably follow up on most of them. And we'll start with Darius Acuff. He's the National Player of the Week, at least from the Naismith Award this week. SEC Freshman of the Week for the fourth week in a row. There are a lot of good freshmen in college basketball. We saw Cameron Boozer at Duke. AJ how do you say his last name? At. Okay, there you go. At byu, a lot of people think that this is one of the better freshman classes that college basketball's had in a while. And I think Darius stands out in this class. What have you seen from him? You got a minute? [00:02:42] Speaker B: I mean, he's just, he's good at everything, right? I mean, he can shoot, he can pass, he's, you know, really good, you know, dribbling, driving to the, driving to the basket. You know, he's a good on ball defender. He doesn't get a ton of steals, but, you know, he's, he's still, he's affecting, you know, the plays on defense and, you know, people don't really get around him all that much. And I mean, you look at, you know, just how much he's utilized. I mean, his offensive rating is really high. Takes, you know, a quarter of Arkansas shots. It's just, it's almost like, I mean, you can't say enough about him. I don't know that a minute is going to be enough time to just talk about everything he does well, because he does just about everything well. And, you know, I think he's, he's exceeded, you know, a lot of people's expectations and, you know, mine included, and I had extremely high expectations of him coming into the season. Like, he's just been, he's been stellar. His assist rate is one of the best in the country. And, you know, obviously it seems like everything Arkansas does runs through him, so it's just been incredibly impressive to see what he's done. [00:03:44] Speaker A: You talked to Tyler Ulis about him yesterday. I mean, Tyler obviously great point guard for Caliperi at Kentucky. What did, like, what were some of the feedback that you got from him about Darius and maybe the growth that he's had since they've gotten him here. [00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah, so a lot of the growth, it seems like, from Tyler Euless's perspective has come from, I guess, the mentality side of it, you know, being always locked in on defense. Because a lot of the times, you know, when these guys are playing high school ball, I mean, they're, you know, obviously going to be the best player on the floor every game they play. So, you know, sometimes that, you know, isn't necessarily a challenge, but, you know, that's been something. They've, they've talked a lot. You know, John Caliperi, Tyler Ulis brought it up about body language and how that's been a big focal point for them because, I mean, he came in with all of this talent already. Right. You know, so, so it's, for them it's really been about making sure that, you know, the mentality and everything else is, is there and you know, it certainly seems as though it has been. But, you know, Tyler Ulis was, you know, incredibly complimentary of Darius. He didn't want to take any of the credit for, for Darius's development and you know, which, I mean, I know obviously he's, you know, Darius has worked with, with Tyler Ulis quite a bit and you know, so I do think he deserves some credit for, for what's going on. Tyler Ulis, but you know, he's, he was, you know, very, very complimentary of what Darius has done. [00:05:08] Speaker A: One thing working with him, one thing we haven't seen with Darius is what we did see Thomas for about two or three games, which was a little bit of a, you know, a downturn in production which is, you know, expected from anybody, but especially from a freshman. With Malik, I'll start with this. I thought that he was going to potentially win SEC Freshman of the week this week because he had the big game against JMU, 28 points. And then I thought he was, I mean, Darius certainly was the player of the game against Tennessee, but I thought Malik was almost as impactful as he was some of those shots. I thought the four point play that he had was maybe the play of the game because it was kind of at that point where it felt like, hey, it's Tennessee getting a little bit of an upper hand here and then he makes that shot, makes the free throw. And it was one of the series of just and one plays that it just felt like kept Arkansas's confidence high, you know, because Tennessee wasn't able to pull too far ahead with Malik. What have you seen from him? [00:06:08] Speaker B: Yeah, and you mentioned the, the, the, I guess the slump, the shooting slump that he had. But even when he had that shooting slump, he was still doing things that was affecting the play. He was still doing things that affected, you know, winning. You know, he, I believe he had seven assists in one of those games. He. Or six assists in one of those games. I think he had seven rebounds in another one of those games. So even when his shot isn't falling, he's still doing things that, you know, are, are affecting the play. You know, he's an active defender as well, a bit like Darius Aova. But I think the big thing with him is, you know, where, you know, Darius Acuff doesn't necessarily get the, get the steals that maybe he, I don't want to say should because obviously I do think he's playing well on that side of the ball. Darius or Malik Thomas, excuse me, is, you know, he's averaging or he has a 2.9% steal percentage, which I believe is in the top quarter of the country. You know, he's, you know, he's, you know, he doesn't turn the ball over when he has got the, when he has the ball, he's top 100 and in turnover, turnover rate. You know, he, you know, he gets to the line, he shoots 85% from the free throw line. He does, you know, a little bit like Darius Auff. He does everything that you need him to do in order to affect winning, you know. And you know, him having that game against Tennessee was what was, I think huge because you know, he came into that game shooting 33% from the field against power conference teams. And I think, you know, him just having that, that performance was, was huge. Not that he wasn't playing well otherwise because like we mentioned, obviously he's doing things that are affecting winning. But, but I think from a shooting perspective, that was a big deal. I think I went over, I went long. No, you did. [00:07:40] Speaker A: That's all right. Well, we'll cut 30 seconds off of Malik. You and. No, no, but the. [00:07:45] Speaker B: What? [00:07:45] Speaker A: I think he'd be the sixth man of the year in the SEC if that vote was taken today. Now there's a lot of basketball between now and the tournament. I wonder how long Arkansas can keep him in that six man role. Because if you'll notice, jmu, it wasn't real pretty at the start. Tennessee certainly wasn't real pretty at the start. They got him in and I know he didn't score those first seven points, but he was on the floor. And I think that impacts what Darius Acuff can do. I wonder. I don't think they're at a point where they're going to take him off the bench just yet, but I wonder if there's going to be a game where it just doesn't start well and then you just kind of run out of time at the end where that forces their hand and they may have to make that change. [00:08:26] Speaker B: Yeah, it's an interesting, I guess, thought experiment. I don't know if that's the right. [00:08:29] Speaker A: Way because the team is so much better when he's on the floor. [00:08:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you look at the games that he started, I mean there were Central Arkansas and Sanford. So I mean it's, you know, maybe a little bit of a grain of salt when you look at those numbers. But you know, he played well in both of those. It wasn't necessarily super efficient from the field against Central Arkansas, but against Samford, you know, he, you know, I believe 17 points in both those games. And you know, so there's, there's, you know, precedent, I guess is the right way to put it for, for him, you know, whether or not they want to keep him, you in that six man role, I'm not sure just because, you know, he's, he's been extremely effective in that and you know, a lot of times you need that kind of a boost coming off the bench, you know, especially if things don't start well. So, so, you know, I could see it going either way, but yeah, it's, it's. Yeah, he's good. Yeah, they're all good. [00:09:19] Speaker A: Trevin, Brazil, you look at him, I didn't think he played a bad game against Tennessee. Now the numbers weren't great. What, he had four rebounds, had a, had a block shot, he scored some points, he got open looks for three. They just weren't falling that day. And that happens sometimes. There does seem to be a little bit of a streakiness to his game though, where, what was it back to back he had Houston and was it Queens, where. I think he went 26 and I mean he had two big games back to back or Texas Tech. I'm sorry, Texas Tech. [00:09:53] Speaker B: Texas Tech and Queens. [00:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah, Texas Tech and Queens. And so, you know, he. But there's a streakiness there since the Queens game. I don't know that he's had as many points in the last three games as he had in that one game. What have you thought about him and how do you think that he overcomes the streakiness? Or does he. Is that just who he is? I mean, that's kind of what his career has been. [00:10:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I think you take that with, with it. I mean, you look at how he, how he is played, I think that is just something that is, you know, something that you take because I mean, he affects the game, I think especially on the defensive end, you know, Obviously, he's a long guy who, you know, can disrupt shots, get steals and everything along those lines. But then offensively, you know, he's, you know, potentially, you know, one of, if not the best athlete on the team. So, you know, he's, you know, he had the two put back dunks against Tennessee that big plays. Yeah, huge plays, especially for the momentum in those part, those, those, I guess, times in the game, you know, so he, he's very capable of doing that. And you know, when he, when he and Darius Akov are playing, you know, off each other to the, to the level that, you know, we've seen and we know that they can, you know, it's, it's in my eyes, one of the best 1:2 combos in the country. And just because, I mean, we've seen it, you know, there was this time when, you know, when those two guys were on the court together. Arkansas's offense was in the 99th percentile of which is, you know, really good. So, yeah, I think you just kind of take that as it comes and you know, because he, he does so much, you know, on both ends of both sides of the floor. [00:11:28] Speaker A: I don't want to shortchange him. He did have seven rebounds against Tennessee and I was right, by the way, he had 26 points against Queens. The last three games against Tennessee, JMU and Houston, he's got a combined 20 points. [00:11:39] Speaker B: You know, I once dropped 40 in a family basketball game. [00:11:43] Speaker A: Is that right? [00:11:43] Speaker B: Yeah. My brother couldn't guard me. [00:11:48] Speaker A: The points. [00:11:49] Speaker B: That was completely pointless to say. I just had to, I just had to throw it out there. [00:11:52] Speaker A: They beat, you know, they beat Tennessee without him having a big offensive game. Certainly those two put back dunks, like we said. Those were, you know, really one of them was a, both of them were in the first half, but it just again, they felt like kind of pivotal plays that helped Arkansas from a momentum standpoint. I do wonder if they're going to be able to beat some of the better teams that are on their, on their schedule this year though, if he's not playing at a higher level offensively than what we've seen these last three games. [00:12:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good question. But I think again, it kind of comes back to his work, I think defensively, you know, I think he's, he affects the game in so many different ways on the defensive end, you know, so like, I mean, he's in the, I think it's the 92nd percentile and steal percentage and the 80th percentile and blocking Percentage. So, I mean, he. He affects the game so many ways on that end of the floor. And I mean that obviously you're not going to be. Or. I mean, at least I don't. I don't know of anybody who keeps track of just, like, how many shots that he's disrupting, like, where he's not getting the block, but the guy misses the shot because he's got, you know, all 6 foot 10 of Trevor Brazil in his face. So, you know, it's, it's, it's. Yeah, I think you just kind of take it as it comes because of how effective he is on the other end of the floor. You know, if he's. If he's, you know, being a little streaky on the offensive end. And obviously we've seen how good he can be on the offensive end as well. [00:13:12] Speaker A: Okay, I want to talk about these two guys who John Calipari says told on themselves on Saturday. We'll start with Carter Knox. And it's. It started kind of sluggish for him. There have been a couple of games where, you know, what was it after Michigan State, he came back and started red hot in their next game. But again, it's kind of like Brazil. It's been a little bit streaky with him. I was really impressed, though, against Tennessee with the effort, you know, that he showed it wasn't just the rebounding, it was just some of the timeliness of the things he did. You know, missed shot by Acuff, rebounded, put it up for a. You know, it's one of those and one plays that we talked about and, you know, big block shot during the game, and they like the effort. I know that they've seen from him. Where do you see, like, what do you see his role on this team being? Because I think that maybe some people thought he was going to be more of a scorer than he's ended up being, but certainly there's a lot of value. And I would say with him and Ewan, you know, maybe it's easy to look at offensive numbers sometimes and not think about their impact on the other end of the floor and the points that they're taking away. Let's start with Carter Knox. [00:14:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So did you start the timer? [00:14:26] Speaker A: I will go ahead. [00:14:27] Speaker B: Okay. [00:14:28] Speaker A: Counting in my head. [00:14:30] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I think it's a little similar to Trevor Brazile in which you kind of take some of the streakiness. And I think that we still are going to see Carter Knox's best basketball to come this season. You know, he's shooting 43% from, from the three point line so far this season, which is a. I think it's an 8 percentage increase from what he finished last season. Obviously the volume isn't what it was at the end of last season just yet because he took 100 threes last year. He's at 41 right now. But, you know, he's, he's. I think you can see it, you know, his defensive rebounding is top quarter in the country, if I'm not mistaken. So, I mean, he's, he's active on that end of the floor and you know, I thought he was really good defensively against Tennessee for the most part. And yeah, I think, you know, maybe. I think him, I don't want to say 3 and D is his game because I think he's so much more than that, but I think he, he can be that. I think he can be a guy who is, you know, really good at driving to the basket because I think, you know, obviously we've seen that. So, you know, he, he's a guy who. I'm trying to think of the right way to put it, but, you know, he's, he's someone who, I think there's still more to come, you know, especially with how, how big and how hyped up he was coming into the season, obviously coming back from testing the NBA draft waters and all of that. So, you know, I, I still certainly think there's still more to come from him this year. [00:15:51] Speaker A: I thought he's, I thought he played some of his best basketball at the end of last year. [00:15:55] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [00:15:56] Speaker A: And, you know, maybe that's just the kind of guy he is. Maybe he just, you know, steps up when the moments are bigger. [00:16:02] Speaker B: He gets brighter when the lights are on, I guess. [00:16:06] Speaker A: Say that again. [00:16:07] Speaker B: Gets brighter when the lights on. [00:16:08] Speaker A: Well, you think about Texas tech, he had 20 points. That's probably his best game of the year. And that's certainly one of the games. [00:16:13] Speaker B: That's a game that he was, he was obviously, he was very excited for that one because he, you know, going into that game he had talked about how, you know, Arkansas, he felt like Arkansas would have won a national title if Arkansas had gotten past Texas Tech. I don't know that I agree. I don't think anybody was touching Florida except for Houston because Houston obviously almost did it. But, but, you know, I mean, he, he wanted that game real bad. And you know, he, you know, he played extraordinarily well and I know, you know, sometimes or I think he got a little Overshadowed in that game by Trevin Brazil and Darius Acuff. But I thought he was. I thought he was phenomenal in that game, so. And then obviously, he played really well against Tennessee. So, you know, like you mentioned, you know, he played his best basketball at the end of last season, so maybe that's where. Where it's coming along. [00:17:02] Speaker A: Malik Ewan, some people, I think, question the effort early in the year. I think he's been dealing with some stuff. He had a wrap around his thumb at one point. [00:17:10] Speaker B: I think he had a shoulder injury over the summer as well. [00:17:12] Speaker A: I think they said that he was playing with a little bit of an illness during one of the games here in the last two or three weeks. But. But I do. I don't think really beginning with the Houston game and maybe going back before that a game or two as well, but Houston was really the game where it stood out. Like, whoa, okay, now I can kind of see. You could see the potential more, I thought, in that game than you could in some of the previous games with him. He struggled with. [00:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I got more out of the 24 against Houston than I did the 21 he got against Jackson State. [00:17:43] Speaker A: There you go. But he struggled with foul trouble early in the year, and I think he's done a better job of keeping himself out of foul trouble. But, man, I mean, it reminds me a little bit, and I understand that the scenarios or the situations are different, but it reminds me a little bit of Jonas Adu this time or last year where it was so slow starting, and you're wondering, like, who's going to be that guy that's a force for them in the post. And I would say that if Ewan continues to play the way that he has the last three or four games or so, then you feel really good about their. Their post play. [00:18:17] Speaker B: Yeah, no, for sure. And I think. I think I. I go back to the Louisville game as kind of where I. I kind of, I guess, draw that. That line of, like, okay, here's Malik Ewan and everything he can be. Because, you know, after that game, you know, John Caliperi had mentioned that he had, you know, shown his Florida State take of, you know, against Louisville to, you know, him and the whole team and trying to get. Tried to get him going in that way. Because he played really well against Louisville, you know, in both those games. [00:18:45] Speaker A: Nine rebounds this year against. [00:18:47] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, so. And he played well in that game. And, you know, ever since then, obviously, you know, there's, you know, the game against Queens is kind of a I guess a wash because I think that's the game he was playing, I guess with a little bit of an. Mistake. [00:18:59] Speaker A: Yeah, he only played nine, but then. [00:19:01] Speaker B: You know, that, that game against Houston, he was, you know, he was phenomenal. I know he had the missed free throws, but you know, ever since then. [00:19:07] Speaker A: You know, but he was an 81 free throw shooter going in. That was just a. [00:19:10] Speaker B: And he's kind of an anomaly and. [00:19:12] Speaker A: He was 8 for 8 the other day against Tennessee. So he's obviously a good free throw shooter. Having a bad day, which happens. [00:19:17] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think. And I think he's like 13 of 16 since then. James Madison and Tennessee. So I think you're really starting to see the Malik Ewan that they thought they were going to get, you know, in which obviously this is the time where you really want, you know, guys to be not playing their best because you obviously, you want everybody to be playing their best at, you know, in March. But, you know, this is a time where you really want to see everything kind of coming together. And yeah, I think you're, you're really starting to see, to see that come, I guess, to fruition. I mean, shooting 61% from the field, you know, obviously most of that is going to be coming around the basket. I think his blocking percentage has been near top 100 if I'm not mistaken. So he's up there. His rebounding has gotten, I think, a lot better in recent games. And I think, yeah, there's, there's a lot to like there. I think, you know, with his athleticism, the way he can kind of move a little bit like a guard despite, you know, being, you know, as, as big as he is. I think that will make him, you know, a matchup problem for, for a lot of SEC teams and, you know, make him a guy who can, you know, stack up and guard against, you know, some of the, I guess, other matchup problems in the sec. I mean, especially when you look at, you know, the game coming up tomorrow against, you know, Ole Miss with, with, with Malik Dia, who obviously caused Arkansas a lot of problems last year. So, yeah, I probably went long, so that's my bad. [00:20:37] Speaker A: On the blocks. On the blocks with you. And he hadn't, he didn't have more than one block until the Fresno State game on December 6th. Since then, he's got multiple blocks in four of their last six games. It seems like the rim protection has really improved on, on his part. [00:20:54] Speaker B: Yeah, no, for sure. And I mean, yeah, like, I think that like, like I said, I Think we're starting to see, you know, Arkansas getting the best out of, out of Malik Ewan. And I think that's, I mean, that's huge when you go into conference play. Obviously they've got, you know, Ole Miss and Auburn coming up, and those are two teams that like to play inside or like to get inside. And, you know, and I know Auburn can obviously, you know, play on the perimeter as well. But yeah, that's, that's. You want him to be playing like this, you know, coming to this stage of the season. [00:21:28] Speaker A: D.J. wagner, I want to say one thing on him. He only scored two points against Tennessee. I thought something that was so undervalued, though, for him during that game is that Darius Acuff goes out of the game with Arkansas at 59 to 58 with about 840 left. When he comes back into the game with 529 to play, he's the steady hand, 68 to 61. Wagner was running point the entire time. So they actually increased their lead by six points with Acuff on the bench. And I thought that was one of the more underappreciated things that we saw from DJ on Saturday. He just, he seems like he's that type where, you know, maybe the offensive numbers aren't where you want them with him, but it still feels like when he's on the floor, you're getting kind of the best version of this team. Like, if you need him to run point, he's going to do that. If you need him to be that off guard, and maybe that just opens some things up for Acuff and Thomas, that's working out well, too. I don't think Wagner's playing poorly this year. I just think that, you know, with the, the addition of these two dynamic freshmen that they have that, that his roles really changed. [00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I would agree with that for sure. And I think, you know, he's shooting a career best from the three point line. I think he's hovering around 40%. I think a little bit below. But, you know, he, I think he's, you know, he. Obviously, Everybody knows that D.J. wagner is, you know, he's a guy who's going to play hard defense. He's. He likes to be in your face and he likes to, you know, get deflections and everything like that. And he doesn't foul whenever he's, whenever he's playing hard defense either. Like he's, he's a good defender without, without fouling. He doesn't turn the ball over either. So whenever he has to step into being the point guard whenever, you know, like happened against Tennessee. If, you know, Darius Acos, Darius Acuff has to go out, you know, he, he can step into that role and, you know, you're not going to, you're not going to turn the ball over, you know, so that's, that's not really a huge, a huge concern. And I think, you know, like you said, I don't think that the, the offensive numbers are, you know, staggering by any means, but I think that was always going to happen when you brought in Darius Acuff and Malik Thomas and kind of needed to shift D.J. wagner into a more off ball role. And I think that's something that he's fully embraced and I think that he's, you know, doing relatively well. I think, I still think that you would want to get more production out of him in terms of points and assists and everything like that. But I still think that he's doing, he's doing, you know, what he, what he needs to do, I guess. I think he's, he's, he's somebody who's, you know, fully bought into his role and he's doing what, what, what, what needs to be done, I guess. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Well, and you know, knock on wood or whatever superstition you have, but if something were to happen to one of these other guards, like what happened to Boogie Fland about this time last year, you have this guy who can step in and you have comfort and confidence in what he can, can do for you. And maybe it's not an injury, maybe it's just they're in a slump, maybe they're in foul trouble that night. I still feel like there's going to be a game this year where DJ Wagner, you're going to look up and Maybe he's got 15, 17, 18 points and he's going to be the star of the game that you say, hey, you wouldn't have beaten whoever without the performance that you had from him. [00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah, no, and I think that, I think John Calipari also believes that because he always talks about how D.J. wagner, you know, affects the game. Even if he doesn't have, you know, a great shooting night or if he doesn't have a ton of points. He always likes to bring up how D.J. wagner has, you know, he, he affected the game against, I'm trying to remember which, which game he was talking about. I think it may have been like, I don't remember if Samford, I, I think it was Winthrop or Samford, one of the two. When you Know, they were really kind. [00:25:12] Speaker A: Of 10 points against Sam. [00:25:13] Speaker B: Yeah, he was. They were really leaning on their more experienced guys when, you know, two teams that, you know, frankly you should have put away a lot, A lot way earlier. Yes. Yeah. You know, are still hanging around. They were really hanging on to, you know, DJ and, and Trevin, Brazil and all those guys to, to get over the line in those games. And you know, if you don't have those performances, even if they're not, you know, the most eye popping, you know, scoring, scoring numbers, you know, maybe we're having a completely different conversation about where the season is because maybe they drop one of the. One or both of those games. So I still, you know, despite there not being like a huge, you know, offensive output night from, from D.J. wagner to this point, I still think he's been an important part of the success that the team has had so far. And I, yeah, I just think he's a guy who is like fully bought into to his role and doing what he needs to do. Whether that's, whether that is the scoring or whether that's being the off ball guard who is, you know, creating space or doing, you know, whatever he needs to do. But yeah, I do think that there's going to come a point where he does have a big scoring night at some point. [00:26:21] Speaker A: What about Nick Pringle? This has been kind of the more interesting player I think for the last month or so. And I'll fully admit the first four or five games of the year probably set a different expectation that I had for him probably because I wasn't as familiar with just his background. But you know, he scored 8, 6, 9, didn't score against Sanford, then he scored 13 against Winthrop and I mean he was the go to guy down the stretch against Winthrop. They don't beat Winthrop probably without the last minute, minute and a half they had from him. Offensively, he's not an offensive guy though. I think that that has become very evident in the last 10 games or so. But defensively and rebounding, he's got to be able to stay out of foul trouble in order to impact those areas. Against Tennessee, he wasn't able to. There have been some other games this year. You know, Duke is one that I think of where he fouled out, where, you know, he just hasn't been able to. [00:27:14] Speaker B: Michigan State as well. [00:27:15] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, he hadn't been able to stay on the court very much. So how do you know what do you see from him right now and maybe how it can improve? [00:27:24] Speaker B: Yeah, no, he's he's never really been the biggest offensive threat. You know, as a big man, he's always been the guy you go to when you need rebounds. You know, he's always been a pretty solid rebounder. But, you know, I think you're still kind of waiting to see that, because he has gotten into some foul trouble in some of these games, which, you know, it was always, I don't want. [00:27:42] Speaker A: To say four fouls and 13 minutes and one rebound against Tennessee. [00:27:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:46] Speaker A: Not. [00:27:46] Speaker B: Not ideal. But, you know, I think he's a guy who, you know, you didn't. You didn't bring him in for the points he's going to score. You bring him in for the defense and the rebounding, and I still think that's a little to be seen. You know, his. His defensive rebounding rate is good. You know, he's. I think he's top fifth, top quarter of the country in defensive rebounding, maybe top third, if I'm not mistaken. But, you know, and. And once. Once they get the ball inside to him on the offensive end, you know, he's. He's scoring at a decent rate. I think he's shooting right around 70% at the rim, which I think you still want it to be a little bit higher, but still. I mean, it's not like it's a terrible clip, but, yeah, I think. I think if you can keep him out of foul trouble, which has, you know, been a problem, obviously this season, and, you know, has kind of been at different points in his career as well, I think you can still get a lot out of him, obviously. He was a huge part of the Alabama Final Four team. And, you know, he's. He's. He's been around for forever, so he's. He's a guy who I think you can still rely on in important moments. But, yeah, you need to. Yeah, you need to clean up the foul trouble because, I mean, he's got 4.6 fouls per 40 minutes, which is a lot. [00:29:04] Speaker A: Sometimes I just feel like his fouls are. I'm trying to think how to say this. You don't have to foul. Like the other day, guy takes off trying to dunk it from the SEC logo in the lane. And Pringle, instead of maybe trying to take a charge, he goes up and. [00:29:22] Speaker B: Goes out for the block and tries. [00:29:24] Speaker A: To go for a Superman block. And it's just. You're sitting there kind of wondering. It's like, man, there's a higher percentage play that you can make here. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. I Think, you know, how many charges. [00:29:36] Speaker A: Has Arkansas taken this year? [00:29:38] Speaker B: I couldn't tell you. [00:29:40] Speaker A: It's not a big number. [00:29:40] Speaker B: It's not a lot. [00:29:41] Speaker A: That's one thing that stands out is that, you know, they're just. [00:29:45] Speaker B: And they have changed like 10 of the block charge rule where it's not as prevalent anymore. So I think that might be part of it. So, you know, maybe that is affecting things. And if we're noticing all of this, I can promise you, I think coaches are too. [00:29:58] Speaker A: So was it JP Estrella, was that who took off? [00:30:02] Speaker B: I believe it was, yeah. [00:30:03] Speaker A: You could have got a charge on that one. Like, like, like that was. That was the most ready. [00:30:07] Speaker B: I'm getting, I'm getting the block that. [00:30:09] Speaker A: Was the most ready made charge of the entire season. And then finally, you know, number eight, last but certainly not least is Billy Richmond, who. He's my favorite player to watch on this team just, just because of the energy he brings. And you look at what he's done in the most important, I shouldn't say the most important games, but in the most high profile games they played this year. And this is for, you know, a role player. Eight points against Michigan State, 11 against Duke, 10 against Louisville, six against Texas Tech, 12 against Houston, five. The other day against Tennessee, he was in foul trouble and his minutes were cut because of Carter Knox. And I'll just say one of the fouls that he got was just total. [00:30:52] Speaker B: It was very bad. I remember the exact file you're talking about. I mean, it was not a good call. [00:30:56] Speaker A: And then kind of to underscore the fact that I feel like the people who are in game day operations that Bud Walton need a better feel for the game. They go from, from that and I mean the crowd is furious, they're livid. And then the next thing you know they're doing this and that when they. [00:31:14] Speaker B: Did the really bad. Like. [00:31:15] Speaker A: No, that's what. No, no, that's when they did the. And I don't want to sound insensitive to this, but that's one of the Arkansas Children's Northwest promotion where they bring out a cancer survivor, which is a great promotion. [00:31:27] Speaker B: It is, it's my. It's like one of my favorite times in the entire game. [00:31:30] Speaker A: At that point in the game, it just, it changed the dynamic in the arenas in such a weird way where it was like everybody was furious and the place could have really been rocking by the time the game. I don't know, it's just. And I try to delicate, I don't. [00:31:44] Speaker B: Know if they have like the. I don't know if that. [00:31:46] Speaker A: It's almost at a point, at a. [00:31:47] Speaker B: Specific time, you know, every. [00:31:48] Speaker A: The game is on a script of attention to the game's on a script. Maybe don't script things in the second half, you know, like when, like, seriously, don't script things in the second half when like the emotions are going to be the highest in the arena. Just a thought. Go ahead. Billy Richmond, though. [00:32:04] Speaker B: I was going to say, I, I was thinking you were talking about when, when there was like the really interesting hotel room service YMCA matchup. I, I couldn't, I couldn't believe my, I had never, I didn't. [00:32:17] Speaker A: Oh, is this from the dj? [00:32:18] Speaker B: I think so either that it was some sort of like mashup that they just kind of played. [00:32:22] Speaker A: I was like, I've gotten to the point that I put my, I put my AirPods in. It's so loud in there. I put my AirPods in during the timeout. [00:32:28] Speaker B: I didn't know that a YMCA hotel room service mashup was. [00:32:32] Speaker A: Well, let me tell you what. They matched up George Strait. Write this down with AC DC the other day. And I love George Strait and I love AC dc Those are two things. It's kind of like they're very different. I like cheeseburgers and I like, you know, spaghetti. I'm not, I'm not mixing those two things together. But we were talking about Billy Richmond. Go ahead. [00:32:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you know, he, he's obviously he, he's the effort player, right? I mean, he's, he's a guy who's always going to be going 110 miles per hour and I think you've seen some genuine, genuine growth in his game. I mean, you look at his, I mean, his assist numbers, he had six assists against James Madison to match a career best. You know, he's not a guy who's going to go out and get a ton of assists, but he's somebody who's very capable of it. I mean, if you remember last season, they were running him as a bit of a backup point guard at times when boogie flam went down. So there, there are times where he can, you know, have those moments where he's going to find a really nice pass and, and create an open look for somebody because he's so dangerous driving to the basket. And you know, he's not a lethal three point shooter by any means, but you can definitely tell he's much better than he was. I mean, last season he took a total of 16 threes and made two this season. He's taken 23 and made seven, which, you know, it's still, you know, hovering around 30, which isn't a great mark, but it's, you know, absolutely an improvement. And it's something that you, you, you like, you, you like to see that when you, you have guys who are very clearly improving. And I think, you know, his, his ability as a ball handler is, is, you know, still really good. His passing is, like we mentioned, really good. And, you know, his offensive rating has gone up in general. So I, and I think he is, obviously, he's going to be a lot of people's favorite players to watch. Just because, you know, he, he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't go half in on anything. He goes all in on every player. [00:34:22] Speaker A: High energy, which is, it's amazing. [00:34:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Which he's, he's a lot, he's a lot of fun, I think. Absolutely. Yeah. And once you pair, when you pair that with, I think the, the offensive improvement that you've seen, because he's always been, you know, a guy who, you know, you can sub him in and you can have him guard the other team's best player and, you know, he's going to be very effective in that role. I think when you look at the offensive improvements he's made, even if he's not, you know, going out and dropping 30 every night, I think, I think that is encouraging for him. Yeah. [00:34:57] Speaker A: We're going to talk more about Arkansas basketball. The Ole Miss game tomorrow night. First award from Kendall King. [00:35:02] Speaker C: Kindle 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 Design. [00:35:28] Speaker A: Hey, welcome back. I want to tell you about Bentonville Glass. They've been serving their community since 1971. They're committed, professional and versatile. Come by and see them now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at bentonvilleglass.com Arkansas and Ole Miss tomorrow night, 8 o' clock tip off. It's going to be on SEC Network. Anthony's going to be in Oxford tomorrow for the 51st. [00:35:49] Speaker B: 51St individual arena. I've covered a game in. [00:35:52] Speaker A: You've got to count. [00:35:53] Speaker B: I do. I, I keep a full list. I keep a Full list. I and I. I do count non D1s. As long as it's college basketball. I. I put it on the list. There are two NAIA arenas on here at Columbia College up in Columbia, Missouri. [00:36:05] Speaker A: And you went to the toilet paper? I did. [00:36:09] Speaker B: That was so fun. But, yeah, this will be number. Number 51 for me, so. [00:36:13] Speaker A: Ole Miss. [00:36:13] Speaker B: Very fun. [00:36:14] Speaker A: Ole miss is 8 and 6, 0 and 1 in the SEC. Certainly not the type of team that we're used to seeing. From Chris Beard, they got handed to him pretty good over at OU on opening night. I think 86 to 70 was the final score. What do you see from them and what do you think about this matchup tomorrow? [00:36:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's strange, I guess they've got a lot of new pieces. They lost a lot, but they also, they returned some key guys. Obviously, Malik Diaz, the guy who. Who stands out. But, I mean, it's not like he's, you know, alone. They bring in A guy like A.J. storr, who, you know, I. I know a lot of people weren't impressed with his work at Kansas last year, and I know I. Obviously, you know, you expect more from a guy like him and, you know, everything that he's, you know, done at the college level. But, I mean, it wasn't like he was, you know, like a bonafide scrub at Kansas. I mean, he wasn't. He wasn't great by any means, but, you know, he was playing off the bench and, you know, contributing at times. So, I mean, it wasn't like he was terrible. You just expect more from him. And I think that's kind of the theme of this Ole Miss team, when you look at it on paper, is you expect more. I mean, they've got one top 100 Ken Palm win, and that was against a pretty bad Memphis team. I think we can say. We can say that now because that Memphis team is not. Has not performed well, you know, to this point of the season. And then they're winless against power conference teams. And I know Memphis is kind of power conference adjacent, but it's still, you know, in the American. And then you look at every team that they've played against in, you know, on the power conference level. They've lost to Iowa. They've lost to a really bad Utah team. They lost to Miami Florida, who's decent. St. John's who has been pretty disappointing. Not. Not pretty. Very disappointing. North Carolina State, who's also been pretty disappointing. And then obviously, they kind of got to hand it to him against Oklahoma. So it's A weird team. You expected more, I think, is the theme. I don't know that you expected a sweet 16 team like they had last season, but I still think you expected them to be better than what they are. [00:38:17] Speaker A: I wonder how hostile, if at all, it's going to be. There a couple, three things to think of. Number one, they're eight and six. So certainly the enthusiasm level about the basketball team is not where it is. You got the football team still playing. They're going to be playing in the Fiesta Bowl. [00:38:32] Speaker B: That's your next diet. That's the next night. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Right. Next night or the night after. One or the other. So you've got that. And then classes don't start in Oxford for like another two weeks. And so you're probably not going to have a big student presence. That can go one of two ways. Here's where I'm going with this. This can go one of two ways. It's either one of those things where you're going to have to go in there and you kind of have to make your own energy, or if you don't and, you know, make your own energy and maybe, you know, you just take whatever of the home crowd is there out of it, or if you don't make your own energy, it can turn into one of those really sluggish games where you're looking up with, you know, four or five minutes left in the game, and it's. Well, this is. This is a lot different than maybe you think it should be. I think Arkansas is going to be a big favorite in this game. I haven't seen a betting line on that. [00:39:21] Speaker B: Neither have I, I don't think. [00:39:22] Speaker A: But I would assume Arkansas is going to be, I would say, probably four points or more favorite to win this game. Maybe it's. Maybe it's quite a bit more. I don't know. So the point being that the crowd is not maybe going to be the same type of crowd that they've been used to playing in when they go out of Fayetteville. [00:39:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't. I don't know what to expect from that perspective. I can't believe it's two weeks now. [00:39:50] Speaker A: It's not a big arena to fill there. [00:39:52] Speaker B: I know. It's got like. It's like 9,500, I think, is the seating there. But two weeks? [00:39:58] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a little break. January 20th, classes begin for the spring semester. [00:40:02] Speaker B: That's. That's a crazy long break, I don't think. Is that like a full month? [00:40:08] Speaker A: It says here that. Well, I don't know, I don't, I don't have their, their calendar. [00:40:13] Speaker B: That's kind of crazy. If they got a full month off for, for. [00:40:16] Speaker A: I would guess it's probably more than. [00:40:17] Speaker B: That's, that's, that's wild to me. We never got that. [00:40:21] Speaker A: So. [00:40:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm going to be sending an email to the University of Missouri asking for my time back. [00:40:28] Speaker A: Here's something you and I talked about is, is how Arkansas has played all these really good defensive teams this year. What do we say for the top 16 and defensive efficiency according to Ken Palm? And they scored 86 against Tennessee. They scored 85 against Houston. Now that was, they didn't play defense well in that game at all. Duke, I think they scored 71. Michigan State, they scored 66. Even if you wanted to throw this team in there, I know the game didn't count and it's an exhibition, but Cincinnati is one of the top 16 defensive teams too. They at least saw them, they put themselves, matched themselves up against Cincinnati on the same floor. They've, I mean, you know, their offensive numbers are really good. You and I were talking about this too. How, you know, these are probably the best offensive numbers they've had since the glory years, like 94, 95. And you know, they're doing it against some pretty good defensive teams. Beards teams are known to be tough defense, hard nose defensive teams. [00:41:30] Speaker B: They like to slow you down. [00:41:31] Speaker A: Are they able to do that this year? Is, is that their limitation or is their limitation just their offense? [00:41:36] Speaker B: It's a little bit of both. They're not as good as you expect a Chris Beard defensive team to be, to be like, I mean you look at, you know, last season's defensive team was number 23 in the country. This season it's, you know, 58. His first year was 141. That was kind of a wash because it was his first year and it was kind of a tough, tough, tough situation. You know, obviously, you know, his Texas team finished 14th in the, in the, in defensive efficiency. But he wasn't the coach there for, for most of the, for most of that season. But he did build the roster. But that was obviously most of the season came after he was, he was fired following his arrest. And you know, we don't need to get into all the, all those details. But then you look at his Texas Tech teams, I mean 18, 9, 1 4, you know, he, they've, they've always been good. His Little Rock team was number 33. So you expect good defenses and it's not like this defense is terrible by any means. Like, I mean you give up 86 to an Oklahoma team I'm not super high on, it's like. But I mean they're number 58 in the country in defensive efficiency, which isn't like, it's not like a ghastly number. It's just not really what you, you don't think of the 58th, the best defense and associate that with a Chris Beard team. And then the offense has been pretty bad. Like you expect more on both ends. And I think that's kind of the, the, the theme of this, this Ole Miss season is you expected more and you just haven't gotten it, you know, against, against teams of equal to or better quality than this Ole Miss team is on paper. And it's just been, it's been a lot of, you know, when, when does it, I guess, turn on? When does that flip, switch or switch get flipped? And to this point it just hasn't happened. But you know, they still, they still slow you down. They just haven't been able to fully stop you. Like, they like. [00:43:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not a typical Chris Beard team. AP poll came out yesterday. Five SEC teams in it, Vanderbilt's 11, Alabama's 13, Arkansas's 15, Georgia 18 and Tennessee 21. Surprised at all by the five SEC teams. Any others that you think should be in? [00:43:48] Speaker B: No. [00:43:51] Speaker A: You want to elaborate? [00:43:53] Speaker B: No. Those are the only ones that I had on my ballot and those are the only ones I considered voting for. Like I and Georgia, I'm still not fully convinced about because I mean Georgia's non conference schedule was ghastly and. But I mean Georgia's. To be, to be fair to Georgia, I mean Georgia's looked really good. I think Auburn, yeah. [00:44:16] Speaker A: They beat him. [00:44:17] Speaker B: I don't think Auburn's very good, to be honest with you. I mean they're, they'll, I think they'll be a tournament team. They are talented, you know, but Georgia, you know, had a four point lead with, I don't remember exactly how much time left. It should have been enough time to see out a four point lead. But Auburn came back and tied it and they had to win it in overtime. But I mean, to their credit, they still won. Georgia, I think, is the best scoring offense in the country. Some of that is down to, like I said, the non conference schedule was really bad. But I mean they've won their games, they've done what they've needed to do. So I keep Georgia in my ballot for now, you know, They've got. I don't remember who they've got this week, but, you know, they've got some tough games. I know that. So it'll be interesting to see how Georgia stacks up against. [00:45:03] Speaker A: Go to Florida. [00:45:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Which, you know, Florida also interesting team, you know, losing to my alma mater and losing to, you know, I don't think Mizzou is very good this year. You know, first time they've been healthy this year for, you know, fully healthy. But I still am not convinced that that Mizzou team is any good. And, yeah, it's just been, it's been weird. But anyway, Georgia has played well to this point. I want to see it against fully good teams. [00:45:34] Speaker A: We had a conversation about a month ago here and I asked you what you thought the SEC hierarchy looked like at that time as it changed. [00:45:44] Speaker B: I. Yeah, I guess so, because I think you have to have Georgia in there just because of the, just the analytic numbers and everything. But I still think that the top three is pretty clearly Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Alabama in some order. You know, Vanderbilt plays Alabama, I think, this week. So we're going to get a lot of answers about, about that. It's going to be Vanderbilt's biggest game of the season, which, you know, Vanderbilt still. I know people keep talking about how Vanderbilt hasn't played, you know, ranked teams. Now they have two ranked wins because they beat SMU and UCF, who are now both in the top 25. But also they have seven top 100 Ken Palm wins, which is the most in the SEC, I think, by a pretty healthy distance. So, I mean, that Vanderbilt team is real. I'm very excited to see how they do on the road at Alabama or at least I think that's a road game. I could be wrong, but yeah, it's. I, I do think as things stand, I think that is, you're pretty clear top three. And then the rest, it's, I think Tennessee I still think is better than Georgia, though. I had Tennessee below Georgia in my ballot this week just because Georgia, you know, won its game, Tennessee lost its game and, you know, there was, you know, some other teams that had won that I moved up and everything like that. But yeah, and then after that, after that, it's Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, you know, whoever you want to put in that, I guess, kind of hodgepodge of middle teams and it's, it's, it's an interesting little, I guess, group there in the middle. [00:47:10] Speaker A: If there's one team that's not ranked right now, that could surprise people and challenge for the sec. [00:47:19] Speaker B: I still, I still think it's probably Florida because I, that front court is, you know, really good. Tommy Howe is, despite Florida's, I guess, limitations, you know, he still looked like one of the best players in the league, you know, so I think, I still think that Florida team can put it together. You know, obviously that front court is phenomenal. They returned, you know, obviously Haug, Reuben Chinyelu and Alex Condon and even Micah Hanglocked. And so I still think that team is the, the most well equipped to, you know, not just, you know, get back into the, the rankings and all of that, but also to, you know, challenge for, for, for titles and everything like that. And, you know, a lot of that is going to come down to, you know, Boogie Flynn and Xavian Lee Gelling and putting it together because there have been. I think it's mostly when one plays well, the other doesn't. When those two play well together, I think that's when you're going to start to see, you know, Florida kind of. [00:48:24] Speaker A: Boogie's been taking a lot of heat for the late game stuff. We talked about a couple of the high profile games. He missed a shot the other night against Missouri at the buzzer. This just hasn't been real good for him. I did want to follow up on one thing I said yesterday, because I made a comment yesterday that I thought, you know, two, three weeks left in the season, I think Arkansas is going to be in the mix for this conference title unless somebody like Alabama just totally runs away with it and has a, you know, 17 one type record, which I think that would, that, that would surprise me. But I said, I wonder what the correlation is between winning your first game of the conference season and winning the conference title. So I looked it up. The last, the last outright champion, right? Let me start with this. The last champion of any kind that lost its conference opener and still won the SEC was a split title between Auburn and Tennessee. Tennessee lost its conference opener here at Arkansas in 2017-18. It was a game where Darrell Macon and Jalen Barford had a big game. I think Daniel Gafford had a big game that day too. So that was the last time that it happened. The last time an outright champion lost its first game. You have to go back to 2008, 09 and LSU, coached by, I believe, Trent Johnson, of all people. They lost their first game, I believe, in overtime and ended up winning the sec. So there is a little bit of a correlation there between starting one and oh, and going on to win the sec. So if you're looking for a silver lining beyond just Arkansas beating Tennessee on Saturday, that might be one. It's been 32 years, 32 years since Arkansas won an SEC title. [00:50:01] Speaker B: I remember. I knew it was a while. [00:50:03] Speaker A: Well, I knew it had been a while. [00:50:04] Speaker B: That's not true. [00:50:05] Speaker A: I don't know that I knew it had been that long. But you start to think about it. [00:50:09] Speaker B: You weren't. [00:50:10] Speaker A: You start to think about it. You know, it makes sense. So. [00:50:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:15] Speaker A: All right, Anthony, appreciate you being here. You can read all of Anthony's work@whole hogsports.com he's got a really good feature up on the site right now on Darius Acuff. Hope that we see you again on our show tomorrow or at our website, wholehawksports.com have a great day.